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Thursday, February 24, 2011

How to be an expression of love in the world

Susyn Reeve

Susyn is the author of Choose Peace and Happiness and cofounder of SelfEsteemExpert.com and WithForgiveness.com.

If not now, when? ~ Mikhail Gorbachev


If today were my last day on Earth and I could share 500 words of brilliance with the world, here are the important things I'd want to pass along to others...

I apprenticed with don Miguel Ruiz many years ago. I repeatedly heard him say, "There are 10,000,000 ways to express your love." There was something about this statement that echoed through me and yet I didn't immediately explore what it actually meant in my daily life.

Then one morning while on a journey in Teotihuacan, Mexico, with don Miguel, I heard him repeat the words, "There are 10,000,000 ways to express your love." This time, rather than simply echoing through my mind, the words took up residence.

As I walked the grounds and climbed the pyramids of this sacred Aztec site my focus was first directed inward as I asked myself, 'What are the 10,000,000 ways to express love?' Some obvious ones popped into my mind: hugging, giving compliments, remembering special occasions of family and friends, making love...and then I had a thought: look around you all day today and see the ways people are expressing their love.

So my eyes focused outward with the clear instruction to notice and see what love looks like. Suddenly love was all around me. This is what I saw: someone holding a door open for someone else is an act of love, someone picking up a piece of rubbish from the ground is an act of love, someone sharing a snack with someone is an act of love...and the list went on and on.

And then I remembered something I had learned so many years earlier that every action we take has the potential to be an expression of love. It is the energy we embody, the way in which we view the world that determines whether or not we are expressing love. The same action can be love making or rape, savoring the flavors of a meal or gluttonously inhaling the very same meal never noticing the taste.

Each one of us decides if our thoughts, words and actions are expressions of love or not. When I remember that all beings are divine creations and that we are One then love flows. When I judge and separate as good or bad, or right or wrong, I place conditions on love. I love you but not you - and this thought stops the flow of love in my life.

Since returning home from that magical journey to Teotihuacan, I generally declare at the beginning of each day, 'Today I am the world's greatest lover. I express my love in all that I think, all that I say and all that I do.' Yes, there are days I forget and when I do turning my attention to being the world's greatest lover generally gets me right back on track!

Allow today to be the day you let your love flow and join me in being the world's greatest lover.


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