A couple of weeks ago Janni Lloyd wrote the following in a comment on this blog…
The more we open our hearts to each other, embrace our differences and, in so doing, love all aspects of ourself, the more aliveness our physical body has.
Thank you Janni for leaving these beautiful words! I’d like to explore this concept further, and this is how I see it…
Life is expansive
Many people say they don’t want to live forever, that at some point they may want to explore more than “this world”, or else start a new life on Earth with new adventures. They refer to dying as though it is just a matter of slipping away… no big deal.
The thing is, life is naturally expansive. The more we love, the more we live! Aging and dying don’t just happen—we kill ourselves off with all our crappy angers and resentments and guilts and fears. We shut ourselves down.
Then, because we live in a loving universe, we are given another chance at incarnation so we can learn to love and not wipe ourselves out. Chance after chance, actually, until we get it right.
The world is our mirror
How can we “get it right”? One way is to choose to see everything around us as a reflection of our inner condition… we can only be upset by the people who inhabit our world if they are showing us something about ourselves.
If we work through an issue “pushing our buttons”, we find that the love and connection that is naturally there anyway can shine through—our hearts open, and the differences between us become inconsequential. We are accepting a part of ourselves we had been denying. We feel different—we feel more… alive.
And we know deep down when we need to clear something up—I’m not suggesting we should all go and make friends with the local crooks!
Endless aliveness
If we keep opening to love, our aliveness will keep blossoming. Why should this ever end?
A note: Many loving people have died, of course. The way I reconcile this with the sentiments above is by knowing that our sub-conscious minds hold fears and false beliefs—by definition we don’t even know what they are. By becoming more conscious we can clear these out, but not everyone has had the chance to do this.
What do you think about this? Comments are welcome.
I think you are on a good route with this post, Robin. Yes, loving people die too: accidents and sickness are still there, but even should their life last one second, thely live more than those who hate, worry and feel guilt.
.-= Miguel de Luis´s last blog .."The thing is, life is naturally expansive. The more we love, the more we live! Aging and dying don’t…" =-.
Hi Robin,
Beautiful post and a lovely way to start my day! When we once understand that there is no separateness and only see ONE, then loving becomes easy. Only in separateness do we judge etc. We are all in this to contribute to the whole…and, every experience, including the death of loving people is part of this. That is the role that they chose to play before coming to earth and we must honor it because it does contribute to the experience of the WHOLE.
There is not one role better or higher in position than another. Learning to love ourselves because of what we perceive to be faults is the key to loving everything without judgment.
Everything really is exactly as God would have it and we need to honor and love all of it and quit creating negatives!
I love your blog!
Kathy
.-= Kathy Dobson´s last blog ..Tweet Dynamite…Grab it at a Discount =-.
Hi Robin – I’ve long believed that emotions alter body chemistry sufficiently to create hospitable environments for maladies to thrive. This would be the flip side of healing yourself via attitude, which has been proven to be effective in many instances. It seems as though it’s not a big jump to prevention of illness via attitude, which is what you’re saying. If we reduce and remove the threats to biological life – primarily illness and systemic failure – with preventive maintenance, including emotional health to govern optimum chemistry, we’ve removed the obstacles to living longer with more joy. Jettison the negative and full speed ahead! 🙂
.-= Betsy Wuebker´s last blog ..ALL GLORY IS FLEETING – THE SEPTEMBER GARDEN =-.
Robin, powerful thinking here. It’s amazing how I can “already know” much of what you say, but the knowledge kind of slides into the shadows and dozes, until someone’s words tickle it awake again.
“The world is our mirror” is an example — heck, I know this! But haven’t thought about it for awhile. Now I am again, and I realize I get to know myself more every day through this mirror, and maybe this “getting to know me” will never end? Like trying to count the infinite number of facets in an eternal diamond.
To Kathy: Your words so remind me of something my daughter put up on her wall when she was a teen: “God is Everything, God is Perfect, therefore Everything is Perfect” — words to live by, words to love by!
Thank you both for such good stuff!
.-= Jeanne´s last blog ..Why We Do the Things We Do =-.
