“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.”
~ Zora Neale Hurston
When it comes to matters of the heart, wouldn’t it be great if I could offer you some rose scented incense, and help you get back into camel pose, and all your heartache would be gone? It isn’t quite so easy is it?
What is true forgiveness?? Through my own understanding, it means “making space for the new”.
Carolyn Myss, a highly gifted medical intuit, says that when she reviews the energies running through her patients bodies, she finds this:
80% of our energy relates to the past, 15% to the future, leaving only 5% interacting with the present.
What does it mean to live a life in the present? Last night, we were out to dinner with some friends. The friendship is fairly new, which allowed for alot of story telling about our mutual pasts. It was funny to hear Spencer recount a story he shared with his brother. The emotions of the past where totally brought into the present, with nearly the same degree of heartfelt intensity as when the story took place.
Dr Page writes: “Resonating from the heart chakra, through unconditional love, we become able to transform our need to condemn into compassion, understanding and forgiveness. We also offer forgiveness to ourselves.”
When we bring the energetics of the past into the present, we lose our opportunity to make the situation right, or even to let it go. To see the truth that all situations are simply a function of our frail human nature. To see that we are all the same deep at heart. To seek the lesson to be learned. To make peace. To laugh. To forgive.
“To cling to the past through unexpressed emotions which have often been boxed up and placed in the attic, denies the soul the chance for full intimate connection with itself. Even though the packages are “out of sight” they are certainly not “out of mind”. And their contents will eventually seep out of their hiding place and erode the very fabric of life, especially our physical body.” The contents love to spill out, especially on our yoga mats ….
Think about how much energy goes into holding a grudge. If you are holding on to one, doesn’t it literally hurt? When we hold onto a grudge, we are hurting ourselves. Just as my opening quote by Tony Robbins expressed yesterday: “Forgiveness is a gift you actually give yourself!!”
Why don’t we forgive? Dr. Pages feels it’s probably because such a powerful release of old attachments would propel us into a trans-personal world where we would find ourselves in service, guided not by “our will”, but by “thy will”. She asks: Are you willing to take the risk to forgive and be loved unconditionally?
“Here we find the pains, the shame, the disappointments, the hurt, the feelings of loss, the tears and even the deep feelings of connection which overwhelm us. It is time to move on, allowing these feelings to surface, accepting their presence without judgement and absorbing them into our being with forgiveness and compassion. Only then can the heart be free and unbounded. And only then can we experience the exquisite and extraordinary power of love.”
Only then can we live completely in the present. Living our remaining time here on earth in a state of bliss. In a state of what Buddha calls Nibanna, the yogi Samadhi, the Christian heaven on earth.
“Unconditional love cannot be given. True unconditional love is a state of being, when we are totally in alignment with our soul and resonating with the greater truth. Where labels become unnecessary.”
What keeps us from reaching this promised higher state of being?? To achieve such ecstasy, our hearts need to be clear from any impediment that would prevent us from loving ourselves fully and embracing the entry of all beings and all situations into our heart center. We are so afraid of being in this place of total surrender that what we do is disassociate. We create an illusion of reality, a soap opera of sorts, where we can live undisturbed, nursing our fear of losing ourselves to the bliss of love.
Here’s a listing of just a few of the many ways that, because of fear, we keep ourselves from becoming immersed in the loving life force and experience of eternal love and light.
- Numbing ourselves Drugs, alcohol, gambling, smoking, excessive sex
- Distraction ourselves with television, computer, books and hobbies
- Becoming a workaholic, so busy and so much in demand
- Being overly serious, or the opposite, making light of every aspect of life
- Controlling one’s world through criticism, cynicism and skepticism
- Taking on the responsibility of caring, fixing and rescuing everybody
- Provoking confrontation and remaining angry, bitter and vengeful
- Becoming introverted, aloof and avoiding confrontation
- Over-talking rather than being still
- Over-analyzing, always asking questions and living in the head, avoiding spontaneity
- Living in a permanent state of anxiety about the future
- Preoccupation with the regrets of the past
- Playing power games as the rescuer, controller, pleaser, victim, martyr and guilt tripper
- Being to busy saving the world to commit to saving oneself
What methods do you use to avoid this deep connection with yourself and the Universe? What fears do you hold about loving and being loved unconditionally? About surrender?
As you go through the day, see how much emotional energy you invest in digging up the past and projecting into the future. Can you recall this list, and see how your own attitudes and actions are preventing you from experiencing the peace and joy found in the present moment??
For myself, I found this list to be VERY helpful and enlightening. I still have work to be done 😉
