The beauty we see in ourselves is what we want to be loved for…  Sometimes others love things about us that we don’t even recognize within ourselves, much less identify with…

We have the ability to “love” anyone if we can do away with judgements and can hold unconditional positive regard for another.  The ability to give love as well as to receive love is crucial. How others express and give love to us may not be how we WANT to receive love.  Do you possess the ability to receive love in whatever form it is given?  For most of us, a 3-year-old’s work of art presented with love is joyously received with an open heart, regardless of its physical attributes.  It may be lopsized, so abstract we can’t comprehend what it is…it doesn’t matter.  It is perfect in our eyes because it is perceived as the best they can do, and they offered it to us with pure love.  With adults we tend to up our standards.  We expect more, and, possibly, we expect perfection. But who is perfect? The question really is, who is NOT perfect?

In each moment, if we subscribe to the belief that everything is exactly as it should be, then we get what is perfectly orchestrated by the Universe for us at that precise point in time.  There are no mistakes…only lessons.  We get what we are in resonance with. If you get something you do not want, find the lesson in that. Why is that which you do not want being offered to you?  Is it because you have not gotten clear on what you DO want?

Consciously set your “preferences” in all areas of life with clarity and resolve, or you will continue to get only the “defaults”.

Know too that if someone is coming from a place that does not resonate with you as healthy, positive, or nurturing, you do not have to blindly accept or internalize their words or actions.

There is a story about the Buddha and another prince.  The other prince wanted to test Buddha, to see if he could “rattle his cage”.  The prince was awful, hateful, and mean to the Buddha for months and months.  However, the Buddha never waivered in his compassion and peacefulness toward the prince.

Finally, the prince gave up.  “Buddha,” he said, “how is it that you show only compassion for me when I have been so spiteful and rude to you?!”

The Buddha replied, “What someone attempts to present to you is only a gift if you choose to receive it. I am always focused on the present“.

The double-meaning of the word “present” is what brings the point home for me, along with the subtle reminder that we cannot control anything external to us, except our own reactions to external events.  Remember that you do have a choice on how to react, always, in each and every moment…so react with LOVE !