Great graphic! “If we work through an issue “pushing our buttons”, we find that the love and connection that is naturally there anyway can shine through—our hearts open, and the differences between us become inconsequential. ” This is why I choose to follow psychotherapy as my path in life, at least for now, because it involves making the subconscious conscious, accepting it and working through it.
It’s a long, arduous journey, very painful at times, and not everyone cares to take the trip, but it does result in becoming clearer about who I am and what’s meaningful to me. It has made me more and more authentic in my dealings with people and more able to express love than I ever could have with my background.
.-= Dot´s last blog ..Comment on Lost by Dot =-.
Hi Robin,
I’ve been thinking about what you and Janni have been saying, and this post is a great sum up.
For me, this is about living from the place of Higher Self / soul. As such, we can see the meaning of all the things that happen to us and none of them are “bad”. We can see the lights in everyone. And we act motivated by love, not fear. (And we hold a lot of fear in the back . . .)
I think we live in a great time when this kind of info is available for everyone. Thank you.
.-= Akemi – Yes to Me´s last blog ..Soul’s Purpose For Incarnation =-.
Ha ha, I love how you say you don’t mean we should go out embracing the crooks. Too funny. So often people say “how can you not get upset if someone robs you or does you wrong?” But really the bad act is separate to the emotion. We get to choose how “bad” the events in our life are – perception is everything. And even if they were really bad we can choose today that we deserve to let all that pain go, to move forward with a confidence that things are in fact getting better and from now on we will only let good, loving people into our life.
Sometimes the mirror of who/what presses our buttons can be a hard one to face, but I have always found it to hold the truth. Just think about all the things which we see/hear every day and we just let us flow over us, not really caring or getting upset, maybe just having an unemotional thought about it. So, I say that means we should take not of those words/actions which really get us riled. There’s something different about them and that difference is the emotional hold they have over us. Th truth that lies therein. The fear that we are like that or we could be like that.
When I was younger I was angrily idealistic. I’m still idealistic, but not angry and i know i feel better for it. My life goes better for it. Now, if things aren’t to my liking I deal with it; I don’t rail against it because what does that achieve exactly? You become further distanced from the other person and even from yourself. There is no opportunity to connect externally or internally and I believe we hold all these disconnections in our body, where they weigh on us and impede our healthy functioning.
If you pass judgment on others then they will pass judgment on you. If you criticize others, they will do the same to you. It’s a vicious cycle that eats you up. When I was in my 20s and early 30s a had a lot of stronger opinions about how people should live and what was “right”. Now I still have some of those same opinions but without the emotional hold that goes with them. I also have finally understood that my way is not for everyone as their way may not be for me. We are all on our own journey and if we could just accept that and know other people can’t fuck up our journey for us, no matter how horrible they may be, then maybe we would all relax and wellness would come flooding in.
I know I’ve rambled. Sorry. And love the pic.
Kelly x
.-= Kelly@SHE-POWER´s last blog ..Surrounding Myself With Comfort, Creativity and Brilliance =-.
@Miguel – good point – they do indeed! Thanks for the link on your Tumblr!
@Kathy – LOVELY to see you again – I love the way you have described the one-ness of our existance.
@Betsy – ha ha – like the “full speed ahead”!
@Jeanne – you have such a way with words!
@Dot – yeah – therapy can be painful, but the alternative is worse! – as you obviously know. Good on you.
@Akemi – thanks Akemi – I love the way you have described living from our soul.
@Kelly – good heavens what a long comment – don’t apologise! Exciting to see you again! Interesting that you relate wellness to relaxing – a Ken Carey book I was just reading has the line “incarnation is a process of relaxing”.
I have to say that I love the picture too! I am drawn to its vibrancy and whimsical look.
You said “life is naturally expansive”. It is! It is when we put resistance to a naturally expansive force that we create disharmony and experience negative emotions.
I have been working on my own mirror issues. When I find myself responding in a negative way, I ask myself what is it about me that I am out-of-alignment with. Hence, instead of pointing the finger outwards, I look internally. I no longer just stop at that. I can spend hours sometimes confronting and clearing these issues. It is the only way I know that can lead me to being truly free of my limiting beliefs and negative emotions.
