This comes from an e-newsletter I receive from Jonathan Lockwood Huie:
Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom. - Rabindranath Tagore
Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love. - St. Francis of Assisi
You know you love someone when you know you want them to be happy, even if their happiness means that you are not a part of it. - Anonymous
Real love is never a selfish emotion. If you want something from someone - especially if that something is sex - what you are feeling is not true love. The wonderful anonymous quote above provides an infallible test for love. True love is about wanting happiness for the person you love - and not about seeking happiness for yourself. Fortunately, in most cases our own loving presence is the greatest gift we can give to a person we love. Nonetheless, the litmus test of love is knowing we would choose never to see that person again if we believed that distance would bring them greater happiness.
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.dreamthisday.com/what-is-love/
Connection
Read this article on the author's website: http://www.innerbonding.com/show-article/2726/relationships-and-emotional-connection.html
Do you love it when you feel deeply emotionally connected with someone? When you feel seen, understood, valued and cherished? This is what initially draws two people together and leads to falling in love.
Then what happens? Why does the connection go away?
When most people first meet, they allow each other to see only certain parts of themselves, but they often hide the deeper parts of themselves.
Why?
Because they fear being rejected for who they really are.
They fear being rejected for who they really are because they think there is something wrong with them. Believing there is something wrong with you is called core shame - the belief that there is something inherently wrong, bad, or flawed about you.
Core shame may be governing much of what you do and how you respond in your relationships. It certainly governed much of my life until I learned how to heal it.
I learned to heal it when I learned how to connect with my spiritual Guidance - my higher mind that can see the truth of who I am. As long as I was defining myself from my limited ego wounded, programmed mind, I was operating from the false belief that I was somehow not good enough.
Developing you spiritual connection is not hard. Whenever you move into a deep desire to learn about love and truth, you raise your frequency high enough to access the wisdom that is always here for you. But in order to do this, you have to really want to know the truth. As long as you are afraid of what you will learn, you will stay stuck with your core shame. I assure you that what you will learn about your true Self is how incredible you are!
The Courage to be Vulnerable and Authentic
In order to emotionally connect with another, you have to be vulnerable and authentic about your feelings, which you can't do if you think there is something wrong with you. So before you can sustain emotional connection and intimacy, you need to heal your core shame. You will not be able to take the risk of experiencing the pain of rejection unless you are not rejecting yourself.
It takes courage to be authentic. You cannot be authentic without the willingness to be vulnerable to being hurt, and you can't connect on a deep heart level without vulnerability and authenticity.
It is only when you deeply value who you are that you have the courage to reveal yourself authentically and risk being hurt. This is what creates deeply connected relationships. What it takes is two people who have done the work of healing their core shame so that they can share their heart and soul with each other.
Healing Core Shame
•Start with noticing how judgmental you are of yourself. Every time you notice yourself judging yourself, stop and say to yourself, "I'm not going there." And do not judge yourself for judging yourself! Just keep noticing and stopping each time. You will find yourself judging yourself less and less and feeling better and better.
•Practice opening to learning with your Higher Self. Keep asking your Guidance with a sincere desire to learn, "Please show me what is wonderful about who I really am." Over time, you will learn to love and cherish your true Self - your essence - for qualities such as kindness, compassion, generosity, curiosity, creativity, humor, playfulness, gentleness, inner knowing, determination, loyalty, integrity, honesty, and so on.
The more you value your true Self, the easier it will be for you to be vulnerable and authentic with the important people in your life, and create the emotional connection that we all long for.
Do you love it when you feel deeply emotionally connected with someone? When you feel seen, understood, valued and cherished? This is what initially draws two people together and leads to falling in love.
Then what happens? Why does the connection go away?
When most people first meet, they allow each other to see only certain parts of themselves, but they often hide the deeper parts of themselves.
Why?
Because they fear being rejected for who they really are.
They fear being rejected for who they really are because they think there is something wrong with them. Believing there is something wrong with you is called core shame - the belief that there is something inherently wrong, bad, or flawed about you.
Core shame may be governing much of what you do and how you respond in your relationships. It certainly governed much of my life until I learned how to heal it.
I learned to heal it when I learned how to connect with my spiritual Guidance - my higher mind that can see the truth of who I am. As long as I was defining myself from my limited ego wounded, programmed mind, I was operating from the false belief that I was somehow not good enough.
