“I WILL be an embodiment of Love. I AM an embodiment of Love.” -Grace

Grace, one of my teachers for the past few years, was at Loving Kindness again last Saturday evening talking on “Return to Heart-our only true Home.” The quote above was the main gem for me. There were some points she made that I thought are worth sharing with a larger audience than was there.

People who come to or are interested in a yoga school called “Loving Kindness” tend to be on the same page in that we all seek to be more unconditionally loving in all that we do. It’s a good thing. One question/concern/doubt that I have heard frequently and that Grace said that people ask her a lot as well is, “How do I love _____________?” and in the blank goes “terrorists?” or “child abusers?” or “rapists?” or “Trump?” or “racists?” or whatever like that. Grace’s answer was more clear, succinct and to the point but along the same lines as my response has always been. She said, “That’s actually the wrong question. The question is really, ‘How do I remain loving, or How do I remain in Love, in whatever circumstances are in my world?” It’s not about “loving” some thing, situation, person, whatever, but about remaining connected to the Love that dwells within us, and then ACTING from that place/experience/perspective. Love that doesn’t act is not love. If I don’t maintain my connection with Love in certain situations, it simply reveals that my supposed “love” is dependent on other people’s actions, which means I wasn’t really experiencing love anyway, just some infatuation or passion or emotion perhaps. Love is an energy that can be experienced as an emotion but is not in any way limited to being an emotion, another one of the gems from Grace that I have held for a long time.

She also spoke about how to connect our will (3rd chakra) with the Heart (4th chakra) that produced the quote above. The Heart is about Love and that involves an element or perspective of surrender and acceptance, so there was a good question about what is the role of will in Love. Grace spoke about how we can’t just beg the Divine Mother/God for Love or Self-Realization. I think we can’t just go along in our lives and expect or hope or even just pray that we get what we want and especially that we get our own Heart’s deepest desire (which is Love). We have to make up our mind, we have to exercise our will, which we can do, as Grace said, by waking up everyday and rededicating ourself and our life to being an embodiment of Love. One way we can do this is by strongly affirming, “I WILL be an embodiment of Love. I AM an embodiment of Love.” I’ve found doing it out loud this week to be especially powerful. I intend to continue.

She also added that we can even affirm, “I WILL be Self-Realized in this lifetime.” I imagine everyone who has Self-Realization as in their realm of possibility or as a future Goal feels that IF they get enlightened, it will be after many more lifetimes…since we so clearly see our “lacks” and often not so clearly our Greatness and proximity to Reality (that’s not ego-“greatness” meant here). However, what if our simple lack of belief in ourself and in the possibility of Self-Realization is what prevents us? What if WE are the only one who is in our own way? (Obviously!) If we believe that Love or Inner Peace or Truth or Self-Realization or whatever is the Highest Goal, let’s all join in strongly affirming that we CAN and WILL attain/get/realize/manifest it in THIS lifetime. And then when Life (or as Grace called it, “the Earth School”) presents its inevitable tests, or even just little pop quizzes, then we get to practice and get stronger at what we are truly aiming at and believing in and professing, and then put it into real action.

Maybe you’ve seen the yard sign on Smith Level Rd, that says “Love Wins.” True. But how does it win? By us choosing over and over to be and act from Love, not because other people did it, but because WE chose it and did it (and other people did/do, too).