A week or so ago I attended a weekend retreat headlined by don Miguel Ruiz. He had a very simple message….you are love and you create the dream in which you live in. While this message is something that my logical mind can accept and process. Living according to this truth is a whole other thing. Let’s face it, the word love is overused and misused. So consequently when I hear that word it carries with it many unintended connotations.There always seems to be so many conditions. Ruiz also says that words are just agreed upon symbols, so can I find another symbol that captures his intent? I may have to sit with that for awhile.
So this week’s Card for Contemplation is asking us to go beneath the word. To master something means that it is more than an intellectual concept and even beyond the experience of love. It is about living love. Even as I write this I know I am yet to master love. I know I have felt immense love at times in my life, and I’ve philosophized about it, but do I live love daily? Am I love embodied? If it is true that we are love, then we do not have to conjure it or manufacture it. We simply have to remove the blocks that keep us from being who we are. What is this block for you? Do you have more than one?
For this week’s meditation technique I invite you to sit quietly and begin by breathing deeply into the body. Exhale slowly and allow the body to deeply release and relax with each out breath. Do this three or four times. Then I want you to bring your awareness into the heart center and imagine breathing in and out through the heart. Find your own rhythm and pace and let the breath move easily and freely through the body. Do this for ten breaths or so. Now in the calm and relaxed space, I want you to introduce the mantra Aham Prema. Aham means I am, and Prema means love. It includes divine love, human love, and universal love. Repeat the mantra to a sense of completion.
I have chosen to use Aham Prema versus just saying I am love because, for me, I have no connotations or meaning attached to it.