Your Song Of Love

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Celebrating Our Hearts

Valentine's Day comes only once a year, but we can celebrate our hearts every day of our lives.

It's the joy of letting our hearts sing with love all the time, in our many gestures throughout our days.

Defining Love

In our society, we typically think of love as being defined only between two people. Yet, most of our definitions of love are too limiting. Love is not confined to our friends and family.

We know love when we see a beautiful sunrise or sunset, when we gaze at the moon and the stars, when we stop to notice dewdrops on a blade of grass. Love expresses in a myriad of ways. Love flies in many dimensions.

It's possible to love everything. Our love is shared with animals, nature and our world that is all around us. Love is there when we answer the phone, prepare a meal, and tuck someone in at night.

Love reaches into the cellular level of our bodies and stretches out to the galaxies, far beyond our comprehension.

Fill Your Gestures With Love

Let all your daily gestures be filled with love. 

Real love unfolds naturally and quietly within us. Over time, we start to see how it expresses in our lives. 

Don't let anyone diminish your love.

Let your love move on the wind.

Let your heart sing its love song, just like the little birds singing in the forest.

 

Take a look at Lada Ladik on Instagram who created the heart-felt artwork included in this post. She has many creative hearts to share.

 

 

Fading Flowers And Love

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Flowers From Beginning To End

“When you love life totally, how can you avoid death?

You have to love death also.

When you love a flower deeply, you love its withering away also.

When you love a woman deeply, you love her getting old also, you one day love her death also. That is part of her life, part of woman.

Old age has not happened from the outside, it has come from the inside. The beautiful face has become wrinkled now – you love those wrinkles also, they are part of your woman.

You love a man and his hair has grown white – you love those hairs also. They have not happened from the outside; they are not accidents.

Life is unfolding and now the black hair has disappeared and the gray hair has come. You don’t reject the gray hairs, you love them, they are a part of the man.

Then your man becomes old, becomes weak – you love that too.

Then one day the man or the woman is gone – you love that too. ”
— Osho
 

What better teacher than Nature to capture the essence of birth and death and how love hums at the heart of it all?

Observing nature in my backyard, I decided to photograph the blossoming flowers. I positioned myself to capture their humble beginnings of greenery. Eager buds stretched forth as they pushed their way into the world. Twirling out of a spiral, they opened their petals to become the flower they were meant to be. 

Everyone loves flower buds and blossoms.

As I documented their journey through the lens of my iPhone camera, I began to wonder – why isn’t the entire process considered beautiful?

I came upon this quote by Osho and it captured what I was feeling. He gets to the core of the issue. We can love the entire process from beginning to end. We don't have to be limited only to the parts that our limited minds deem to be pretty.

 Even fading petals have a song to sing, don't they?

See the unfolding of the flowers in these photos:

Here, a flower opens its petals from within a spiral.

 Now the flower opens wide in a blaze of color and a fire burns at its center.

 The petals are shifting past their prime and begin to curl at the edges.

 The flower fades further, petals crumple more.

 The full glory of the flower is gone. One tenacious petal remains attached.

 All the petals are gone. Only the glowing ember of a flower remains.

Love From Beginning To End

As flowers bloom, age and wither, beauty can be seen in all the steps of the process.

Love is at the heart of the journey. A love without judgment of whether they’re at the beginning or the end or how frazzled we look when it’s all over. We tap into natural cycles and the love that connects us all.

In our meditations, we become aware of the conditioning and judgments we place on ourselves regarding what we can or cannot love.

We allowed to love the birth, but not the death. Yet, the dying process is our ultimate journey on Earth. It's not about being in love with death itself, but rather, holding love through the “final” process that awaits all of us.

Save This Article On Pet Loss For A Rainy Day

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A Reference For When Pet Loss Occurs

Mark this post so you can refer to it when needed. This contains the 4-Part Series of articles on pet loss. Save it in your favorites, on a Pinterest board, in Evernote or Dropbox, wherever it is that you save articles.

With all four of them in one post, you have quick and easy access. You won't have to hunt around for them.

Make a "note to self" where it is. You may not need it for another 5 or even 10 years. Hopefully your pets are strong and healthy as you read this. But one day, these articles will come in handy for you. This 4-part series won't tell you "what to do" – but, rather, give you ideas of what is available for you. You'll know, from deep inside, what is right in your situation.

Part 1 – The Sorrow In A Song Of Loss

This article starts at the moment when we know we have to say goodbye, in the initial days of loss. Expressed in short phrases when sorrow is great, because even long prose is too much weight to bear.