Developing you spiritual connection is not hard. Whenever you move into a deep desire to learn about love and truth, you raise your frequency high enough to access the wisdom that is always here for you. But in order to do this, you have to really want to know the truth. As long as you are afraid of what you will learn, you will stay stuck with your core shame. I assure you that what you will learn about your true Self is how incredible you are!
The Courage to be Vulnerable and Authentic
In order to emotionally connect with another, you have to be vulnerable and authentic about your feelings, which you can't do if you think there is something wrong with you. So before you can sustain emotional connection and intimacy, you need to heal your core shame. You will not be able to take the risk of experiencing the pain of rejection unless you are not rejecting yourself.
It takes courage to be authentic. You cannot be authentic without the willingness to be vulnerable to being hurt, and you can't connect on a deep heart level without vulnerability and authenticity.
It is only when you deeply value who you are that you have the courage to reveal yourself authentically and risk being hurt. This is what creates deeply connected relationships. What it takes is two people who have done the work of healing their core shame so that they can share their heart and soul with each other.
Healing Core Shame
•Start with noticing how judgmental you are of yourself. Every time you notice yourself judging yourself, stop and say to yourself, "I'm not going there." And do not judge yourself for judging yourself! Just keep noticing and stopping each time. You will find yourself judging yourself less and less and feeling better and better.
•Practice opening to learning with your Higher Self. Keep asking your Guidance with a sincere desire to learn, "Please show me what is wonderful about who I really am." Over time, you will learn to love and cherish your true Self - your essence - for qualities such as kindness, compassion, generosity, curiosity, creativity, humor, playfulness, gentleness, inner knowing, determination, loyalty, integrity, honesty, and so on.
The more you value your true Self, the easier it will be for you to be vulnerable and authentic with the important people in your life, and create the emotional connection that we all long for.
Education
A few of my favorite quotes about education......
Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. - Helen Keller
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. - William Butler Yeats
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. - B.F. Skinner
The lessons of the past provide the path to the future. - Anonymous
Perfection
None of us is perfect - and that's OK.
Life is not about perfection - or a quest for perfection. Life is about enjoying what we have - for as long as we have it.
Happy Holidays to you and your family. Thank you for visiting my blog!
Approval
I read the article "What Are They Thinking About Me?" this morning and I wanted to share the wonderful insights it brought. Please take a moment to read it, I cut and pasted the article below:
You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do. --Eleanor Roosevelt
Why should most people be thinking about you? They are far more concerned with what you are thinking about them to spend time thinking about you!
Right now, take a moment to ponder the question: "How would I feel and what would I do differently if I never thought about what people think of me?"
I pondered this question many years ago and discovered some things that changed my life:
•I discovered that I felt anxious whenever I worried about what someone thought of me, which made it impossible to be myself. As soon as I was concerned about their judgment or approval, I tried to become what I thought they wanted me to be to gain their approval. This made me so tense that even if I got their approval, I still felt bad.
•I discovered that I was drawn to being with judgmental people - people who were very much like my parents - and I was addicted to trying to get these judgmental people to approve of me. I saw that this was a dead end - that I had no control over getting judgmental and rejecting people to be loving and kind, and I stopped being drawn to these people.
•I discovered that even if I got their approval, it was always short-lived and I had to keep looking good and performing right to get it again. This was an exhausting way to live.
•I discovered that no matter how hard I worked on doing things right and being perfect and never making a mistake or failing, some people liked me and some didn't. I learned that if I was just myself and gave up being right and perfect, some people liked me and some didn't. I finally saw that trying so hard to get love or approval was a complete waste of my time and energy!
•I discovered that I was confusing love and approval. I learned that love is that which is unconditional and that people either gave it freely or they didn't and it was not something I could earn or control. I might be able to control getting some approval, but not love.
•I learned that, while approval felt good for the moment, it never fully filled me with love for myself, or confidence in myself.
•I discovered that when I gave myself the approval, love and attention that I was trying so hard to get from others, life became much easier and more fun!
By really paying attention to my feelings and actions, I was able to completely give up even thinking about what others thought of me. I discovered the truth of what Terry Cole Whitaker said in the title of her book, "What Others Think Of Me Is None Of My Business."
It is such a freedom to never think about what others think of me! I am free to speak my truth, to say yes or no according to what is in my highest good, to love with my whole heart and soul, to freely offer my gifts and talents, to trust my own feelings and higher guidance rather than buy into others' beliefs and opinions, to not be controlled by fear of making a mistake or fear of others' judgment, to laugh as loud as long as I want as I want, and to cry when I am hurting or moved.
