How would love respond?

“Shine in the world, illuminate it, be the radiant light you are, find the joy in being and cast it to the stars. We make a difference just by being in the world and walking through it. My prayers of support and encouragement are offered to you, and thank you for being part of my world too.” – Lee Mitterer

The quote above is one I read today on the wall of one of my Facebook friends.

This is a man whose words often serendipitously cross my path at a time when I feel a struggle or a disconnection from reality, bringing me back to here and now.

You see, whenever we are struggling with situations in our lives and feel upset, angry or negatively attached, it’s because we are disconnected from our source through being unaware of the bigger picture of reality. We are attached to an illusion of seeing only part of life. We are usually wallowing in the past or worrying about the future – or both!

We need to foster the ability to see 360 degrees; much more than “both sides”. We are the centre of a sphere, the centre of our world. There is a tendency to look only in one direction.

I’ll give you an example of something heartfelt in my life that I struggle with at times; at times when I am not seeing the with 360 degree vision.

I have two beautiful living children who are young adults leading independent lives. These two people are the most important people in my life. The struggle for me is that I don’t get to see them at all and I no longer have contact with them. They do not want to be a part of my life or want to have me as part of their life.

Some days I have found this to be so deeply heartfelt that I could almost describe it as soul destroying. It can at times be an all consuming gut wrenching dilemma that I don’t know how to “fix”.

I’m sure you get the picture – any parent could possibly understand.

For all the “pain” I feel about this, I bring myself to a point of acceptance and love by looking at the whole picture as much as I possibly can. It’s crucial to understand from every angle. It’s simple but definitely not easy.

For example: I realise that I have attracted this situation to myself both on a superficial level as well as a karmic level. In other words my conscious actions have no doubt brought this upon me as well as my energy frequency at some point. Every time I dwell on the feeling of loss – and believe me the loss feels intense – I am perpetuating the situation and attracting that on which I dwell. I have in the past had the fear that I may never see them again, as described in my book “Success Is Simply Spiritual”, in a story of my initial separation from them. Such a powerful fear sends massive electromagnetic waves out to the universe to bring me a reflection of that energy. I obviously would prefer not to attract more of the same so the key is to look more deeply at this with eyes of love.

This also means I need to understand the experience the children may be having from their perspective and know there are powerful lessons for them in this particular dynamic. They too have attracted this experience into their lives, whatever it may be for them, and the same can be said for anyone affected by this situation. The lessons and others perspective, I can only surmise. Even so it’s important to do so and do it without judgment.

The point is not to blame anyone including myself. I am aware of many possible reasons and people (including myself) who have been major contributors to this situation. Blame just creates more negative waves of energy and no good ever comes of anything that’s not love.

The point is also to understand that we all have a right to choose. Whatever choices we make in life we can justify them to be “right” for us at the time. These two beautiful young adults have the power to choose and they will and do choose their life according to their experience up to this point. As do all of us. Something that we can neglect to realise is that we each have a perspective and that perspective is what we assume is reality. That reality may not be grounded in big picture thinking.

Kurek Ashley wrote a powerful book entitled “How would love respond?” and those words are the question I ask myself when most troubled by this dilemma: Simple and powerful.

And my answer is to leave them be. One of my dearest friends once said to me “be like Little Bo Peep” Leave them alone and they will come home wagging their tails behind them.

I don’t know if they ever will come home, that is a thought I don’t wish to be attached to. I do know the single most important thing for me is their welfare and well-being. Keeping this in mind, my daily ritual is to silently say good morning, blow them a kiss, send them on their way with thoughts of love and success, with a smile knowing they are making their way in the world and doing the best they can. At night I kiss them good night and wish them sweet dreams with the knowledge that my door is always open; they have only to step through it, the hearth is always warm, and my heart is always filled with love for them.

The heartfelt energy of this feeling of welcome is the most loving way I know to be there for my children. This is the energy and frequency I send out to the universe. This is the energy I love to share with my entire world.

I am human and don’t always feel connected in this way to love. Reading the magic words of songs, prose and poetry of people like Lee Mitterer, Rumi, Rob Thomas, John Lennon and many other powerful wordsmiths help me to fill my world with the reality of love.

It’s not about what happens, it’s about what we do with it.

We all have mountains to climb. Taking it one step at a time with awareness lightens the load we carry to the top. Reading words and listening to music written by those connected to love is like having someone help carry your backpack on the way.

When you next feel the pain of struggle bring yourself to the present moment, look for ways to understand and feel compassion and find ways to accept what is, so you can take your next step up the mountain with confidence, peace and love exuding from every pore. Then you will “Shine in the world, illuminate it, be the radiant light you are” and you will make a difference.

Thank you Lee.