.-= Evelyn Lim´s last blog ..Oracle Card Reading For Divine Guidance =-.
Love is the foundation of our life. From the time we were conceived, the love of our parents spring us to this wonderful existence. We give love, we receive love, we lost yet find it again. Love makes our world go around. Without love nothing really matters in this life. 🙂
Love this Robin! Love that heart too!
Unconditional Love and Gratitude are so powerful – I really like the following quote –
The Japanese Shinto prophet Munetada has these teachings about Physical Immortality – “When the heart of the Divine and the heart of man are One, this is Eternal Life, then there is no such thing as death. If you foster a spirit that regards both good and evil as blessings, then the body spontaneously becomes healthy. In Truth the Way is easy. He who spends his day in thankfulness grows neither old nor weary. He knows only Joy and Happiness. Oh the Joy of those who take the teaching of the Way of the Gods; for them there is neither youth nor age. If the heart is open, then there is no such thing as pain. Thus one will find only happiness and thankfulness in all things”.
.-= Janni Lloyd´s last blog ..Physical Immortality – the mass possibility Dr Janni Lloyd =-.
Robin, This is a beautiful post, and I am with you on everything, absolutely everything, regarding love and the different ways in which we fight opening to this. I do truly feel this is the journey we are all on, and interestingly, wrote about love today also, as the driving force of my friend who recently passed, quite suddenly and from a physical perspective, unexpectedly. And I do feel that opening to love has such healing power, and that at some level all illness is a blockage of some sort. But I guess what I still don’t get is why changing forms through death would be considered a blocking of love, in all cases. Why can’t changing forms just be changing forms? For example, in the case of my friend, I honestly feel, based on ‘communications’ (you might say) that I have had since his death, that he chose to go because he wants to incarnate in another form for a specific task. And that he needed a different incarnational ‘set-up’ you might say, to accomplish this, at least the way the world is right now. And that some beings that have fully manifested love choose to leave and not physically incarnate again, in ordwer to work with us from other levels.
So I guess perhaps on the absolute level, a vision where changing forms for these things is not necessary would be ideal. But until that happens, death might sometimes be the sign of blocks and subconscious issues etc., but for other beings just be a choice. – Lisa
.-= Lisa (mommymystic)´s last blog ..LOVE- The Story of a Life, of Any Life =-.
Just came back after reading your interview with Janni, sorry I missed that one last week – should have read it first! I like this idea of death being a choice, this makes more sense to me, per my comment above. Am I ready to make that choice? I don’t know. I guess there is a beauty for me in the cycles of birth and death, like the never-ending cycle of the seasons, and perhaps I am attached to that cycle. What happens to physical birth when there is no physical death? This is another question that interests me about all this.
.-= Lisa (mommymystic)´s last blog ..LOVE- The Story of a Life, of Any Life =-.
@Evelyn – I love the way you describe using the mirrors – I’m more vigilant these days in that department, too.
@Walter – hi there Walter and welcome to this blog! Thanks for your beautiful thoughts!
@Janni – well why thank you! Love the quote!
@Lisa – I’m glad you saw the bit about death being a choice. I guess I am a little too assertive now and then – the point has always been that life and death are choices – the over-riding belief out there has been that it isn’t! I like to think of the possibility we will be spreading out into the universe – or other equivalents, who knows where – so I don’t see over-population as an issue (if that’s what you meant). Cheers!
Hi Robin: I think that negative emotions make our energy stagnate and cut us off from the constant source of life energy we need in order to flourish. This then leads to gradual decay. So I like the idea that love give us life.
Hi Robin,
I can always count on you to have these thought provoking posts. I’m still not sure how I feel about death being a choice, but I do feel those who live in love, do live a fuller life. I’m also reminded of how we’ll often see a spouse die and shortly thereafter the remaining spouse also dies. Some will say they died of a broken heart, but did they instead will themselves to die?
Oh boy, now I’ve gotten myself way off the topic. I better just leave it at that.
P.S. I also love the graphic you chose for this post – it made me smile. 🙂
.-= Barbara Swafford´s last blog ..Numbers – We Can’t Escape From Them =-.
