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Look in the mirror today. What do you see?\u00a0 Chances are, you will gaze into the glass to look for imperfections…is my hair graying?\u00a0 ….do I have dark circles under my eyes?…..is that a zit?\u00a0 What if, instead, what you saw was the face of love?\u00a0 I can promise you, that’s really who is in there.\u00a0 We see the world through our own lenses. How about seeing\u00a0its perfect imperfections through the eyes of love?\u00a0 Take another moment to listen to the sounds around you. Are they a cacophony of chaos or a hum of harmony?\u00a0 What you hear and see are up to you. Am I advocating denial of the injustices, violence and conflict that occur daily? No way. I am, however, encouraging treating them with loving, conscious action to enact positive outcomes. One Visionary took a stand for love and invited the world to join him in the Divine Dance.<\/p>\n
According to the website: “Harold W. Becker, Founder and President of The Love Foundation<\/a> announced the first annual GLOBAL LOVE DAY on May 1, 2004.\u00a0 The Love Foundation is a nonprofit organization with the mission of inspiring people\u00a0 to love unconditionally. Their vision is to assist people by building a practical foundation and understanding of love within individuals and society as a whole.”<\/p>\n If you visit the page, you will discover fun and empowering ways of celebrating each day, not merely one 24 hour period.<\/p>\n In 2006, I submitted an essay which\u00a0won the Director’s Award for Essay. Such a cool beans honor it was to get a package in the mail to celebrate that included rainbow colored stationary and a certificate.<\/p>\n Shining Forth<\/strong><\/p>\n Within each of us, glows the spark of the One who created us. It was implanted when we took our birth. It\u2019s <\/em>what unites us in both a common humanity and Divinity and can stand up to hatred, fear and violence. <\/em>When we sit in silence within the stillness of our minds and fullness of our hearts, we can feel its <\/em>inexorable pull and the call to love without limits. What would it be like to truly love with God\u2019s heart <\/em>(whatever you perceive God to be)? Who could you possibly judge or condemn? What if you could turn t<\/em>hat same compassionate eye to the man or woman in the mirror? On the altar in my bedroom sits a statue o<\/em>f Kwan Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Compassion, given to me by a friend. She is a constant reminder of <\/em>the need to face myself with gentleness.<\/em><\/p>\n We are taught that we should \u201clove thy neighbor as thyself.\u201d Nowhere in there are we told to love them <\/em>more than or instead of ourselves and yet, so often that is exactly what we do. What that leaves us with is <\/em>the sense that we have to prove ourselves worthy of love, which is the farthest thing from truth. I have <\/em>discovered that you can\u2019t give what you don\u2019t have. When we recognize that we are love incarnate, then it i<\/em>s so much easier to offer to those whose paths we cross, whether it be family, friend or stranger, the totality <\/em>of who we are. In the Rastafarian culture there is the concept of \u201cI and I\u201d, rather than \u201cyou and me\u201d, <\/em>indicating that there is only one of us here, fully worthy of loving and being loved. I have also heard of a <\/em>greeting either in African or Native American tradition that references each person as \u201cmy other self\u201d. What <\/em>we do to others (whether that be two-legged, four-legged, winged, finned, flora or fauna), we ultimately do <\/em>to ourselves. By virtue of being born onto this planet, we can\u2019t escape the intricately beautiful web of life <\/em>into which we weave our shared dreams and visions. In Hindu tradition, the greeting \u201cNamaste\u201d, with <\/em>hands in front of heart in prayer pose, translates to \u201cThe Highest or Divine in me honors\/recognizes the <\/em>Highest\/Divine in you.\u201d A friend of mine honors his Jewish roots and his yogic practice by combining <\/em>Hebrew with Sanskrit and greets others with the blended word \u201cShalomaste\u201d. <\/em>Each of us is so powerful, when armed with love. We can make such a difference in the lives of those who <\/em>surround us, even if we have never met. One life impacts on another. One kind word, one caring deed may <\/em>plant a seed that may take years to root down, but blossom it will.<\/em><\/p>\n One of my dearest role models for from-the-heart compassionate living, is His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. <\/em>Since the late 1950\u2032 s this political\/spiritual leader in exile has taken a stand for mutual honoring and <\/em>respect. I had the great joy of hearing him speak at my alma mater, Rutgers University in September of <\/em>2005. What he shared, mirrors my deepest understanding of the meaning of love in all fullness. <\/em>He expressed that in this period of time, the concept of \u2018us and they\u2019 can longer afford to exist. \u201cIt\u2019s just ‘<\/em>we\u2019. Destruction of your enemy is now an outdated concept.\u201d He feels that as human beings, we need to <\/em>practice \u201cinternal disarmament\u201d. He continued: \u201cAttachment is always biased; the closeness feeling you <\/em>have is only toward your friend. Compassion as a sense of concern is unbiased. It depends on the <\/em>recognition that others are just like myself. Today\u2019s attachment may become tomorrow\u2019s hatred.<\/em><\/p>\n We don\u2019t have to be an articulate speaker or revered leader to make a difference. We simply need to <\/em>embody the Divinity we are. I invite each of us to live fully from the heart, shining forth that \u201cGod spark\u201d <\/em>that we were before we took our birth and will always be beyond time. In this way, together we can be a <\/em>greater force for good in the world.”<\/em><\/p>\n With love as your motivating intention and action, the mirror will reflect it right backatcha~<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n Love Song-Elton John<\/a><\/p>\n Love Is All Around-The Troggs<\/a><\/p>\n\n