Everyday we have together is a gift,
a gift to experience the reflection of love in this world.
Not love as tally sheets, quantifiable and solid.
Love as the great expansiveness inside of ourSelves.
Let love shine,
let love free,
let love lead.
Let love, and the grief of the temporary nature of this specific life form,
break open the bonds of separation, so that we may live as One.
❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
On the journey of waking up to ourselves, that is living from our conscious creative awareness, rather than our patterned thoughts and reactions, we learn love in a new way. Love becomes not a thing or even a sensation, but rather a tender ground from which we operate.
I had a fender bender last week in a parking lot. I was pulling out of my spot, when a woman next to me backed into the front of my car. I felt my body tense, and experienced a rush of adrenaline. I walked out of my car to survey the damage and to speak with the other driver. We both looked at the cars and then our eyes met. In this moment, my intuition was to reach my arms out in an embrace of this woman. Before I could think about it, I did just that, my arms opened wide, I took a step towards her, and for just a split second she seemed to welcome the hug. Just as suddenly it was as if she remembered that she was upset. She stopped her body, and started to speak.
"Oh my, oh no, how did this happen? This is so bad... look at this, the day is ruined."
The rest of our interaction went about how these moments go, exchanging insurance information, taking photos of the damage. I found myself quiet, present, allowing all of the pieces to unfold as we went through the process together. I was not upset by what had happened personally, though there was an energetic quality of an event passing through my body. I stayed present, listened, assured her quietly that indeed she'd backed into me, and slowly she put the pieces together too and remembered seeing me parked next to her.
Soon after I was back on the road. Car, for the most part, fine, and what I noticed after that was the fact that I was worried about her. Was she okay? Would filing a claim on her insurance be a hardship for her financially? I let these thoughts also pass and sent love out to her on her own walk through life, as I continued on mine.
But what kept coming back to me afterwards... over and over visiting my mind... was that almost hug. She almost said yes, she almost accepted my loving embrace. I didn't decide to hug this person from my thoughts, that action moved through my body, out into the world, grounded in love.
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Paige Doughty is a personal counselor and creative business coach. My approach helps clients free themselves from the confines of their own patterned thoughts to live in the present with authenticity and joy. I draw from Eastern spiritual traditions, 14 plus years of spiritual study and practice and my experience as an educator, performer, doubt-filled teenager, and mother to guide people toward living without suffering.
Are you ready to step off of the “wheel of suffering” and experience the “un-caused joy” of life that lies within?
Text or email to schedule an introductory phone call.
