I had a bizarre thing happen to me this past week. I was hiking with a family member and she showed me a beehive alongside the trail. I know very well that the best thing to do around bees is to NOT be a threat; so I made no sudden movements and just said, gently,

“Hello, bees.” 🙂

WHAM! Right as I said it a bee smacked into my forehead and stung me literally right where my 6th chakra is located. Talk about bizarre!

It didn’t seem to have much of an effect at the time, which surprised me because I usually get a lot of swelling from a bee sting. Over the weekend I was supposed to go away with my significant other, but that apparently was not meant to be. Saturday morning I woke up and the inner part of my eyelids were almost swollen shut, right around the bridge of my nose and on both eyes. Combined with light-headedness and a lot of rain I made the sage decision NOT to drive two hours for a weekend getaway.

So I ended up spending the weekend by myself, and I came out of that experience with a profound insight.

After a few days of hibernation and loads of allergy medication I was feeling “down in the dumps” … I was getting into a place where my thoughts toward myself really were not healthy.  That negative inner voice was getting the best of me … and I have a pretty nasty inner voice (when I foolishly listen to it)!

My response to these emotions is generally to meditate … to spend time with God. I ALWAYS feel wonderful then. As I began to let my mind go I realized that the reason I like to be around people … is because I generally go out of my way to be loving, friendly, and even funny. It makes me FEEL good to be this way … because I am being a conduit of Love.

As I thought of this I heard that familiar inner Voice say,

“You don’t like to be alone for long because you are not loving toward yourself. You like being a conduit of Love, but you only are a conduit of Love for others. You will never be truly happy or content unless you start being a conduit of Love toward yourself. LOVE your Self … literally; as an action.”

That one really made me stop … I actually opened my eyes and said,

“WHOA!”

It sounds simple. I guess the best way to convey the portent of this is that when I have an epiphany; when I hear that Voice reveal something important? It just vibrates on a level that is totally different within me than just me thinking it, hearing it, or reading it. My eyes are opened anew and reality takes on a completely different level of understanding.

When I think of how I am toward my Self? I would say that I am more of a taskmaster or critic than anything else … even when it comes to the spiritual world. So often it is about taking myself to new levels spiritually, which is great … I just apparently need to do some work that will build up into a habit that is literally setting aside time to actually LOVE myself.

So that’s my sharing for the day … it came about through kind of a weird turn of events, but then I suppose many of the things that are valuable come when we are jolted out of our normalcy.

What about you? Do you have time set aside during each day where you specifically Love yourself?

You are God’s creation, after all … a thing of beauty … an intricate work of art that is worthy of being Loved. We want so desperately to be loved … but do we take the time to discover the joys of Loving our Self?

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– art by Charlotte Farhan

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

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