Today we take a few moments to contemplate the words of Rumi and his poem,
The Religion of Love.
We begin by slowing down and just taking a breath,
So notice your posture and sit up straight and tall with the spine extended in a posture of dignity and grace.
And just notice what is here.
See if you can notice without resisting,
Whatever's here,
Is it possible to just give it a little bit of space.
We take a breath and we notice the thoughts and then we let them be.
And then we notice what emotion or emotions might be here.
And see if we can let them be.
And then we notice our sensations.
What are we feeling?
And see if we can let this be.
Making just a little bit of space next to whatever is happening inside your head.
A little bit of space next to whatever is happening in your heart.
And a little bit of space for whatever is happening throughout your body.
And we just breathe.
Taking a deep breath,
A nice energizing breath.
And then we let it go.
Another deep breath in.
And then a slow and gentle release out.
On the in-breath,
The spine extends.
Perhaps you can feel the spine extending.
Perhaps you can feel the entire length of your body.
And we let it go.
It can be helpful as we get centered to do a quick scan of the body and just noticing what's here.
We start at the top of the head,
The crown of the head.
Noticing the forehead.
And the eyes.
Maybe the jaw and the neck.
And as we relax a little bit.
Maybe just try to release any tightness.
Notice the back,
The top of the back and breathe into the back.
Bottom of the back.
And then around to the front.
Noticing what's here in the chest,
In the belly.
The heaviness of the seat.
Noticing the knees and the legs.
The feet.
All the way down into the toes.
And just noticing.
Whatever's here,
See if it's possible to just let it be here.
Give it a little bit of room.
Let it be a part of you but not consume you.
Side by side.
Allowing the thoughts and emotions and sensations to just be here.
Like a pair of old shoes sitting on the floor in the closet.
We just let them be.
We don't need to give them any more energy.
Just let them be.
Just rest.
And breathe.
And see if it's possible.
To allow yourself to just graciously slide into this moment.
This moment,
It's so easy for us to forget the magic and miracle of this moment.
It has never come before.
It will never come again.
The gift of this moment.
So easy to take this for granted.
So perhaps we can interject just a tiny bit of gratitude.
I'm grateful for this moment.
Can you feel some gratitude?
Just for being here.
No expectations.
Just breathing into this precious moment.
And from this place of gratitude,
Just maybe your mind will give you permission to go out and play a little bit.
To go back,
Way back.
Back to the very beginning of you.
Microscopic.
A millisecond.
A point in time.
The beginning of you.
No worries or ambitions or fears.
Simply your essence.
Pure and simple.
The beginning of you.
Before you're taught to believe or question,
You are.
You are love.
Purity.
Sacredness.
Whole and complete.
As you are.
This is the foundation of the religion of love.
There are no rules.
There are no idols.
There are no fears.
Pure,
Sacred love.
That's what's here.
You are love.
And you are amazing just as you are.
The following words are the words of Rumi in his short poem,
The Religion of Love.
Be certain in the religion of love there are no believers or unbelievers.
Love embraces all.
That's it.
A few lines and yet so powerful.
I'll read them again.
Be certain in the religion of love there are no believers or unbelievers.
Love embraces all.
What does this mean to you?
Can it possibly be this simple?
No believers or unbelievers.
No overthinking.
Perhaps no thinking at all.
Love embraces all.
Each of us a conduit of love,
Both the giver and the receiver.
The most powerful currency we possess,
Love.
When we learn to nurture love and share it and spend it,
It gives back to us over and over again.
Be certain in the religion of love there are no believers or unbelievers.
Love embraces all.
What if,
Just for today,
We choose to love?
We set an intention to love and we begin with self-love.
Self-love,
True love,
The love of self-care,
The love of positivity,
The love of affirmative self-talk,
The love of self-forgiveness,
The love of acceptance,
The love of non-perfection.
How might you show love to yourself today?
What would this look like for you?
What does loving yourself feel like?
Perhaps there's an emotion or a sensation.
What do you notice when you think of self-love?
Is it easy or is it hard?
Maybe it feels like a calm confidence or a sturdy sense of certainty,
Perhaps a warm glow,
Or maybe it's difficult for you to identify any particular sensation.
Maybe it feels wretched and somehow wrong.
If this is the case,
You may want to give yourself a gentle hug.
Let yourself know you are loved,
That you are deserving of love.
How will you show yourself love today?
Just for today.
Now imagine yourself as the giver of love.
So many opportunities throughout the day,
People we know,
People we don't know,
People whose company we enjoy,
And people we don't particularly like,
Those that believe in us and those that do not,
Those that share similar beliefs,
And those that do not.
An infinite number of possibilities,
And perhaps Rumi would tell us,
This doesn't matter.
Just show love.
How might you show love to others today?
And this does not have to be a grand gesture.
In fact,
Others may not even notice the gift.
Kind words,
A smile,
An offer of encouragement.
How will you show love today?
Notice.
Notice what it feels like to give love.
Notice what it feels like to receive love.
Be certain,
In the religion of love,
There are no believers or unbelievers.
Love embraces all.
As we close out today's session,
I send my love to you.
My wish for you is that you will receive and to allow yourself to accept this love,
To absorb it and nurture it,
Such that it has no choice other than to flow through you,
Lighting you up.
You,
Then,
Are the conduit and the light of the world.
And know your accepting this gift from me is your gift to me.
In some small way,
To know that my gift to you has been received,
This brings me fulfillment.
And this is the currency of love.
The infinite cycle of giving and receiving.
Abundant.
Never ending.
Just for today,
Can we make it that simple?
Bless you.
I send you love.
