Welcome to January! I hope your year is off to a beautiful start.

I wanted to share something I read from Ram Dass the other day:

I am not interested in being a lover
I am only interested in being love

It was immediately imprinted in my brain, and I felt a tug at my heart.

In a moment I knew that this would be my psalm for 2019. That one of my primary intentions for the year would be to meet each situation, discussion, circumstance, and hardship with love.

I don’t really like to talk about love. I often feel like it instantly implies a hearts-and-flowers flavor of sappiness. But Ram Dass got me thinking about it differently. I started asking myself:

What exactly does it mean to BE love? And what does it mean to me personally?

These are big questions, and these are the answers that came to me…

Love is not always soft
Love can be a source of strength
Love is boundaries
Love is a choice
Love is tenderness
Love is warmth
Love is generosity
Love is patience
Love is discipline
Love is choosing the hard thing
Love is showing up
Love is beautiful
Love is messy
Love is painful
Love is fullness
Love is emptiness
Love is loneliness
Love is a puppy
Love is irritation
Love is possibility
Love is saying no
Love is flow

ALL things are love. Even the things we think we hate.

This all sounds good on paper, but does it work in real life? I got to find out…

The past two weeks I’ve been away enjoying family and the outdoors at our cabin in the Catskills. After the kids and company left, I got a glimpse of retired life with my husband.

I love that man unconditionally, but for whatever reason, the last few days of vacation were no vacation. He was irritating me – like when you have an eyelash stuck in your eye. It was not good.

I thought, okay, here’s your opportunity to open up and act differently.

Rather than getting tense, I encouraged myself to get curious about why I was feeling annoyed, and approach my husband with tenderness and understanding.

Interestingly, nothing really changed about the situation, yet in a way, everything changed.

When I made this shift I quickly noticed I didn’t feel annoyed or tense any longer. In fact, I was surprised by how much love and gratitude I felt for this guy sitting in front of me.

It was really profound.

I felt a fierce, quiet strength within me. An open space of tenderness and warmth.

Maybe seeing EVERYTHING as love does work. I’m not sure, but I’m going to keep investigating.

What’s your definition of love, and how can you perhaps expand that definition to include darker emotions and elements?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

With love,
Michele

P.S. Save the dates for my upcoming 2019 events – more info coming soon!

2/26
Explore the Practice of Loving Kindness 
Deepen Your Meditation Practice 

4/1
Work with Your Emotions Through Meditation

4/10
Explore the Ancient Tibetan Mind-Training Practice of Lojong

4/14
All-Day Retreat at the JCC 

4/30
Mindful Meditation Immersion with Kula