Waking Up to Love

My best friend got married this weekend. I was in the wedding and got to see all of the festivities from start to finish. Nichole and I have never liked each other's boyfriends in college. It brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart to see her so happy with her now husband. I really like him a lot and know that they make a great match. So as I was surrounded by love, in the deep sense, not the superficial kind, I am reminded how we can all wake up to love even more.

There is a picture of a heart with the word love across it that hangs on the wall opposite my bed. I put it right where I can see it every morning. I want to remind myself that I am love, that I do love, and to call love into my life in all forms every single day. So every morning without hesitation, I open my eyes and take a moment to look at the picture of love.

It is a reminder to live from my heart and to allow myself to stay open to the ever-present love that is all around us at all times, with or without a significant other to share it with. Of course, having someone to share it with is amazing, but the true love, the unconditional love is always there if we just let go of the baggage many of us carry on our heart. We have all been through many trials and tribulations, things that can make our hearts close up, never to have to feel those horrible feelings ever again. We have all lost loves that make our hearts ache so deeply we don't ever want to hand our hearts over again for fear of that loss. There lies the problem. So we begin to build walls around our hearts, sometimes fortresses, or castles of such thickness that any sledgehammer, drill or piece of machinery could not knock them down, no matter how hard it tried.

Can we knock our walls down and be more open? From someone who knows a thing or two about having walls and then knocking them down, it is a much more free feeling. But it does not happen overnight. It takes time, patience and compassion. But once the walls start coming down you are able to feel that love, the love that is always around. It is such a blissful feeling. I hope that everyone can feel it. I believe it can happen. Why do we stay closed off to it? Why does it seem safer to be angry and/or emotionally unavailable? I think because after so long of being closed off to a lot of feelings that just becomes "who we are." If we really let go of our pain and anger, then who would we be? The ego gets in the way because it makes us believe that that is who we are, how we have always been and if that goes away we will not really be ourselves. In fact it is just the opposite. We become more than we ever thought was possible. Our imaginations could never have even fathomed what we can become, because we are still looking at things with the blinders on. The blinders only allow us to see a small portion of life, of ourselves and of those around us. When we begin to take them off, we see there is soooo much more than we have ever known just waiting for us to acknowledge it.

Can we take our blinders off? Can we stop associating who we are with our feelings and attaching ourselves to our own pain and suffering? Can we knock down our walls? Can we begin to let a deeper love in than we have ever known before? I say Yes!

The light from the sun feeds us and keeps us alive. Get in touch with the light. Let it penetrate through the pain and darkness. Open up and receive it. Don't be afraid to let it in.

So take a moment and really see all the love around you. Wake up to it. Remind yourself everyday that you are love and you can have that kind of love. It is really that simple. Stop associating with the pain and suffering. Stop feeding into the collective society's consciousness of fear. Stay true to your heart. Take time to pause and listen to it. It will give you the answers you are longing for. Let's all wake up to love...

Much Love and Light,

Erin

The Masks We Wear

As Halloween has come to an end, it makes me think of disguises. Of not being able to recognize people. They are all dressed up with wigs, masks, makeup and look nothing like their true selves. That reminds me of the masks we wear in everyday life that keep our true inner essence from shining through. Think for a moment of all the masks you wear on a daily basis: family member, daughter, son, friend, school, work, social, anti-social, workout, business, cook, pedestrian, driver, etc. There is a long list that we fit in to and we act differently with each different set of "masks" we put on. For instance, you don't act like you are at a bar when you are at work, or maybe you do and that is what it is. But you see what I am trying to say.

We wear many different masks in this world. The trick is to see if you are just wearing the mask and covering up your true inner nature, or if you can still be in certain roles, doing certain things, but allowing consciousness to come through. Allowing yourself to be present no matter what role, or mask is there.

Sometimes we are so hidden behind our masks that we don't even know who we really are any more. That is why it is so important to do the inner work. To check in on a daily basis and meditate and see what is trying to come through you. Pausing for a moment from a busy day to get quiet and listen. Who are you? What do you want?

The masks are sometimes really hard for us to take off, but when we do we can get real about who we are and what we want. Sometimes that person might shock you. You may think I would never do "fill in the blank here" and suddenly that is what you want to do. I started painting, doing ballet, going to places I wouldn't normally go, all because I got rid of who I thought I was. Again the limitation talk. But it is relevant. Especially at Halloween with all of our masks.

So take some time to take off the masks and be who you really are. Whoever that may be, whatever that looks like. Just be with it and investigate it.

Now that Halloween is over and the masks have been stored away for next year, take time to investigate the masks that keep you from being who you truly are. Take them off for a while and walk around without that added weight. Do a little dance, write, go mountain climbing, biking or take a vacation. Do something that makes you feel good all the way to your soul. Yoga is great for that! You don't need the masks any more. Give yourself permission to just be you, naked without the mask. But totally alive and open!

That is the biggest treat you can give yourself and no one can trick you out of it!

Love and light,

Erin