This is the third in a series of blogs expanding on easy ways to make the world a better place even when you have a chronic illness. It was a big New Year’s resolution I set myself, but it’s much easier than it might seem! Tip 1 was all about approaching it with intention and extreme permissiveness. Tip 2 was all about contributing to world healing simply by focusing on just being yourself and paying attention to healing yourself. Today I’m going be talking about Love.
The thing that will have the most power to change the world is love, and each and every one of us has the power to contribute to that! Love doesn’t have to be expressed through energetic activities or grand acts, it’s more a case of allowing it to flow through us; letting go of fear and holding it in the forefront of our consciousness.
7 ways to bring more love into the world:
- Learn to love yourself
To truly be able to bring more love into the world we need to believe that everybody is unconditionally worthy of love and that means us too! Practising self-love is a way of developing your ability to be loving towards all others. Loving kindness can be approached as a skill that needs practice, any practice you put in with yourself will pay off with others too! Another benefit of loving yourself is that you’ll be more likely to take responsibility for taking good care of yourself which will mean you’ll be less of a burden to others and are more likely to be contributing to world healing.
- Value unconditional love
Unconditional love is all about recognising our sameness. As humans we all have the same needs and the same emotional response to the perception of whether or not those needs are getting met. We all have potential for antisocial acts depending on how we perceive ourselves or our loved ones to be under threat or missing out on important needs. Believing that everyone is worthy of unconditional love, to me is all about believing that if people feel safe and loved and peaceful they will have no compulsion to act antisocially. In addition, when people feel that there are no conditions to being loved, they are free to develop their true talents. I want to be able to contribute to an environment that allows people to show their best side and contribute their true and natural talents to the world, and that can only be achieved with unconditional love.
- Prayer, wishes, visualization and meditation
Paying conscious attention to practising something means that it’s more likely to come to you more spontaneously. But on top of that I believe in love as an energetic force. Practise it; pay attention to it and you’ll be changing the energy of the universe in a positive way. There are many ways to consciously introduce a low energy love practice into your day. Pray; aim to silently wish everyone you meet happiness, joy and laughter; spend a little time before you go to sleep bringing somebody to mind and imagining them being happy, healthy and experiencing the wonderful feeling of being loved; practise a loving kindness meditation regularly; use meditation and visualisation to connect with the universal source of love and allow it flow through you.
- Trust that your love is infinite, loving is never an energetic drain
There have been times during my illness that felt so depleted that I thought that I had nothing to give. But I’ve been lucky enough to discover that that belief is erroneous. I discovered that during those times, the best thing I can possibly do is aim to share love in some way. Love has an infinite source, by opening up to sharing it, you open yourself up to it flowing into you. When we feel depleted like that, we don’t really need others make the first move and give love to us, we just need to unblock the flow!
- Be present to time spent with loved ones
It’s so easy to take the time you spend with loved ones for granted but this restricts the flow of love. Love flows so much more fully when we pay attention to it and can appreciate it in the present moment. If we can be mindful of our love whilst we are spending time with loved ones, we are adding to the flow of love in the world. This kind of mindfulness is often overlooked by people caught up in the rat race of every day life. As chronic illness thrivers we have a special opportunity to offer a gift that others are less likely to realise they could offer! We can also serve by teaching our loved ones the benefits of this kind of attention and presence!
- Set your intention every morning to be loving and kind
I’ve found that by setting an intention to be loving and kind every morning (at the end of my meditation practice) I am more likely to notice opportunities to practise it. I also tend to become more aware in the moments when my fear or impatience are getting in the way. With that awareness I am able to change track and choose to be more loving and kind.
Pay attention to all the things you love; all the love that you have in your life and you will attract more of the same. By attracting more of it you are adding to the flow in the universe. You’ll also be happier and more peaceful and more able to naturally and spontaneously spread more love in the world!
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