Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?

I offer morning pauses on instagram each morning, three minutes or so to bask in stillness and breathe into our bellies. 
Every morning starts similarly: “Pause with me, close your eyes, imagine floating, bathing in a sweet sticky pool of shimmery, warm, safe, healing, honey…” (An ode to my late Grandmother). 

I bask in it like a honey bear, nose out so I can breathe, swimming in Honey love. Honey, like unconditional love, sticks to you, water feels more temporary. The other morning I woke up with desire to send love to any parts of us in pain.

If there is any part of you in pain, send it love. 
If there is any part of you (physical, emotional, spiritual) in pain, send it love. 
If you know someone in pain, send them love. 
And always bring the love back to you. 
We can’t give from empty and so fill yourself up first — with love, give it away, and then pull it back in. 

It wasn’t until hours later that I honored why I LOVE LOVE so much, because for my majority,  I never felt worthy Of love. 

Buried in my psyche, I had a very deep seated belief That I was unlovable, 
That I was undesirable, shameful, unworthy. 

And so when love appeared, I pushed it away. 
When someone said “I love you,” I replied, “You do? Really?” 
It was often those closet to me that I pushed away — 
I didn’t even believe my parents loved me truly. 

For most of my life, I was in pain. 
And now I feel like all I do is celebrate, in healing, I brought myself back to life! 

But through deep inquiry, while It is often said that the opposite of love is fear, which I do believe is true,
 But I also believe it is pain, too. Pain is the opposite of love. 

Someone recently shared this with me, a quote by Tolstoy, “Those that need love the most, are the hardest to love.” That felt true for me. 

When we are in pain, we can’t feel love.
When we are in pain, we can’t give love. 
And it is those in pain, that put their pain on others — And so begins the cycle of
hurt people hurting people living in the deep seated limited belief of unlovable and unworthy stories. 

At 3A Sunday morning I woke up with conviction and wrote these words furiously: 

We withhold love because we’re so afraid to feel the expansiveness of our own hearts. 
We withhold love because we’re so afraid to lose love. 
We withhold love because we’re so unsure we’re worthy of it. 

When we open our hearts to love — and bathe in the expansiveness of its currency, 
When we are love, 
Love is everything and 
Everything is love. 
This is no limit to love. Love is abundant 
It is up to us to believe it 
To see it  To feel it In everything. 
And receive it  From everything. 

But If you don’t allow yourself to feel it, 
You can’t lose it. But that isn’t living. 

And so Paul McCartney sang, “And in the end the love you make is equal to the love you take.”
Love has no end and no beginning.  It flows like honey. It just is. 

So I offer you this: 

Where can you start loving? 
When will you start living? 
Tomorrow isn’t promised
All we have is this moment, 
now. 

Can you give it all the love you have - to you and to others, 
And can you receive?

I love you — try it on, 
I love you, I mean it. 
I don’t even have to know you 
To tell you that you are worthy, 
That you are love
And lovely
Simply because 
You are. 

So breathe it into your entire being, 
Feel it
The light, 
The love 
The expansiveness in your body.
Let it be sticky. 
Take it with you, 
share it endlessly. 

And meditate with me, video below, or join me mornings @livyoung. 
Videos via YouTube, below. 

Sending you love on this Monday and always, 
xo Olivia