Interesting post and lovely comment that you chose to expand upon. Frankly, I look forward to death only because of what I read about and believe it to be: a release into the ultimate love.
I like the idea, though, that the more we love – the more we open our hearts and expand our minds, even – the more alive our body becomes. I’ve experienced that in the last twelve months. There’s something very flexible, freeing and invigorating about unconditional love, and it manifests physically as sensations and lively pulses of energy.
What a cool blog, Robin! I can’t wait to see what’s next.
.-= Megan “JoyGirl!” Bord´s last blog ..It’s a Jungle Out There =-.
Robin,
If my love isn’t expansive nothing really matters. Love the graphics.
I think this is one of your best posts. Yet I think if we all focused on life and love today and forgot about death and after life this world and the other world would be better.
I can really relate to what Kathy says and am going to check out her blog.
And Walter without love in both worlds nothing really matters.
Barbara…my dad died in June and my mom’s kidneys are currently failing. Is my mom willing herself to die?? I don’t know but I do think she feels she has a lot less love in her life. Her body after 10 children working on a farm…is just giving out. I don’t think she could live forever.
Oh yes and like Megan I want to be released into the ultimate love!
.-= Tess The Bold Life´s last blog ..Notice Anything? =-.
@Marelisa – I like the way you describe the source of life, Mare.
@Barbara – I wouldn’t like to think I was TOO thought provoking – sounds like too much work! You haven’t got off topic at all! – quite on-topic, I’d say. Everyone’s saying they like the pic – I got lucky with that one!
@Megan – Hi there Megan, and welcome to this blog! I love your words about unconditional love… “it manifests physically as sensations and lively pulses of energy.”
@Tess – I’m really sorry to hear about your parents, Tess. I agree with you about focussing on life and love today – today is certainly where it’s all at. And release into ultimate love sounds wonderful – I don’t think we have to die to experience that!
I love this topic Robin! And a beautiful comment that was left indeed.
See I love that you are all about this idea of “let’s live forever”. If I could, (and deep down I know I can, we all can with the right power of belief and intention) I would live forever. Why?
Because as you say, the more you do, the more you expand. I don’t see my life shrinking as I age, counting down to that “moment” of death and dying, but rather of expanding.
Life is so exciting and there is so much to do and discover. So maybe when I feel I really have done all that I love about this physical reality I will be ready to move on, but for now, I will just revel in its lush beauty and abundance and love of course 🙂
.-= Evita´s last blog ..Akashic Record Reading With Akemi Gaines =-.
This is a very thought provoking post. Whenever I ponder the meaning of life I always think of it in terms of a gift. We did absolutely nothing to be put here on earth with our life… life was given to us. Because of this I tend to think it is worth more than nearly anything and as such it should be cherished.
Love, in my opinion, is a means of experiencing life to it’s fullest and a means to cellebrating life but I don’t feel it gives us life. As with any other gift we are free to reject it. This implies to some extent that we do not care for it or the beauty that comes of it; love being part of that beauty.
Anyway, I’m not very good at thinking deep in written form so I’ll stop rambling there but I thank you for a thought provoking post on life and love.
.-= Brian @ Live Longer´s last blog ..The Benefits of Exercise After Pregnancy =-.
Very important reminder at just the right time. Thank you for holding up a gentle mirror of a different sort for me. Thank you for the love you share through this Blog.
Bright Blessings,
Peace ~*~
Hi Evita,
I love what you have shared here! Where you say – ‘Life is so exciting and there is so much to do and discover. So maybe when I feel I really have done all that I love about this physical reality I will be ready to move on, but for now, I will just revel in its lush beauty and abundance and love of course ‘
Many times people have asked me ‘Why would you want to live for hundreds of years and choose to bypass death?
I have answered that i love life, i love the earth and want to explore every part of it, i love people with all their interesting differences and sometimes funny quirks, i love and honour the wisdom and magnificence of my physical body and i love seeing and learning and experiencing new things. I’m aware of the divine matrix and other dimensions of reality however i’m quite happy to be here on this earth in this body NOW and feel after i’ve been here for several hundred years if it unfolds the way i am hoping, after that time i may choose to teleport to some of those other dimensions – once i’ve learnt that skill. I love creating new things, meeting new people, feeling my emotions – sometimes joy and sometimes sadness . This earth is a beautiful playground that i sooo love.
blessings Janni
.-= Janni Lloyd´s last blog ..Physical Immortality – the mass possibility Dr Janni Lloyd =-.
