{"id":11,"date":"2010-06-29T13:31:11","date_gmt":"2010-06-29T13:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/practicalspirituality\/2010\/06\/love-how-essence-speaks-to-your-heart.html"},"modified":"2010-06-29T13:31:11","modified_gmt":"2010-06-29T13:31:11","slug":"love-how-essence-speaks-to-your-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/practicalspirituality\/2010\/06\/love-how-essence-speaks-to-your-heart.html","title":{"rendered":"Love: How Essence Speaks to Your Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/practicalspirituality\/project0004.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Live a Life of Love\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/101\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/06\/project0004-thumb-200x294-15910.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"294\" class=\"mt-image-left\" style=\"float: left;margin: 0 20px 20px 0\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height:150%\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%\">In any moment, you can always ask<br \/>\nyourself, <i>What is in the highest good?<\/i><br \/>\nor <i>What would be most loving and<br \/>\nempowering?<\/i> Despite your wounds and habits, you know what kindness is.<br \/>\nHolding a door for someone whose hands are full, picking up a pen that someone<br \/>\ndrops, or being forgiving with a customer-service attendant when addressing a<br \/>\nfailed product that they personally didn&#8217;t design&#8211;these are all easy examples<br \/>\nof the way most people know to be &#8220;nice.&#8221; When you <i>feel love,<\/i> you act out of compassion with respect, gratitude,<br \/>\naccountability, and kindness. When you commit a loving act, you are in your<br \/>\nEssential Self.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height:150%\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%\"><\/span><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 22px;font-size: 15px\">This energy and mind-set will always move<br \/>\nyou into your center and reconnect you with your essence. Things that create a<br \/>\nloving feeling do the same, which is why daily gratitude exercises,<br \/>\nvolunteering, and falling in love are all experiences that somehow make the<br \/>\nworld feel like a better place. It isn&#8217;t because of what other people are<br \/>\ndoing; it&#8217;s because of the <\/span><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 22px;font-size: 15px\"><i>feeling<\/i><\/span><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 22px;font-size: 15px\"> of<br \/>\nlove inside you. Being in nature, with a friend, or with a pet are simple ways<br \/>\nto create a loving feeling. All these things move us into our essence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height:150%\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%\">Don&#8217;t be trapped by thinking that you have<br \/>\nto make people happy in order to express kindness. Love is not conditional.<br \/>\nLove and compassion are expressions of your essence, and they draw their energy<br \/>\nnaturally from your Original Source. True love is never depleted; it&#8217;s a<br \/>\nwilling choice. Notice whenever you feel it and what creates a loving feeling<br \/>\nin you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"line-height:150%\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%\"><i><font>Excerpt from <a href=\"azon.com\/Inspiration-Deficit-Disorder-No-Pill-Prescription\/dp\/1401927327\/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1272063549&amp;sr=1-3\">Inspiration Deficit Disorder<\/a><\/font><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In any moment, you can always ask yourself, What is in the highest good? or What would be most loving and empowering? Despite your wounds and habits, you know what kindness is. Holding a door for someone whose hands are full, picking up a pen that someone drops, or being forgiving with a customer-service attendant&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[27,18,33,31,32],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mindfulness","tag-inspiration-deficit-disorder","tag-jonathan-ellerby","tag-kindness","tag-love","tag-relationships"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Love: How Essence Speaks to Your Heart - Practical Spirituality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/practicalspirituality\/2010\/06\/love-how-essence-speaks-to-your-heart.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Love: How Essence Speaks to Your Heart - Practical Spirituality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In any moment, you can always ask yourself, What is in the highest good? or What would be most loving and empowering? Despite your wounds and habits, you know what kindness is. Holding a door for someone whose hands are full, picking up a pen that someone drops, or being forgiving with a customer-service attendant&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/practicalspirituality\/2010\/06\/love-how-essence-speaks-to-your-heart.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Practical Spirituality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-29T13:31:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/practicalspirituality\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/06\/project0004-thumb-200x294-15910.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonathan Ellerby\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Love: How Essence Speaks to Your Heart - Practical Spirituality","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/practicalspirituality\/2010\/06\/love-how-essence-speaks-to-your-heart.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Love: How Essence Speaks to Your Heart - Practical Spirituality","og_description":"In any moment, you can always ask yourself, What is in the highest good? or What would be most loving and empowering? 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