Investing in LOVE.

LOVE can be a lot like water. It sustains us, nurtures us, allows us to be more flexible and shows us our own reflection. Anyone can easily get their hands wet in LOVE, but not too many people can just reach in and pick it up. To hold LOVE, one needs to find a place or create a space for it. LOVE needs a sturdy vessel to rest in. In this place, LOVE can be carried and brought anywhere, but if it’s dropped, tipped over, or the “vessel” is cracked, you may find that LOVE flows away.

Look at all the things we “invest” our time and energy into daily. Very literally, it can be money for our retirement, but it can also be the energy we put into our careers, building or buying new toys, ect… We invest in our health through diet and exercise. We invest in our minds through reading, study, the types of TV programs, movies, or documentaries we watch, our friends through social activity. But what about LOVE? What have you done for your loved one(s) today? Over a number of relationships, I’ve realized that we’re constantly brainwashing or reprogramming ourselves in some way right. So how do you want to do it?

You “fell” in love with this person, didn't you? When or what was the last thing you did to really show your appreciation? It’s the little things that count, and it’s not just doing the dishes, or making the bed. It’s the note you leave on the bed for your partner to find. It’s the way you roll over in the morning and whisper in their ear that you love them. It’s the flowers you give for no specific reason. It’s the little things that count. I decided a long time to make sure that with any lover I had, I would invest in that love daily. Some small things to show my love, and it’s always made me dive deeper into that relationship. So… What have you done to invest in your love today?

The Hardest of Time

In the Hardest of Time, we are tested in all of our “merits” as our “flaws” are rubbed like salt in a wound. It’s at these moments when sometimes we may feel as if we are not fulfilling ourselves, not meeting our own standards of ourselves, or falling short of who we truly are.

This is not entirely true. After all, how can I not be myself? When we are tested by the pains of circumstance and burned short at both ends, sometimes we get desperate. Desperate for a way out; desperate for a change; anxious, impatient, and intolerant. Maybe the opposite of those are not our strongest or most refined skills, but they are undeniable skills.

Like the 10 year old boy, or the 80 year old grandmother, they may appear to be physically feeble, and unable to lift even 30 lbs. over their heads, yet in desperate times, they may be very capable indeed. So, if people have the ability to channel all of their power into their delicate body to do extraordinary things when the going gets rough….

Maybe you can learn to be more patient in times when patience is asked of you.

Maybe you can learn to be more giving when others take from you.

Maybe you can learn to be more tolerant even under the most intolerant of circumstances.

And maybe you will find something great within yourself, something that you never really knew was there.

Settling the Particles and the Waves

I sometimes envision my thought as if they were different sized bits of sand, and my mind, water in some vessel. Particles of "thought" flow through the currents of the active "mind". The more the mind races, the more chaotic the thoughts are and the murkier the water is.

As my mind calms, I feel the velocity of the water slow, and I watch the sand settle behind my eyes. As the water stops, I realize that I am not my thoughts, these are things that I picked up along the way. And when I let them settle, I have clarity. There is no glass; there is no sand. I am not the river, nor am I the sea. I am more than a single drop. I am a piece of the great ocean, yet the great ocean I am not. I have no boundary, except I find myself contained only when I find myself surrounded in these "thoughts".