February’s Theme is Love vs Fear
How can we acquire more hope, wisdom, and love in our lives that will ultimately lead to more joy? To try and delve into this further, I would like to look at what I consider to be ‘true love’, rather than the romantic Cinderella-story type of love. If we look at a deeper perspective of what love is to us as human beings, I believe it can have a profound effect on our life experience and bring us greater joy and peace every day.
As I consider this topic, I turn to a quote by David Richo for guidance in this article. If you have not heard of him, David Richo is a psychotherapist, teacher, workshop leader and writer, and you can find more information about him on his website, at www.davidricho.com. As for the quote, it comes from his book, entitled: “Shadow Dance: Liberating the Power and Creativity of Your Dark Side”.
So the quote is: “Hope grows from welcoming our positive shadow, since hope is about believing in the potential in us for a life that is greater than the one our frightened and limited ego has designed, a wisdom larger than our thinking mind can muster, and a love that is wider than that with which we embrace our immediate circle of friends.”
So “Hope grows from welcoming your positive shadow…”. Think about that for a moment. How tuned in are you to your positive side? I am not talking about the part of you that doubts who you are or what you are doing, or reflects on your past in an unhealthy way. That can limit you because of fears or reactions to past situations that have absolutely nothing to do with the present. You need to get out of that dark, negative side and into the light, positive view of yourself; the light of love, of being present in current situations and accepting what is, who you are and who others are. I bring this up a lot because it is important to talk about and consider. It has a huge impact on how you see and think about yourself and others, and how much you are able to love yourself and others. It really affects every aspect of your life.
David Richo goes on to say that hope is: “…believing in the potential in us for a life that is greater than the one our frightened limited egos have designed”. Why would our egos (or our minds) be frightened? You have probably seen me address ego in other writings before – or heard me talk about it. The more you hear me talk about ego, the more you can reflect on it and see that it feeds off of fear. Ego feeds off of fear. The more you start to witness that, the more you will see that it is true. Then, through that realization, you should be able to step out of the fear and limiting perceptions in your mind (in your ego), and step into hope and the unlimited potential that exists in all of us. We each have a unique gift, but we will not know what it is until we step out of fear and pursue our full potential.
How does David address wisdom? He says: “A wisdom larger than the thinking mind can muster”. We really have such great wisdom available to us; far beyond our conscious level of thinking. Our conscious mind is the part of us that thinks it is in control, comes up with solutions, rationalizes and analyzes everything. There is so much more to our minds than that. When we learn to get out of that conscious mind, we can tap into the wisdom that is far beyond our thinking mind. How do we get there? I have lots of information on how to do it, so please contact me if you would like more information. It is possible, and I can help.
As for love, David Richo ends the quote by saying: “…and a love that is wider than that which we embrace in our immediate circle of friends.” We know what love feels like, to some degree in our lives. We experience it, but most of us only experience it with our ‘close circle’; typically our family, or some aspect of family, and friends. The love we give and receive to our parents, our children, brothers, sisters and other family members is one form. But the kind of love that moves beyond; that is something you can experience and come to recognize, appreciate and enjoy, and goes much deeper. That is the love that brings us greater joy and peace, and includes loving ourselves and other people who are not ‘family’. It is possible to experience it in all its fullness, and I have lots of ways to help you grow in this area as well.
So I highly recommend you read David Richo’s books and check out his website. If you would like some help implementing ways of growing in these areas of your life, please contact me. I sincerely ‘hope’ you are able to bring more hope, wisdom and love into your life, so you can experience greater joy. Thanks for reading. InJoy your day!