@Evita – “I will just revel in its lush beauty and abundance and love of course” – Wow! – you sure have a way with words, Evita! I like the way you desribe life expanding.
@Brian – you clearly do cherish life – your blog is about making it longer! We have so many different ways of looking at these things – they may well be different ways of saying the same thing!
@Peace – Hi there Peace and welcome to LLF! Thanks to you, too, for visiting and for your kind words.
@Janni – love the way you put your thoughts, Janni.
Robin,
I agree that love is expansive and that through awareness we do create the experiences that we desire and that are experiences no doubt have impact on our form. Very good post.
.-= Mark´s last blog ..Confusion of Our Desires =-.
Hi Robin,
Nice message in this post. 🙂 I like the art work a lot.
I believe everything started with love and it begin with self love, than our love goes from inside us to touch everyone else around us. And it create a circle all around each person. The more love we have the bigger our circle becomes.
Thanks for sharing.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Acion
.-= Giovanna Garcia´s last blog ..The cost of being normal and perfect. =-.
We get back what we put out. Positive energy, good karma, kindness, and a simple smile are returned in spades.
Thanks for putting a smile on my face…
peace,
mike
livelife365
.-= Mike Foster´s last blog ..Change Is Good =-.
@Mark – thank you Mark! Good way of putting it!
@Giovanna – that’s a beautiful way of describing love – thanks
@MIke – no problem – you have put a few smiles on my face, yourself
Love the graphic Robin –
Sorry it took me so long to get here, but my power has been going on and off with the hook up of the solar panels this week – and it has been noisy.
“One way is to choose to see everything around us as a reflection of our inner condition… we can only be upset by the people who inhabit our world if they are showing us something about ourselves.”
I have been personally clearing things out in my life and energy – and out of the way of the construction folk. I am asking big questions in my meditations.
First this sentence made me laugh, because the electronic airfilter has died this week, my partner has left on vacation – bike ride for 18 days, and my MW gave up, permanently this week
and I had no hot water this morning.
Repair folks are on the way and I have to put everything on the credit card because we did not take a paycheck this month to keep our employees working.
What does all this say about my inner workings and conditions…yes they are in upheaval….the MW is a reminder that I am eating raw right now and no animal products. I am feeling as though my health insurance people are going to cancel my insurance anytime now – and then I will be totally responsible for my own living and own dying – this is both liberating and concerning right down to my very bones.
I also got extremely angry about the Rude and Bazaar interruptions of the Presidents Formal speech the other night – I wrote about it – because it is so blatant to me as a ethicist and writer that I am not getting my message out – and I am having a huge inner conflict about that too –
I feel as though I am being overwhelmed by so many messages about life and self that I can only just pull in…
I also feel that I am not being true to what I am supposed to be doing.
I needed to say I love the graphic first because now I need to go and write in my journal…
.-= Patricia´s last blog ..I Have Been There =-.
I respect what you have written here Robin as it makes perfect sense to me and I don’t know of any other way.
and why not make friends of the local crooks 🙂
… we all need a little love and kindness.
When we love ourselves we automatically love others…
As humans we often deny aspects of ourselves that we don’t like and this lack of acceptance leads us to deny loving ourselves as we need to so that we can love others.
Every aspect of human nature is of value and when we recognise the value of our multi faceted natures we are much more able to live a harmonious life.
I am a big fan of the zen master Genpo Roshi and Holosync creator Bill Harris who’s Big Mind Big Heart teachings make my heart sing 🙂
Great post as always Robin..
Thanks x Ribbon 🙂
Ribbon you said –
”When we love ourselves we automatically love others…
As humans we often deny aspects of ourselves that we don’t like and this lack of acceptance leads us to deny loving ourselves as we need to so that we can love others.
Every aspect of human nature is of value and when we recognise the value of our multi faceted natures we are much more able to live a harmonious life.’
