Dear Friends,

I had the great good fortune of attending a talk given by the author and Self-love/Body-love movement activist, Sonya Renee Taylor. The talk took place Sunday in the space shared by Opening Heart Mindfulness and Circle Yoga.

I experienced Sonya’s offering as deep, wise, funny, and to the point. One of the current practices she has is to look at everything she encounters as “life asking to be reconciled with love.” She shared her belief that everything is love asking for love. This is not simply a concept to be intellectualized, but a practice to consider in each moment. If this is true, what action can I take to bring me closer to this love?

This concept resonated with me and reminded me of the Buddha’s teaching on boundless love from the Metta Sutra (bolding is mine):

Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings;
Radiating kindness over the entire world:
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.

It also brought to mind two other practices I turn to often: Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and Inner Relationship Focusing. In NVC, we practice remembering that every action anyone is taking is an action to meet their unmet need. And since all have the same universal needs, when we see someone do harmful things, we can remember that we also have this need, but they may not have had the tools or experience that we have that allows us to work with the need in a different way.

In Focusing practice, we aim to stay grounded in what we call Self-in-Presence, our wisest self who can hold all of the suffering parts within us. Our Self-in-Presence doesn’t have any agenda other than to embrace our suffering. This is also what Sonya refers to as Radical Self-Love.

And lastly, I was reminded of Ram Dass’s beautiful image; “We are all just walking each other home.”

I was inspired by all I heard to continue to practice resting in the boundless love that is inside me and around me by reminding myself that I can always take refuge inside me in this place of Boundless Love, regardless of what is going on in the world; and it helps to also remember that This is a Happy Moment.

Sonya’s deep teachings can be found in her book, The Body is Not An Apology and its associated workbook. She has a new book coming out in October, The Book of Radical Answers: Real Questions from Real Kids Just Like You, it can be pre-ordered anywhere books are sold.

I hope you will check those out and let me know, as always, if you have any thoughts or responses to what I’ve shared.

with boundless love,
Annie.

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