To Love is To Heal

Hello loves!

In today’s blog, I continue my reflections of my daily readings from “A Course in Miracles.” In today’s reading, the Course described that every loving thought is real and every other thought is simply a call for healing.  The Course also says that to love ourselves is to heal ourselves.  The Course describes that everything we see in each other is simply a reflection of our own thoughts, our own mind, and our own perception. 
 
So, today’s reading was specifically describing how we see and react to others.  What do we do when we see another person acting from a place of anger, jealousy, or greed?  How do we react when we see our brothers or sisters coming from a place of darkness?  Remembering of course, that we all have those dark, shadow side emotions within us.  We are all made up of light and dark; this is simply part of our human nature. A huge part of our journey of healing and loving lies in learning to accept all sides of ourselves.
 
And so, what do we do when we see those dark sides in others?  We could deny them or judge them.  We could say “Why is this person acting in this way? I would never do that!”
I will admit that I am certainly at fault for having those thoughts on occasion!  It’s a common thought process, because it is our human nature that our ego makes comparisons and justifies its own sense of rightness.  But, can we step back from all of that?   Can we say, “Hey, wait a second. This person is reacting out of anger or insecurity. Have I ever felt those things within myself? I certainly have.  So, can I shine some loving thoughts, loving care and attention on to those feelings?”
 
It is a process of recognizing that we all have those same sort of dark, shadow emotions.  We may exhibit those emotions in different ways, but those underlying feelings are all the same.  There are really only a finite number of really well-defined, well-studied emotions that exist in human nature.  For example, there is fear, anger, greed, insecurity; there is also joy, love, gratitude, peace.  So, when we see an emotion coming up in another person, we can recognize it as a natural human emotion.  It is very humbling to think of it in this way, but chances are that those emotions are somewhere within ourselves as well.   And so, we can see this emotion coming up in another person as a call for help and healing on their end, but it is also a call for healing within ourselves. It is coming to light, coming into our awareness so that we can recognize it and shine light on it within ourselves.
 
I know it is a very deep process.  It is a very humbling process. And, it is a daily a practice, so be kind with yourself as you go on this journey.  Let me know how this practice resonates with you.  Have you had experiences of witnessing these shadow emotions in yourself or others, and how have you handled it?  Moving forward, in what ways can you shine light on these experiences?  Leave a comment below!
 
Sending you so much love, today and always!
 
Keep Reading:
Shedding Light Onto Darkness
Tapping Into Your Heart Space
Live With Intention