THE AMAZING RESULTS OF SHIFTING FROM LOOKING FOR and TRYING TO GET LOVE to BEING LOVING and CARING
How I learned to LOVE and discovered and tapped into the ocean of Love in my own heart.
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THE DAWNING LIGHT — Daily Journal Of Transformational Writing
Volume 8, Issue Number 923 for Sunday, May 5th, 2024
SPIRITUAL SOUP KITCHEN Section # 155 Stories written by Chinmayan to help you find your way in the challenges and demands of daily life…
All images in this story courtesy of Pixabay
HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE… and DISCOVERED THE OCEAN OF LOVE IN MY OWN HEART
When I recently published a story entitled “Love Is Our Purpose and Guiding Light”, one of my faithful readers commented with just two wistful words—- “Elusive Love.”
In case you missed that story, you can read it here:
I couldn’t help replying to her comment, and here is what I wrote to her…
“Thank you for commenting Dear Reader!”
I know that feeling very well…for me, it was always an aching in my heart, feeling something missing from my life, feeling loneliness so deeply that it seemed I would always be lonely, and that was very painful.
I could not understand why people I wanted to be close with had little interest in being close with me, didn’t see me and were often mean or annoyed.
I was trying to get love—like a thirsty man in the desert searching for water where none was to be found.
This longing to be loved, to share love and to love was a good thing in my case because it kept me engaged in searching for answers and ways to become free of the painful loneliness.
Fortunately, I met and became a student of realized teachers who knew the answer, had become beings of pure Love themselves and who patiently taught me the principles and gave me the tools,( the spiritual practices such as meditation, prayer, kirtan, mantra yoga and seva…selfless service) that I have used ever since on my own journey into the heart of Love.
Because I suffered so much from loneliness, and being bullied and ostracized all through my childhood, I was highly motivated to do the inner work necessary to free myself from suffering.
This gave me the desire, the power and the focus to devote myself wholeheartedly to learning HOW TO LOVE.
I realized early on that the key to everything I wanted and needed in the realm of Love depends on developing a real and expanding Love, appreciation and respect for myself.
I discovered that it is far harder to love myself than it is to love even my closest beloved.
In fact, when I started on this journey, I realized that I genuinely had fallen for believing I was not worthy of being loved, was not lovable, was ugly and worthless.
Later on, of course, I learned that whatever we believe about ourselves, be it positive or negative, creates our experiences and actually causes things to happen which reinforce those beliefs.
Over the years, I have developed an ever deepening, ever more profound pure Love relationship with my self…
Even though I have made many mistakes and done many things I deeply regret and still have many faults and failings to work through, I know I am not the things I have done.
I can forgive myself…and all those who have hurt me…. because I now know who I really am.
This forgiveness is vital, for until we forgive, we remain at the effect of the painful thing and person who hurt us, and this the source of so much our present misery.
Practicing forgiveness is an act of Love like releasing ourselves from a bitter prison sentence so that you are free and whole again. Forgiveness opens our hearts to the flow of Love again.
Only Love can reveal the truth to us and show us who we really are.
And here is one of the most important discoveries I have made, which when I saw this one night in deep prayer, changed my life for the better forever…
All the Love I will ever feel, share and give comes from inside me…that inside my own heart is a vast ocean of Love that is ready to be tapped into and freely expressed.
I saw that I didn’t feel it because my heart was tightly closed and had been for a long time.
So I asked to be shown how to open my heart so that the mighty rivers of Love within could flow out to others.
I am saying all this because Love is not elusive for me at all anymore.
Since then, I have discovered that the fundamental solution to my suffering is to shift from trying to get love…to giving Love and being a free flowing source of Love for myself and every one in my life and world…
My life now is full of Love of all kinds…from feeling the pure Love of the Divine in deep meditation to sharing loving relationships with “my” students, children, beloved, friends, community and the wonderful readers of “The Dawning Light” and out to the world and the universe.
Being Loving is now my primary spiritual practice which I engage in in every waking moment…
I learned a long time ago that if I want to be loved, I must be LOVING, beginning with loving myself.
The more I am able to love and accept myself, the more Love I have to give and share….and the greater my capacity to Love and to receive Love.
The beautiful thing is that when we Love ourselves and open our heart to loving others, it completely changes our perspective on life.
We see how miraculous, precious and wonderful life is… how full of blessings, potential and opportunities…and that there is so much more waiting and available to us on our journey to Love.
That is why I made the title of the original story “Love Is Our Purpose And Guiding Light”….because that is the way it really is. Love is the most powerful force in the universe. Love is our greatest need which gives our lives meaning, beauty and fulfillment.
When I realized that we all have a deep soul need to be living in Love—sharing Love, giving and being Loving and being Loved by others…I have been living by and for Love ever since…and that has made all the difference!
Calligraphy by Chinmayan
A HIGH ENERGY LOVE SONG THAT GOES PERFECTLY WITH THIS STORY»
“ALL FOR LOVE”by Felix Jaehn and Sandro Cavazza
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“Your greatest service to humanity is to attain your own Self Realization!” Ramana Maharshi
“When God is the center and focus of my life, everything else falls into its rightful place.”
—Chinmayan
reading thru falling tears…
🐝🐝🐝