Perhaps only some of the phrases resonate for you or speak to you. That's okay. Sometimes just reading the words of loss of others helps us not to feel so alone.

There are also ideas of how to support yourself through loss with use of The Radiance Technique®.

 

Part 2 – Saying Goodbye To Our Pets

This article is the full process of saying goodbye to our pets. The decisions of how we will go forward with it – in-home euthanasia or taking the pet to the vet. Here we support in-home euthanasia and yet, acknowledge and respect different choices. 

An important tip here is the use of a chux during the process. In my experience, no one mentions this, so it will be up to you to advocate for yourself and have a chux ready, whether at home or at the vet.

 

Part 3 – Prepare For The Goodbye To Our Pets

This article looks at the preparation you may want to take for your goodbyes. Discussed is how students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) can support themselves and their pets with TRT® hands-on as well as directing of energy.

It also prepares you for how fast it is and supports you in the grieving process. It talks about deep grief, great love and the path we walk during this time.

 

Part 4 – Give Other Pets Time To Say Goodbye

What a blessing we give our other four-legged members of the family when we give them time to grieve and acknowledge that their furry comrade-in-arms has fallen. This is as important for the human members of the family as it is for the furry ones. 

Through many of the articles, we talk about Lap of Love – A Veterinary Hospice & In-Home Euthanasia as an in-home euthanasia service. They are a wonderful resource for information to help you and your pet through the end-of-life process. If they are not available in your area, check your local listings. Many other veterinarians offer similar, at-home services.

 

Create An End-of-Life Pet Fund

An important take-away from this series is the idea of setting aside an "end-of-life pet fund." Over these many years of happiness with your pets, it is worthwhile to set aside money in a special fund that won't be touched until the day comes. A little nest egg of even $300–500 will be a welcome relief when the time of loss arrives.

You will then be able to make decisions based on what your heart tells you, not just on what your wallet says. It gives you freedom of choice.

Prepare For Pet Loss

No one wants to think about this, that a time of goodbye looms ahead for all of us. Yet, I firmly believe "forearmed is forewarned" and knowing our choices ahead of time benefits everyone. 

Tuck this away, somewhere where you can find it again.

And, in the meantime, carry on – enjoy, play, and create all the love you are able to muster with your beloved pet. 

 

Hearts, Love and Saint Valentine

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Saint Valentine

February 14 – It's a day of flowers, chocolate, hearts and proclamations of romantic love.

On this day we commemorate St. Valentine as the patron saint of lovers.

Valentine earned this elevated standing with the greatest of sacrifices, his life. He chose to marry Christian couples against the edicts of the Roman Emperor, Claudius II.

 
 

Valentine In The Year 270 AD

The origins of St. Valentine are unclear, but it is thought he was executed on February 14 around the year 270. While imprisoned and awaiting execution, he befriended the jailer and his daughter who was beautiful and blind. St. Valentine performed a miracle and restored her sight.

Legend tells us that on the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the jailer's daughter and signed it...

 
“From your Valentine”
 

This was the very first Valentine.

St. Valentine is also the patron saint of bees and beekeepers. (Image above from Ithelda.) That makes sense if we're talking about the birds and the bees, but I think it's also due to the sweet nectar of honey. It's certainly a labor of love by our sweet bees.

 

Hearts Are For Everyone

Long ago, I abandoned the notion that love only exists between a romantic couple. While it's wonderful to celebrate romance, love is so much bigger.

Love takes many expressions and colorful hues.

As we get older, our lives reflect the expansion of this love. We start with love of only our nuclear family and then we often include someone else as a life partner. Children, relatives and in-laws are added into the mix.

Our Love Becomes Wider

Time passes and cycles shift. Children grow up and leave the house. Our love stretches out into wider circles, perhaps towards grandchildren and into the greater community. Our love expands like ever-widening ripples on a pond.

For the meditator, the journey shifts when love moves past a state of doing and becomes a state of being. In my post, The Winding Road of Life, I write about moving beyond the idea of "I love you" and into the discovery of simply being in a state of love.

You move past the idea of only loving someone. You begin to love nature and animals, ideals and causes. 

You move past exclusive love and widen your heart into inclusive love. A love that sees past your inner circle and embraces it all.

Expanding Our Hearts

In The New Expanded Reference Manual of The Radiance Technique®, Authentic Reiki®, Third Edition by Dr. Barbara Ray, Ph.D. — the entry on LOVE is found on page 144:

 

LOVE — Has the aspect of human or brotherly love which is referred to as love of the outer heart - love with an object. This kind of love is the warm feeling of affection felt or sensed from the chest/heart area, love from the lower planes. This kind of love is different from the love known as divine, spiritual, universal, Radiant Love that simply IS without external, outer stimulus or object.

