Best Love Story Ever
The stories that we tell ourselves about love and the narratives that we create around our loves are so important to our understanding of love within the context of our own history and life story. There is the story of our first love, loves gone wrong, loves that were unexpected and those that grew over time. There is the love of pets and the love of our apartment or house and the love of our car. These loves have stories too. Our love is the story of love.
But, what does this do for us in this moment. What is love in this breath? And how do some of our stories prevent us from experiencing love deeply or even at all? What about love that gets interrupted by illness, by geographic distance or circumstances beyond our control? These types of stories are either bitter all together or bitter sweet and this is a judgement that causes us great suffering. They are based on expectations and not real, in this moment, experiences that are truly available to us.
A mindful approach to love can bring a sense of comfort and open awareness to the people and living beings we care about. Even a momentary release of the story of love might inspire unexpected passion and permission to evolve in a unique and completely different way. In the movie Up, which is, perhaps, one of the greatest love stories–EVER, we watch as a young couple has their hopes for having a baby dashed and so they start to save for a big adventure. Along the way, as they save and dream, the jar gets filled, but then life happens—-they need a new tire, they have medical emergencies and a tree falls on their house. They never get to go on the journey together—or do they? For the meaning of the movie is that, actually, the love doesn’t die when Ellie (the wife) dies. The love and the story continue and the husband is able to take it and carry it with him on a different kind of adventure.
This week, I’d like you to explore your own love story and all the narratives of love (including love lost) that you embody—through heartache, through longing, and through your efforts all through the day to maintain your loves (the dogs you walked, the meals you prepared, the doctor’s appointments you made, the travel plans you created, the bookbag you packed for a child or maybe the sticker or small note you put in a wee ones lunchbox,etc.)—-not only are these narratives in your mind, they are also very much in your body.
MEDITATION on a LOVE STORY
When you have five minutes to sit or even to lie down, I invite you to take five deep breaths in through your nose and slowly release the breaths through your mouth. Feel your mouth, jaw and throat relax a little more with each exhale.
Take a moment to remember a first love. Whatever comes to mind first is what you should use. Don’t try to control it. You’ve likely had lots of first loves (first ice cream, first trip to the beach, first pet, first kiss, first crush, first bathing suit you felt you looked great in……..), so whatever comes to mind first, use that. If you are finding it hard not to control your choice, go back to taking a few breaths and allow your mind to return and rest on whatever comes to you first.
Now, bring that love story to mind and let the whole narrative play out in your heart-mind—really allow the story to be told and to unfold in its entirety. At the end of the story, or wherever your narrative of that love ends, bring your awareness to your body. Notice how that narrative made you feel in your body. Does any part of your body feel pleasure with the narrative? Are you stressed or tense anywhere in your body? Are you generally relaxed or agitated or sleepy or happy or frustrated? What is the feeling-place of your love story narrative?
Starting with your toes and working your way up the body, completely relax (feet, legs, hips, belly, back, heart, arms, hands, shoulders, throat, neck, jaw, head, whole body). As you release tension in the body, visualize the love, without the narrative, fill all the open spaces so that you are vibrating in the glow of the affection itself. The love is with you. It IS you. Relax your whole body into this narrative free love festival. See yourself as love. Be aware of what it feels like to be love without boundaries. Without the story. Simply, delicious and infinite love.
Finally, open your eyes and move through the rest of your day or evening or night from this place of infinite love. Enjoy!
I hope that you enjoyed this little meditation on love and the stories about love that you tell yourself and others. Please forward on this message and share with anyone and everyone you know who could benefit from a little love meditation today. I send out a love letter to everyone on my e-mail newsletter list each and every Thursday. If you like this little love note, please join my community and you too can receive a little note of affection (a poem, a video, a meditation, a yoga practice a virtual kiss, etc.) in your inbox every week too.
Posted by Sharon Fennimore Rudyk, MA, E-RYT a Pittsburgh-based yoga instructor and mind body therapist. If you are interested in liberation in this lifetime or working with me to free yourself from chronic pain, sickening stress levels and all stress-related illness and disease, please give me a call for your FREE phone consultation: 412-855-5692. Thanks to the power of the internet, I can serve clients all across the globe!
