[Image: La Orana Maria (We Hail Thee Mary), 1891, French Polynesia by Paul Gauguin]

The title image is my favourite painting in the world. It was painted by the French artist, Paul Gauguin when he first moved to French Polynesia. It is a visual expression of the purest form of love: the love of creation, the love that flows from source…. the love that, when manifested, becomes the source of creation and of life. That is what I see when I look at the image.

What does this have to do with the conversations I had with my flatmates the other night? Well, to be quite honest, the conversations we had all revolved around the concept of love (for self and humanity) and how the expression of that love for oneself and humanity can be effectively expressed. Everyone goes around talking about “learning to love yourself“, but what does that even mean? It means being completely honest about what is in your heart and living a life that aligns with that. You may lose friends and family that are no longer aligned with you, but did it ever occur to you that they might not be living a life that you really want? People will sometimes give advice from a place of fear. The results of those decisions will never result in a loving and peaceful existence. Why? Because the emotions and thoughts attached to that decision were NOT loving and peaceful. It truly isn’t rocket science.

For me, I think each person is different, not better, than anyone else. It is in accepting and celebrating our differences that we then make space to identify and celebrate (and in some cases develop) the things that make us the same. It is not a zero-sum game. History (and now science) is consistently confirming what I do believe every human being inherently knows. We are one. Conditioning throughout our lives will make you think otherwise. In this case, the solution is healing. Again, based on the nature of your conditioning, that will look different for everyone, but we do not give up and we never fail. We just learn and get better.

So, I guess the way back to love is to remember you never really lost it. You just forgot who you are, and from that place of fear and unknowing, have made decisions and taken actions that take you further from love.

Make peace with this, if you feel this has happened to you. You are already love. You don’t need anything else in your life to show that. If you are lucky, perhaps one day the universe will send you someone to share your life and expression of love with. Maybe not. In either case, it does not change that fact love is in the air. Breath it in.

Lots of love from me,
Victoria