I am free to love myself and share my love with others with no agenda regarding how they will feel about me, and this is the greatest joy of all.
You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do. --Eleanor Roosevelt
Why should most people be thinking about you? They are far more concerned with what you are thinking about them to spend time thinking about you!
Right now, take a moment to ponder the question: "How would I feel and what would I do differently if I never thought about what people think of me?"
I pondered this question many years ago and discovered some things that changed my life:
•I discovered that I felt anxious whenever I worried about what someone thought of me, which made it impossible to be myself. As soon as I was concerned about their judgment or approval, I tried to become what I thought they wanted me to be to gain their approval. This made me so tense that even if I got their approval, I still felt bad.
•I discovered that I was drawn to being with judgmental people - people who were very much like my parents - and I was addicted to trying to get these judgmental people to approve of me. I saw that this was a dead end - that I had no control over getting judgmental and rejecting people to be loving and kind, and I stopped being drawn to these people.
•I discovered that even if I got their approval, it was always short-lived and I had to keep looking good and performing right to get it again. This was an exhausting way to live.
•I discovered that no matter how hard I worked on doing things right and being perfect and never making a mistake or failing, some people liked me and some didn't. I learned that if I was just myself and gave up being right and perfect, some people liked me and some didn't. I finally saw that trying so hard to get love or approval was a complete waste of my time and energy!
•I discovered that I was confusing love and approval. I learned that love is that which is unconditional and that people either gave it freely or they didn't and it was not something I could earn or control. I might be able to control getting some approval, but not love.
•I learned that, while approval felt good for the moment, it never fully filled me with love for myself, or confidence in myself.
•I discovered that when I gave myself the approval, love and attention that I was trying so hard to get from others, life became much easier and more fun!
By really paying attention to my feelings and actions, I was able to completely give up even thinking about what others thought of me. I discovered the truth of what Terry Cole Whitaker said in the title of her book, "What Others Think Of Me Is None Of My Business."
It is such a freedom to never think about what others think of me! I am free to speak my truth, to say yes or no according to what is in my highest good, to love with my whole heart and soul, to freely offer my gifts and talents, to trust my own feelings and higher guidance rather than buy into others' beliefs and opinions, to not be controlled by fear of making a mistake or fear of others' judgment, to laugh as loud as long as I want as I want, and to cry when I am hurting or moved.
I am free to love myself and share my love with others with no agenda regarding how they will feel about me, and this is the greatest joy of all.
Kindness
If you haven't any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble. ~Bob Hope
Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up. ~Jesse Jackson
A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble. ~Charles H. Spurgeon
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. ~Author Unknown
Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice, but because you are. ~Author Unknown
What this world needs is a new kind of army - the army of the kind. ~Cleveland Amory
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~Dalai Lama
I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble. ~Rudyard Kipling
Never miss an opportunity to make others happy, even if you have to leave them alone in order to do it. ~Author Unknown
A fellow who does things that count, doesn't usually stop to count them. ~Variation of a saying by Albert Einstein
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. ~Mark Twain
Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness. ~Seneca
There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life - reciprocity. ~Confucius
Don't wait for people to be friendly, show them how. ~Author Unknown
The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway. ~Henry Boye
The best portion of a good man's life - his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. ~William Wordsworth
You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out. ~Frank A. Clark
The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid. ~Author Unknown
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. ~Epictetus
One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind. ~Malayan Proverb
Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree. ~Marian Wright Edelman
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. ~Leo Buscaglia
Weakness?
The greatest weakness of most humans is their hesitancy to tell others how much they love them while they're alive. --Unknown
Our strength grows out of our weaknesses. --Ralph Waldo Emerson
The greatest weakness of all is the great fear of appearing weak. --Lawrence G. Lovasik
So let us begin anew - remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. --J.F.K.
Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution. --Kahlil Gibran
I get a newsletter from Dr. Margaret Paul of Inner Bonding and today's post really hit home for me. I am a very tenderhearted person and I tend to think that I am weak because of this. I am not weak but I do sometimes loose my sense of self-worth in people because I try to make those I care about happy. I realize that I cannot MAKE others happy, that has to come from their own inner self. I can control my own happiness by loving myself. I think of the analogy of the airlines...put the mask on yourself before you help others. I cannot help anyone else if I do not help myself first.
Take a moment to read the article: Are Kindness and Tenderness Signs of Weakness?
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