The Greatest is Love

Happy New Year! I love the feeling of fresh starts and renewed hope at the beginning of each year. I always like to set my goals for the period ahead, realizing they will likely shift and transform as I go. This time the goals I came up with weren’t just for me, but rather suggested goals for anyone who cares about humanity and what is happening right now for us in this country. These goals are the topic of my first 2017 blog; The Greatest is Love.

After the election we just experienced, and who SOMEHOW mysteriously won, and is now leading our country...ringing in the New Year with a reminder of the tremendous power of love seemed vital. We aren’t talking romantic love, but rather a genuine love and concern for all living, for all life.

The message in this popular quote can be found in most spiritualties, “For there are these three things that endure: Faith, Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is Love”. So if love is the most powerful force, how can we use it to heal the planet?

Working with love is especially important for us to hold close to our hearts in 2017, after the messages of hate and separation that transpired around the elections, and the energy and actions that now threaten to challenge the health and safety of the world. We can look at this as our nation's wake-up call. At the eleventh hour and 59 minutes to go, right when we needed to implement all we have at our disposal to save the planet, we get a president who doesn’t want to believe in climate change, incites hate, devalues women, rouses feelings of separation, instead of unity, undoing decades and decades of progress. He wants to restart the nuclear arms race, which could end the human race…and the list goes on.

How could this happen? Those of us who are aware, having done the inner work and who continue to raise our own consciousness, thought many more were right there with us. We believed this could be a pivotal time of mass awakenings and peace. Instead, this will be a time of greatest challenge.

I had tea with my friend Marie O’Neill who is a counselor. She shared Deepak Chopra’s insight on the elections. Apparently a purpose is being served. According to him, we are having a mirror held up to ourselves and Trump is showing us our society’s shadow and how far, far down we have gone. Humanity’s priorities and principles are being fueled by fear, hate, consumerism , lack of compassion for others outside of their inner circle, too much technology, superficiality. People hide behind the internet to criticize and attack anyone for anything. From the mindless shows and films that we watch, to our own actions and in-actions, the inner life and consciousness of so many has nearly been shut down. We are kept focused outward by our countless gadgets and our busy pace. Most don’t even realize that they are only skimming across the surface. We have lost so much.

In March 2016 Deepak Chopra was interviewed on FoxBusiness.com, where he said “He [Trump] represents a state of collective consciousness of fear that has dormant prejudice and hatred. He is inspiring that in those people that it already exists but is lying dormant and he is the catalyst for bringing it out. So this is a moment of sobriety for all of us to see that this is part of our dark side," Chopra said.

This is a wake-up call folks, and one that cannot be ignored, without ramifications no one will want to be here to experience. Never has there been a time where it’s more important to bring in the loving, tolerant, courageous, nurturing, healing energy, supported by positive action. The call to action is extremely important…some will hear it, some will try to simply keep skimming across the surface, not wanting to so much as change their routine.

By the way, even if you voted for Trump, you still have a mind of your own. You may disagree with some of his stances that do feel destructive deep in your gut around the areas mentioned. Wonderful. You are also encouraged to take part in creating heartfelt, positive changes.

Spiritualities have their strengths and pitfalls if misused. Too often the love movement has been a form of escapism, and escapism and love are not the same. Escapism and peace are not the same. Love and peace require a sense of responsibility, determination, faith, hope, honor, courage, work and at times the journey to get there can involve some pain….which are things the faux love movement wants to avoid. The main goal there is to feel good at all times. Doing this is like the ostrich with the head in the sand while the whole world self-destructs. Guess what? …the ostrich is going bye-bye too. We all need to pitch in for this last pitch effort to work.

This love movement needs action. Never has there been a more important time for us all individually and collectively to ask, what gifts, what talents do I bring to the table? How can I help…and more importantly, how can we unite, remove the illusionary blocks that separate us from each other and truly, deeply connect with others here and around the world to bring in transformation?

Anne Baring and Scilla Elworthy implore us to do this in their book Soul Power,

“First we must understand that the crisis of our times is not only an ecological, political and financial crisis but a spiritual one. The answers we seek will not come from the limited consciousness that now rules the world. They can only grow from a deeper understanding born of the union of heart and head.

The union would enable us to see that all life is one, that each of us participates in a cosmic life of immeasurable dimensions.

Our health and the health of the planet require this deeper insight, this sense of belonging to a greater whole. It alone can help us to recover values that have been increasingly lost until we now live without them—and without noticing that they are gone.”

If we are to find a positive in all that is happening now, and in regards to having this mirror held to our faces, more people are noticing that they are gone. Never have so many been motivated to take action. We can see that we need to speak up or things will get worse, a lot worse. The plans of any president starting the nuclear arms race, for example, is a terrifying thing. A link to an important read on that topic can be found below.

We can meet the challenging times by turning them into a time of massive transformation. Also, I will bring this up again and again until it’s resolved, while there is still such great imbalance of yin and yang energy, the planet can’t be healed. We need more women filmmakers…journalists, women in leadership positions…our perspective has much to contribute.

Marie suggested whenever possible, it is more powerful taking action for something, rather than taking action against something. Because the minute you are pushing against something you give it energy. The opposition that the later strategy creates might just lead to the very kinds of conflict, you seek to avoid. I very much agree that this generally is the best option for positive results, though I believe there are exceptions to that rule in emergency situations and I believe we are in such an emergency situation at this time. We need to start a peaceful resistance in order to not allow a terrifying takeover of this country, with someone in power who does not represent the heart and soul of the rest of us, and has the power to do unthinkable damage.

There are also times where there is no option but to fight...it should be a last resort. Especially now, a peaceful, but powerful resistance is our best option, or we could be playing into the hands of a planned coup, using the excuse of civil disobedience.

So think more about the good you can be putting into the world in consistent ways and how to connect with others. Give it some thought first, get out in nature, meditate, reflect, read, work on raising your own consciousness. Every time one person raises their consciousness and awareness, it raises the entire vibratory field a notch.

The important thing is, after reflecting, choose something from the heart you can do and pledge to put in the time and effort to make a positive difference there. What could this look like? Journalists and mediamakers need to stay authentic and not allow themselves to be bullied into not speaking up and reporting the truth. They need to listen to their higher self and create media that heals, raises our mass consciousness and connects people at this critical time in history. What a powerful soul mission that would be. No more destructive propaganda, but rather ousting only those guilty and protecting the innocent. This is a time for the people unite in order to recognize our kindred connection and for world peace.

Additionally, mediamakers, and the general public, can share this call to action, encouraging the others to look and see what they can uniquely give. We can work to save the environment, especially now...we can get behind an effort to save an endangered species, give aid to a victim’s group, or a hand to the underprivileged, teach tolerance, help in and help in other lands, teach work skills, get involved with a cause you feel connected to, help abused women recover, give a child a sense of belonging, collaborate, and we ALL must speak-up and lobby our leaders to also do the right thing...the list is endless! Have your voice heard! act! …and do it all coming from the powerful place of love.

~.~

We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace. - William Gladstone

Link to Article on Nuclear Arms Race Warning, from an Insider: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/william-perry-nuclear-weapons-proliferation-214604