We all carry pain from our past – all of us.  We start out life as this little being of light and love and with in a couple dozen years we are jaded – guarded – we know the game and we aren’t falling for it again.  Nope. No one is going to cause me pain again.  Heart light in the off position.

This isn’t always in relation to romantic love – it can be in regards to family, friends, or society.  As a woman, I know for sure I have avoided activities and gatherings because of previously being belittled as discounted as being “hormonal” or “emotional” or “simplistic”.   Having grown up as the only girl in my home and neighborhood and learned to fight, cuss, play like the boys – it really erks me to be put down just because of my gender.  The older I get the more I come across these beliefs and the less I have chosen to hang out with the guys which really sucks because I love watching football and I love to shoot hoops and I love to give my opinion on politics and society and it’s not easy finding female friends with the same interests in a small town.  I have been way  guarded about going to my uncle’s or my brother’s to watch a game – no thanks to being shushed for 3 hours.  I have shushed them instead – by staying away from them.  I win.

Add the old boyfriend drama, patriarchal society keeping me in my place and my father-daughter dysfunctional relationship and I can see myself as the lonely old cat lady in the neighborhood one day.  The cats win.

Jaded.

We all have these demons- these past experiences- that stop us from being fully alive in our hearts.  My example above is not major life turmoil, I get that.  There are times that we can really bring harm to ourselves and our loved ones out of spite and anger and hatred.  We are seeing friends and family saying unforgivable things and walking out of each others lives because of politics. I actually went two years without speaking to one of my brothers after the 2008 election.  We both chose to stay angry and stubborn and right.  My kids didn’t see their cousins, their aunt, their uncle – and I didn’t get to see my niece and nephew for two years.   We only began talking again when my mom was diagnosed with cancer.  Mom won… at least for the last year and a half of her life.

Hatred.

So much dark energy in the news and on some social media sites.  I don’t have to list the violence and anger and injustice because you are well aware of it all – no matter where you get your news.  We, as a society, are jaded.  We are angry.  We have closed off our hearts. We have chosen sides and we hate each other.  No one will ever win this – it will most likely destroy us all.

How do we save ourselves?  What is the remedy – the Rx – the magic spell?

Love.

Don’t roll those eyes.

I know – you’ve heard this since the 60’s – love is the answer, blah, blah, blah.

Yes, you’ve heard it – but did you understand the power of it?

When we choose to pick up the rose colored glasses and see through the lens of love we can witness magic and miracles!  Forgiveness comes from love! Hope comes from love! Healing comes from love! Compassion, empathy, understanding, kindness all come from love.

My brother and I talking again was a wonderful thing and something that came out of the love we had for our mother – we wanted her life to be peaceful and we wanted her to be well cared for and that meant both of us sitting with her at the hospital for days.

Love heals. Love mends broken hearts.  Love erases hate.

Be mindful of your thoughts.  When you feel that angry, bitter, jaded voice come up try to infuse a little compassion and kindness.  Sprinkle that love magic everywhere!   ♥♥♥♥♥