I believe in love.  

I do. Without question or hesitation, finally, I believe in love.

It took me a long time.  Fifty nine years to be exact.  I now know that love is real and available for all of us, at any time, if we choose to allow ourselves to be a part of it.  Love is right here, right now, always available.  Sometimes we don’t see or feel the presence of love, yet it is here.  Sometimes we doubt the existence of love and believe it is here only when we are deserving or get lucky enough to fall into, like it’s some well we only stumble upon occasionally.  Some people believe that it’s a once in a lifetime thing if we are lucky.

I now know that’s not true.  It’s not even close to the truth.

Love is.  That’s it.  Love is.  It doesn’t go anywhere and it didn’t come from anywhere.  Love has always been here in the air we breathe, everything we see and everyone we encounter.  It never judges or doles itself out to the deserving.  It simply is.  Love, like Cindy, simply is.  No pretense.  No changing.  No evaluating.  No holding back for a more deserving person.  Always and in all ways, every single day, love is here for and with all of us.  Unconditionally.

I am realizing this now, finally at 59.  What took me so long?   I always believed love was something I had to earn or buy.  I never thought it was free and that I was surrounded by it.  And I never thought I was totally and unconditionally deserving of it.  That is until now.

Einstein said,  “I think the most important question facing humanity is, ‘Is the universe a friendly place?’   As we can see in our current political climate the response to that question determines the fate of all of us and our planet.  The repercussions can be devastating.  On a personal level as well.  We can choose love or we can choose fear or hate.  It is completely up to us.  I chose fear for my whole life until now.  Now I am choosing love and I urge you to as well.

We have the ability to thrive.  We have everything we need to thrive by dipping into the water of love, care and ease that surrounds us every single moment of every day.  When we choose to accept that reality our world begins to change.  We see moments of beauty and opportunity unfold before us.  We encounter possibilities as if they were blessings falling out of the sky gently landing on our shoulders urging us to move towards them.

If I had known that love was there for me throughout my whole life I know my life would have been very different.  I wouldn’t have wasted so much of my life worrying about what other’s thought or what might happen if……  Thankfully I now know I am surrounded by love and that love is unbounded, waiting for me to receive it.  I am choosing to accept the universe is indeed a very friendly place, and I am an essential part of it.

And so are you.  You are here to shine your light and to share your unique gift with the world, in and through love.  That is what we all are intended to do.  That is why we are here.  We are here to share with others who we really are, defenses down, wounds open.  We are here to share our common humanity with one another and in so doing we bring our light to the world.  The real gift we have is being our selves, totally, openly and with self compassion.

Cindy shared her self with anyone who took the time to receive her.  Every single person who was in her presence and truly ‘with’ Cindy softened in the most beautiful way,  touched by her unconditional love.  That is what real love does.  Real love opens us to receive what is true and beautiful, and in receiving we help others soften and become more of who they are.  Walls crumble, bridges of connection are created and peace fills the empty spaces in the most beautiful ways.

Rest for a moment in the enormous potential of this truth.  Could you possibly allow your self to be seen for who you really are?  To evolve we all must risk losing our identity to find our true self, not some image we see in the media.  When we do, the world begins to change around us and hope emerges.  Please, for a moment risk being you and discover the sweet and powerful beauty the world has to offer when you do.