Unconditional Love

Hello


Is there anything more important to do than to love and learn what it is that we have to do to be happy?
When I keep Love at the forefront of my mind my interactions are much more rewarding. Just like the thoughts that I think, I have discovered for myself that Love is a choice, and by this I mean that with any interaction I have with the world, I have the opportunity to ask the question "How would I respond if I come from a place of unconditional love?"


What is unconditional love? My first imagined encounters of it gave me the idea that it was something parents had for their children, and that it was only really possible between close family members; other than that it was something Mother Theresa and Jesus were pretty good at! 
Later I encountered people and situations where unconditional love appeared to be being used as an excuse for poor behaviour and promiscuity and for a while I felt as if I were uptight and perhaps inadequate for not wanting to join in. 
I know now that unconditional love is something quite different than anything I imagined in the past!


It seems to me that unconditional love is simply an orientation that one can adopt with the world, and for me just like anything else it takes practice! How can I describe it? I encounter a situation where people are disgruntled, immediately I have options; I can empathise, I can be the devils advocate, I can be the voice of reason, but all of these require judgement. Another option would simply be not to judge at all, do I really need to say anything? Do I really need to do anything? What would happen if I simply listened? Perhaps I could be accused of being uncaring, again I could listen and if I really wanted to I could validate. 


Maybe this is a poor example. To me unconditional love does not judge, unconditional love is a remembering to forget! Forget everything which went before, being new with each moment and each encounter as if I was as fresh as the first dew on the very first daisy on the very first day. 


If I do not remember to love unconditionally with every encounter I have I see no reason to think that I have failed or been unsuccessful, in fact if I was to be self critical on that score I would be defeating the object of loving unconditionally!!!! For having discovered what unconditional love is and that it is a practice that I can adopt, the problems I may have applying it may be similar to those which arise when learning to shepherd my thoughts, thoughts can be unruly, at the start of my mission to learn to choose good feeling thoughts my thoughts were entirely chaotic, it was as if someone had let all the animals out in a zoo and sent in a lone zoo keeper to feed and care for them all, of course the results were at times disastrous, however once all the animals were safely back in their enclosures it all started to get easier......


Perhaps for some people unconditional love comes naturally, and I am glad for them, but before I learnt about unconditional love, I learnt and practised conditional love; the love where one cares about who someone supposedly is and what they have been up to! I am going to take it easy on myself, I am new to the understanding that I can allow people to be exactly as they are, in the same way that I need not judge myself and my thoughts, I also need not judge others and their thoughts either. 


If I can I treat the world with the same love I have for my children then that is a pretty good start, I am reminded now of a saying which I found in 'The Artists Way" by Julia Cameron; I am looking for progress, not perfection. I love this saying, it has helped me so much in so many ways. 
I am learning to think in ways which are leading me into a wonderfully happy life, and I am learning to love unconditionally, is there really anything more important to do in this magical mysterious world?


Today I am Thankful for unconditional love
 I am Thankful for new friends
 I am Thankful for honey and lemon tea
 I am Thankful for the beauty and heat of fire
 I am Thankful for the generosity of strangers and friends
 I am Thankful for those people who have shown me the way to love unconditionally
 I am Thankful for my healing
 I am Thankful for short grain brown rice
 I am Thankful for the humble and amazing string
 I am Thankful for kisses


love Klara.