Saturday, June 14, 2008

The way to peace is love

As I "grow up" and learn more about myself and how I relate to family and friends, I continually work on letting go of shame, blame and guilt. These attitudes don't serve me, and they don't get me anywhere but down. The way to peace - whether peace of mind or world peace - is love. So simple, and yet so difficult.

A common theme for me is about remembering what I can influence, what kind of power I have in my world. The only power I truly have is to deal with my own feelings. I do not have any power to control other people or events. The best I can do is work on my own issues and how I respond to the people and events that come my way. When I view my life through the lens of love, I feel much more peace. I feel stronger connections to the people I care about... and to those I don't even know.

When we let love guide us, we are kinder. We are more patient. Children and teens need love and kindness and patience. So do our own parents. A woman shared today about her relationship with her mom. For a long time she focused on the difficult parts of their relationship and felt like "she done me wrong." Even though her mother died several years ago, she is learning to love her now. She believes she has a much better relationship with her mom today because she is letting more love into her life. It is never too late, but oh, it is so much better when we can strengthen our relationships with love and reap the benefits in the here and now.

Love - it's not all we need, but it goes a long way to lead us to a life with more peace.

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