Love in Abundance
How Sweet It Is: Three Sugar Alternatives
A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down, but it’s probably not doing much else for you.
Have you ever wished that you could know love more deeply? By working with the feeling — or absence — of love in your life, you can find a stronger and more reliable connection to the deepest places in your heart and to the people you care for. And by being more conscious of love in daily living, you can inhabit all the moments of your life more fully and find greater joy and satisfaction.
The simple practices offered below invite you to explore the power of being mindful. Presence, intention, and wholehearted action are the vehicles for filling your life with something radically alive, new, and brimming with possibility. The richest benefits will come from the doing — from your direct experience of exercising mindfulness, setting your intention, and carrying out the practice wholeheartedly. You don’t have to do all of them, and there’s no “wrong” or “right” way to do them. In only five minutes a few times a day or week, these practices can help you open and warm your heart.
MAKE ROOM FOR LOVE
Have you ever noticed how negative emotions can take up enormous space in your life? Then set them aside. Find a place to be still and relax, and focus on your breath for about a minute. When you feel ready, ask yourself: “What is the capacity of my heart to love? Just how much love is really in there?” Close your eyes and imagine a swirling groundswell of loving emotions intensifying inside you, spilling out from your heart and rapidly spreading throughout your body. What physical sensations are you experiencing? Open your eyes and affirm to yourself that you have a vast capacity to love. You truly are an unstoppable force of benevolence toward yourself and others.
FOCUS ON THE BEAUTIFUL
When you are feeling closed off, isolated, or alone, learn to restore and reconnect by resting in beauty. Your key to connection lies in mindful attention to the fullness and beauty of life around you. Stop whatever you are doing and practice mindful breathing for a moment, then set your intention. (One example could be: “May this practice revitalize me.”) Look around, and notice beauty. See it in color, shape, space, and motion. When you find something beautiful, look closer and rest your eyes there. Now try listening mindfully. Find the beauty in tones, rhythms, and silence. Find beauty around you using your other senses, too.
EXPLORE LOVING TOUCH
A hand holding another hand can reflect deep feelings of love and caring. Ask your partner to join you for a few minutes and take each other’s hands. Pay attention to your breath for about a minute, then set your intention, either aloud or to yourself. For example: “May this practice deepen our love.” Let your attention rest completely on his hand. Hold, squeeze, and caress it, exploring his hand fully, slowly, and gently. Let love flow through your hands to his.