Very true. It’s the parts of ourselves that we have labelled ‘we will not SURVIVE if we allow that part to surface’ that are the
most difficult to love unconditionally. When we KNOW that no outside force can take our physical live from us – that it is our choice – unconditional love becomes easier and we have PEACE at the ’round table of the heart’.
.-= Janni Lloyd´s last blog ..Physical Immortality – the mass possibility Dr Janni Lloyd =-.
@Patricia – Hi there Patricia – no need to apologise – I often don’t get to everyone’s posts. Sounds like things are a bit hectic there at the moment! – the health insurance situation in the US must be very difficult to deal with (I don’t know much about it). Sometimes “pulling in” is the best thing we can do – i.e. sit back and go within, and also consolidate where we are in the outer world, rather than advance. If you or anyone else reading this is interested in using the “mirrors” to heal themselves, I’d really suggest you check out Shakti Gawain’s book Living in the Light (I prefer the first edition to the 2nd).
@Ribbon – thanks Ribbon. Love the way you speak of embracing all parts of ourselves – and thanks for the info there, you songful-hearted thing!
@Janni – thanks for dropping in again, Janni – like the “round table of the heart”!
Hi Robin, just popped in to let you know that I’ve linked to this post in my current post titled defining Love…
🙂 Ribbon
PS.. thanks for introducing Janni Lloyd to my world 🙂
I’m going to make time to explore more
.-= Ribbon´s last blog ..defining Love… =-.
Hi Robin. I can see why you’ve expanded on that quote. It is a doozy. The comments are incredible here too. I agree that the more we open our hearts the more aliveness our physical body has. Trying to hold on or protect ourselves is exhausting and only interrupts the flow. Of course I’m still working on this 🙂 but I understand the concept.
.-= Davina´s last blog ..Island Thyme Bed & Breakfast =-.
Hi Robin – I’m not sure what I think about it. I’ve just totally failed at healing myself without medication and I could kick myself, because I’ve been here before.
What Barbara says about people more or less willing themselves to die makes sense. That happened to my grandparents – they died within three months of each other and it’s happened to many other people too.
Thank you for the book referral…I have read something of Gawain and it was helpful
.-= Patricia´s last blog ..Computer Glitch =-.
Hi Cath,
Be gentle on yourself – it’s all OK. We have been programed for a long time that our healing comes from what is prescribed from a doctor – and it often does assist our healing process. It’s not a competition. Co – operation will give us lasting peace.
many blessings Janni
.-= Janni Lloyd´s last blog ..Physical Immortality – the mass possibility Dr Janni Lloyd =-.
@Ribbon – thanks for that Ribbon! I’ve noticed a few posts about love lately – must be something in the air.
@Davina – ha – I think most of us are “still working on this”.
@Cath – I think the main thing is that we acknowledge we are the source of our own healing – including if it comes through a doctor and their antibiotics etc. (we have still drawn it to ourselves). And ditto Janni’s comments below!
@Patricia – no problem!
@Janni – good point!
The bible says god is love, and that a part of him is in each of us. We were made in the image of god, and so your theory is correct.
Hi Rob – and welcome to this blog. Thank you for that – I appreciate it. All the best!
‘How can we “get it right”? One way is to choose to see everything around us as a reflection of our inner condition’
There is something deeply profound about this statement. I have definitely preached this to an unwilling audience on the train before at 4 in the morning. I love this site but I circle back on this:
Is the idea of reincarnation just a way to help us deal with death? Is it simply a reoccurring thought we have throughout our history that would be nice if it was true but deep down we all know that it’s not? Or is there something that you all see that I don’t? And is what you see a result of convincing yourselves of a false truth?
In the end, I will be clinging to life on my deathbed, not ready.
Hi Nick – it’s lovely to get your comment – as you can see it’s been a while since this blog has been active.
Regarding the questions you bring up, I think perhaps we need to get in touch with our own truth – or maybe what I mean is to trust what we know deep down to be true, like many people know and trust the statement you quote at the start to be true (many would strongly disagree).
You might like the book I’ve got advertised up on the top left, Life Unlimited – I just read it and I liked it. There’s a kindle edition. Have fun with your balls! – lol