Tag: Self-love

Love Can Change the World

Imagine a world where systems and laws were based on love.

May 7, 2023

Tagged change, love, Projection, Self-love, Shadow work

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What would it be like if we lived in a world where love, not materialism reigned supreme? What would it be like if we lived in a world where kindness and compassion were more important than profit? What would it be like to live in a world where the health of the earth was more important than corporate greed? What would it be like to live in a world where medical care was a right not a privilege, where bodily autonomy was a given for everyone? Imagine a world where systems and laws were based on love.

When Marianne Williamson ran for President in 2020, she talked a lot about the power of love to change the world. She was dismissed by the media, and she became a subject of satirical memes depicting her as out of touch with reality. Evidently fixing the world with love is not a very practical solution in the eyes of the most of the populous.

But what if love is truly the answer? I believe that it begins with self-love. Each of us comes into the world with a lot of baggage – childhood wounds, trauma, shame, regret. Deep down many of us tend to see ourselves as unworthy and un-loveable. When we don’t deal with those shadow parts of ourselves, we project them onto others, judging them through our own lens of pain and suffering. So it becomes easy to point fingers at the shortcomings of others, while ignoring our own.

When we love ourselves, we don’t have to control others. We don’t need to have power over others. Unless another person is causing serious harm, we don’t need to deter them or punish them. When we love ourselves, we can allow others to be who they are, love whom they will, and live their lives without being judged by us. When we love ourselves, we are free to love others. We are free to emanate empathy and compassion because we are giving ourselves that same empathy and compassion.

It is not always easy to determine the most loving course of action in certain situations, especially when it comes to life and death. Is it more loving to prolong someone’s life because we can, or is it more loving to allow them a dignified death? Do we sacrifice the one to save the many? What about “tough love,” when it comes to helping our children learn and grow? Is it really loving to give them everything they want, or do we draw a line? It is up to us and our evolving consciousness to make the most loving decisions we can even in the most trying of circumstances.

If each of us determines that every day, in all circumstances we will lead with love, empathy, and compassion, I believe that we have the power to change the world. If I lead with love, I will share a kind word, a smile, a laugh with everyone I meet. I will meet hostility with compassion; I will fill up another’s cup with my own, without worrying about what I am giving away; I will base decisions on what is the most loving thing to do, not on what I will gain; I will let my light shine freely and encourage others to let theirs shine too. I will give love freely and with abandon to humans and non-humans, and to the earth herself.

Certainly love doesn’t seem to be a practical way to change the world. It feels woo-woo and New Ageish. But if each of us walks the earth in love, we can harness the immense power of love to make a difference in someone’s life, one encounter at a time. And that can eventually change the world.

Barbara Garland
May 2023

When Does the Spiritual Become Political?

I Am Enough

As you walk your own soul’s path, I invite you to consider that part of the work is to truly accept that you are enough, just as you are.

Goddess Inspired

March 18, 2023

Tagged acceptance, Being Enough, Self-love, Soul Work

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I continue to grapple with the idea of being called to be a priestess. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, “Being a priestess is bringing the work of my Soul to fruition.” But what does it mean to bring the work of my Soul to fruition?

I have had a daily spiritual practice of walking, meditation and journaling for many years, but it has become very consistent in the past three years. I usually listen to meditation music through my headphones while I get still and quiet. I sometimes draw an oracle card and meditate on what topic it brings up for me. Sometimes I ask a question such as, “What does my Soul want me to know today.” I journal what comes to me in the meditation. I ponder and I ask for guidance. I believe that this practice has helped me greatly on my spiritual journey. Sometimes I hear precise instructions, such as “I should write a blog.” Sometimes I receive vague impressions that get clearer over time.

On a walk this week, as I pondered the question of bringing my soul work to fruition, I realized that my true Soul Work is not about being a priestess; it is about accepting myself as enough. I keep thinking I must be more, do more – hence become something more, in this case a priestess – in order to be on the “right” spiritual path. I realized that I was falling into the old Patriarchal paradigm of earning my way into heaven.

I don’t have to become something more in order to be at one with the Divine. I am already completely loved and held in the all-encompassing love of the Divine. It doesn’t matter what I do, what I write, what titles I might have – I am loved, and I will never lose that love. My lesson is to accept that love without having to feel that I must keep doing more to earn it.

As I think about the implications, I realize that many of us have been conditioned to believe that we will never be good enough. According to my understanding of Biblical scriptures, we were conceived in sin, and we are all sinners. Therefore we must always strive to be better and better in order to earn the love of the creator. This outdated paradigm keeps us all in bondage to running on the gerbil wheel of never enough.

Our culture teaches us that we must always do more, be more, earn more. In my working life, it didn’t matter if I achieved this year’s goals, next year’s goals were always higher. It didn’t matter what I did today, the question was how I was going to top my highest achievements. Again, the message is that whatever I do is never enough.

But I am enough. I am loved just as I am. In that realization lies tremendous freedom. I don’t have to do. I am loved because I exist, because I am a child of the Divine Mother/Father who created me. Now I am free to detach from the shoulds of life and become truly myself. I write this blog, not to earn points with the Divine, but because it brings me joy. If I quit writing tomorrow, I am still loved. I don’t have to become a priestess of any specific practice in order to live a life based in love and inclusion. Even if all I do is exist, I am still loved. All the things that I have felt called to do have been but steppingstones to my true Soul work – the realization that I am enough just as I am.

As you walk your own soul’s path, I invite you to consider that part of the work is to truly accept that you are enough, just as you are.

Barbara Garland
March, 2023

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New blogs will be added to this post every Friday.

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About Me

I am a seeker of truth, a truth teller, a lover of the Divine Feminine, an aspiring writer, a mystery, an open book, a work in progress. I have lived a long and varied life, and now in my seventies, I am being called to share some of what I have learned over the years. I hope to share the wisdom of the deep Feminine that is being channeled through me.

If the Goddess has ever whispered to you, I invite you to join me on an incredible journey of love and discovery. May you hear Her wisdom through these words.

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