You can use The Radiance Technique® for expansion of both of these kinds of love by focusing for extended times as a meditation the hands-on Front Positions #1 and #3; also Head Positions #2 and #3 for deeper insights into the vibration of Real Love.

 

In this text, Dr. Ray writes you can expand "both of these kinds of love" – neither excludes the other, we embrace it all. Our journey with our human heart is a part of our spiritual journey. All along the way, we learn more about real love.

Students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) can use their TRT® hands-on to expand their awareness of love in their meditations. One of the great aspects of TRT® is that you can use it in any situation. Even when you're not meditating – you still benefit from the supportive, loving energy.

Celebrate Heart Day

If we see St. Valentine's Day as more than romantic love, we enjoy it as one day of the year when we celebrate hearts of all kinds.

As in the quote from Mother Teresa, you are invited to burn with love not only for your heart throb, but for your family and community, your ideals, and the world at large.

What a day to celebrate our joyful hearts burning with love.

 

Where Is The Edge Of An Infinite Heart?

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An Infinite Heart Has No Edge

Questions abound.

Can we love to the ends of the Universe?

Can our hearts soar wide enough?

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
To hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.”
— William Blake
 

What Is The Infinite Heart Of Love?

Can we see every drop of existence and find the hidden passageway to its heart of love?

Can we fully know, beyond the limits of the mind, the exquisite light and healing love within every nano-molecule of existence?

Is this heart of love even within a grain of sand?

Let’s answer this with a resounding yes. These photos show the wonders that Dr. Gary Greenberg* discovered at the microscopic level in the sand on our beaches.

Flight Within The Inner Realms

Flying on this planet is so three-dimensional.

Flight within the realms of the inner planes is multi-dimensional. An inner journey is so vast and incomprehensible at our small human level, that it compels us to plop down right where we stand.

Our feet are whisked right out from under us in the wonder of it all.

Can we break these surly bonds without the aid of a flying machine?

Surly Bonds Will Not Contain Us

Off we go on your path of discovery into the infinite heart.

Let's meet each other there.

 

*photos by Dr. Greenberg used with permission

 

The Winding Road Of Life

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Heading Down The Road Of Life

On the "long and winding road" of life... we often find ourselves launched on a discovery process of personal growth.

The further we go into our awareness, the more we start to experience a shift of our focus. Instead of looking only at the minute details of every particular situation, our vision widens to a more inclusive, all-embracing view.

It's that common saying: you can't see the forest for the trees.

In this case, instead of seeing the trees, you start to see the forest.

Our perspective becomes more universal, like broad brush strokes sweeping through the inner landscape.

From Doing To Being

So much of our lives is about doing.

Doing, doing, doing – it becomes a chant of our daily lives. Accomplish this, finish that. Naturally, that's just what we do.

But over time, the accomplishments start to lessen. After all, we have already accomplished so much. It becomes less about the things I do and more about the steadiness of I am.

We shift from the I, and even the you, to a more inclusive state of being. A broader awareness emerges like widening ripples on an infinity pool.

As we move from doing to being, so does our love. Love that has been driven by accomplishment, love that has had to achieve love, now relaxes into simply being love.

Being Love Instead Of Doing Love

On the meditative journey, a shift begins.

The emphasis on doing transforms to a state of being.

Our loving is not so much something we attain and hold forth for all to see, but rather something we are. It's no longer based on the people or circumstances surrounding us.

You're not doing love. You are being love.

The object of your love fades away into pure love. The *I* and the *you* drop off and all you're left with is love.

I love you, I love you, I love you

I love, I love, I love

love, love, love

LOVE

 
“Eventually you will come to understand that love heals everything, and love is all there is.”
— Gary Zukav
 

I couldn't leave you without sharing The Beatles song I think of every time I hear the words "long and winding road."



 

When There Is Only Love

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When Nothing Is Left

It seems like nothing is left when those you love are gone.

After a death of a loved one, you're particularly clumsy and awkward as if you've acquired a unique ability to trip over any and everything.

When my father died, I would often hear a mantra echoing in my mind, telling me to "just hold on..." as I stumbled through my life. But I didn't know what I was supposed to be holding on to.

And Then I Remembered

There really is nothing to hold on to.

In the end, there is only Love.

And even that, you don't hold on to it. You just "be."

 

iconic image by Robert Indiana, 1960s