"Finding the Sweetness"
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
You know, it is easy to focus on the bad stuff.
I hear the news in the US is all about doom and gloom, financial crises, and worse-- sprinkled with hope that a new President can turn it all around and make the old New. Here in the village of Chacala, Nayarít, Mexico, we don't have much of that. Yes, some of the local merchants mention that business is slow, but they also live in paradise, and, hey, tortillas are subsidized by the government! What's to worry!?
Underneath all the fear, all the worry about the future, if we look, I think we can always find the sweetness, the truth, the love. Someone dear to me wrote this to me a couple of days ago:
MySelf and Other are not separate, and the truest love that I have known is the deep abiding respect and acceptance that grows out of that recognition. When I rest in this place, there is no power struggle, there are no differences, and no one to bump up against. There is sweetness, kindness, and faith in Life. There is Love. Simple, sweet love.
There is always sweetness, kindness, and love, simple, sweet love. If we can remember to look, I think we can always find the sweetness.
I was surprised and honored to do some healing work today, in a village an hour from here. I sat with a young woman I knew as a child many years ago, who was nearly paralyzed-- I was told from a great grief. Her hand was cold. She could hardly speak or move. What could I do, but find the sweetness? I helped her bring warmth and strength to her hand.
I kept repeating, "No tienes la culpa." It is not your fault. I asked her if she really really wanted to walk back into her life. She said Yes. I invited her to be a tiger. To growl! To bring the warmth and new strength in her hand into her whole body. And really, all I was doing was finding the sweetness, my faith in Life. Simple, sweet love.
She cried, and she smiled. I could see her pain was huge, and I could also see she was not the pain. She was the sweetness. The light. So beautiful. Such love. And such a broken heart. And still the sweetness lives.
I don't know what will happen. I will go back and visit. I will see the sweetness, and invite her to see it too. Maybe she will, and maybe she won't. But I will. I will know the sweet simple love that she is and that we share.
I am writing this on New Year's Eve to remind you, and me, to Find the Sweetness. New Year's Eve is an arbitrary event, in a way, but special. It is often a time we set intentions, make resolutions, and plan who we will be in the future.
My invitation for this evening, this day, this beginning of a New Year, is to set an intention, make a habit, to demand of your mind, to Find the Sweetness. Find the love, the kindness, and the Faith in Life. Go deep into the truth of who you are-- you are Love. No less. The same love that created you is what you are! Find THAT sweetness within.
And then share it with your world. If there is healing to be done, this is the way we will heal.
Find the Sweetness.
And so it is.
Happy New Year
Joyful Sweetness.
And Love.
Allan
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