Love of Self (Continuation of Guest Post)

Today, I am honored to be sharing a guest post over at the lovely Margot's blog, Studio Margot, as part of the Love Gift series.  

(If you have wandered over here from there, welcome!)

I wrote of love, of art, of how even thinking of these concepts started something resonating within me that hasn't stopped vibrating.  Please, take a moment to view it here:

(http://studiomargot.ro/journal/2011/12/28/the-love-gift-series-love-as-energy-of-connection)

While I wrote of connecting to others, to life through laundry, and expressing through our art, I did not touch upon perhaps the most vital connection: Our connection to Self.

There is a self that is bigger than our ego, vaster than the universe, smaller than a grain of sand.  It is found in silence; it is found in our reaction to an enemy; ...

it is found when we choose to look.

Love is often directed outward.  We are encouraged to love one another.  Many focus on finding a partner, someone else to love, someone else to love us in return.  All too infrequently is love directed inward.  We aim for connections with others but we have no connection to self.  We are like a boat trying to tether itself to other vessels who are similarly lost at sea.

There are tools - yoga, meditation - that can assist us in understanding.  There is a lot to be said for self-knowledge.  But I believe there is much more to be said for self-experience.  Experience is what is happening right here, right now.

When we experience ourself, we experience (connect to) all there is.  In a sense, we fall in love with our Self.  (The human self and the divine Self.)  When we experience this Self, we are connected to all....we are enlightened.

It seems odd that enlightenment -- this deep connection to all there is that goes beyond knowing -- can happen by washing a dish.  But the act of washing that dish while you are doing it is all there is.  Love is the way we allow ourselves the connection to that dish, to the feel of the water, to the here and the now.  

Love of Self is the way we understand the self that is within the fingers holding the dish, the self that is deeper and vaster than the body that stands in front of the sink.

The practice of connecting to self is the practice of connecting to the world.

And this practice can only be undertaken in the Now moment.

Today, may you discover many moments of Love.

Many thanks again to Margot for allowing me to participate in this fascinating series!

Namaste.