My Seven Days in Silence – Day Five is about Love
The Chopra Center offers an annual retreat at Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA. It’s called Silent Awakenings. It’s literally adjacent to Pebble Beach, for some context. We spend seven days in silence. No phone, no TV, no online YouTube cat videos, no social media, and no talking! It’s a complete digital detox. I’ll be sharing my learnings and insights from each day. Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4. Here’s day five which is all about Love.
One of my favorite statements from last night’s session with Deepak is, “ Your tormentor is yourself leftover from yesterday.” Consequently, forcing yourself to be positive is the worst thing you can do. Be silent and focus on love. Shift from ‘thought’ to awareness. “Anytime we feel, as a result of a thought, a word, an action a touch, an idea that our unity is more profound than our diversity, that is an expression of love. “ Dr. David Simon
What is “Love”?
Often when I hear the word ‘love’, I think of romantic love. Yet, there are many types of love. Depending on which research or articles you read, there could be four, seven or eight. We talked about several types of love like self, familial and friendship. However, what truly is profound about practicing silence, for me, is experiencing agape, or the universal, unconditional type in an overwhelming way. I didn’t ‘know’ what to call what I was experiencing until today. In looking up an explanation of agape, I found the reference to the Buddhist notion of “metta”, which is “universal loving kindness.” It is the purest form that is free from desires and expectations. Love regardless of the flaws and shortcomings of others. I’m forever changed because of this experience. It is physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually impossible to feel anything negative AND love at the same time.
A simple exercise:
Here’s the exercise we did, so sharing with you too. Grab your journal, piece of paper, create a new Word or Google document and write/type about the following questions:
- Where have I noticed love this week?
- What do I cherish?
- What do I adore about me?
Firstly, don’t overthink, just brainstorm. Look at your life, others lives, nature, etc. Examine the mundane, the beautiful and the ugly. It could go beyond the physical. Lastly, there is not a ‘right’ order to these answers, nor are there any ‘right’ answers.
In reviewing my list, I saw love everywhere and in everything. It’s crazy I know, and sounds unrealistic, yet my list is so varied that in re-reading it now, it literally includes all types of things. The most fulfilling list was the ‘me’ list. If I had done this exercise as recently as two years ago, I’m not sure it would have been as expansive as it is now.
In summary, Deepak says “The spiritual meaning of love is measured by what it can do. It is meant to heal. Love is meant to renew. It is meant to bring us closer to God.” (or insert your belief or non-belief system of choice here). Therefore, I challenge you to find some love today. Look for it, hear it, feel it. Notice what impact that it has on you, in the moment.
We only have a finite amount of time on this planet, and you can choose how to spend that time.
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