Dear people of the world I love:   Yes you!   And you too! 

 When was the last time you can recall feeling so full of love that you actually felt it spill out past your own perimeter, and extend itself beyond all those boundaries you have wittingly and unwittingly constructed in preservation of your self-hood? Many of you know someone in your life who shares love so openly, and often times that person is a young child not yet encumbered by fear of being so open to the world. What if you as an adult could be that person?

 Just recently I was that person! It happened to me in a shopping mall of all places. Not being much of a shopper this was hardly somewhere that I would typically bliss out in. I was walking and thinking of all the people who like me were stuck for some reason or other in this form of shared misery-milling about in the poor air and poor lights that inhabit our modern shopping centers. When all of a sudden I felt a communion with everyone I could see within my field of vision. And not just a small sense of connection -this was huge- I felt intimately in love with absolutely everyone I came in contact with! I felt the very intense love feeling you usually only share with someone that you know very well and whom you care about deeply, yet everyone I looked at was technically a stranger to me. I didn't know what to do with this very strong feeling or how to begin sharing it with others so I just continued walking, smiling happily to myself and to anyone who looked my way.

 Instead of feeling angry or hateful at the excess in the stores and damning us all for the role we play in perpetuating it through our consumption of goods and services (my usual line of thinking when I am walking in a mall) I felt blissfully detached from a need to change anything; detached from negativity and outcome.  Transformed, I experienced a deep sense of the immense abundance which we carry within and too often fail to recognize in ourselves or share with others.

This was not the first time that I've experienced such a strangely deep opening. It has happened to me on other occasions as well. And strange might not be the best word to describe the sensation because it involves such a profound sense of comfort and familiarity. The feeling is so familiar and comfortable I can't help but think of it as a return to our most natural way of being in the world and would compare it to the feeling you get upon a return home after time away. 

When boundaries are dissolved space arises for greater acceptance and love. We experience connectivity in such a way that there is no room for judgment or fear. This is a place of boundless beauty and goodness and amazingly, even blessedly is within our grasp if we just loosen our grip on self enough to let it appear.

Thankfully, this has been happening to me more, not less often as of late. It helps me be more compassionate towards myself and others I encounter throughout my days. For the presence of such moments in my life I will always be grateful. They serve as reminders to me of what is truly possible when we open our eyes and hearts to what is already there.

I am deeply inclined to think that this dissolution of self into love is possible for everyone-that it is a birthright of sorts, for us all, not just for those who understand it, those who are spiritually inclined or have a language framework to express it. Besides, language fails to paint the truest picture of the profundity of these experiences. Many people become tongue-tied by the lack of cultural references we have in our language system to describe such moments. The word ineffable, or unspeakable is the word that some fall back on to explain their experiences. I truly believe that cultivating a sense of awareness and openness within our own hearts is the greatest pathway towards increasing the presence of love in our lives.

Wishing you all the deep experience of your own abundant heart!

Jill