We all chose the life we live each day.  Sometimes we believe that have no choice in our circumstances.  Sometimes we think that our challenges in life are just thrust upon us.  What if we were to look at it a different way though?  What if we were to assume that we could love the life that we have chosen to live?

I don’t know if you are like me, but I often wondered; and I do mean often…. I often wondered how my life ended up totally different than I planned.  I have written about it, I have created art about, I have sobbed about it, I have lamented it, I have cracked jokes about it, I have even tried to not think about it in the hopes that my lack of attention to it would make it disappear.  However none of it worked to fully change my perspective on my life.  Now don’t get me wrong.  It is true I woke up almost everyday happy to be in my life, and the days I didn’t I could usually rally.  Because on a whole I have always been a cheerful person.  I really am.  But I had become accustomed to living a life that was not my “choosing”.  I had developed a habit of just letting things happen to me.  I had allowed, if you will, my life to develop into something I tolerated, and made the best of, not something I LOVED.  I realize now when I look back, I blamed a lot of things, and people for my “situation”.  I blamed myself, I blamed loved ones, I blamed my kids, I blamed society.  I blamed and I judged.  Now this is a hard one to admit, because I have worked hard in my life not to judge.  I abhor judging actually!  But come to find out, by abhorring the judging, I was actually judging.  I know that is a tough concept to wrap your mind around, but think about it- If we judge the judger, then we are just doing more of the same.  So I went through my life trying to make the “right choices”, trying to “be the better person”, trying to “help others to see a more positive and healthy way to live.  There was nothing wrong with that, and on its own it was somewhat helpful and began to change my life as a whole.  There is another component though, something I was missing during my change, or maybe just something I had yet to discover.  The missing piece was complete peace coming from complete love.  The missing piece was loving even the things, people, circumstances and choices that seemed like ones that I wouldn’t have chosen consciously.

So how do you love things that are causing you pain?  How do you love people who are being unkind?  How do you love a job that is not your passion?  How do you love kids who are screaming at you, throwing their shoes at the front door and flailing their bodies on the grocery store floor for 15 minutes straight?  How do you love the credit card bill that is higher than you can pay?  How do you love the parent that was abusive and now you are caring for because you are all that they have?  How do you love the ex-spouse who does everything different than you (which doesn’t mean “wrong” by the way)?  How do you love the teenager who eggs your car and vandalizes your yard?  How do you love the dictator who brings pain and suffering to an entire population?  How do we love your own thoughts of self-criticism that threaten to seize your life?

How do you love all of this and more???  You just do.  You just do.  You just do.  I believe that our common purpose on this earth as humans is to spread love.  So if I believe this, then the only thing I must do as my sole (and soul) purpose is to LOVE EVERYTHING.  Is it that simple?  I believe it has to be.  I believe, at least in my life, that I have complicated things enough.  So now I have just simplified it back to LOVE OF ALL.  So how do I do this?

I was given the idea a month ago by a friend, colleague, and mentor, to use the ancient Hawaiian practice of Ho’oponopono to find love inside me for all, and to take responsibility for the creation of the world that I live in to make it the best it can be.  Part of the practice is to say “I Love You” and Thank You” to yourself every time you come across something or someone that is challenging (that includes when I make a mistake too).  So that is what I have been doing, and I feel I must pass that on just in case someone else wants to do it too. This is the short version, but it is what I feel called to pass on today.  Just say “I Love You” and “Thank You” to each and every life circumstance, annoyance, or injustice you come across.  If any of this rings true with you, just try it as an experiment.  Just try and see what happens.  And if you want to learn more, let me know- I will pass more on of what I have learned so far.  What I do know too, is that at the very least you will begin to feel new internal peace, and I don’t know about you, but that peace has led to me to truly love the life I live!

Peace, Love, Joy and Light to you,

Victoria