Love Lifts Me

When I think about the love I have for my children, love lifts me out of whatever unwholesome thoughts I may have in my mind.

When I look down on China Beach in Point Lobos State Reserve just a few miles south of Carmel, California, love lifts me due to the white sands, blue-green sea and beautiful tunnels carved by millenniums of waves crashing into the cove.

When I see a sea lion resting on the rocks in the Pacific Ocean, love lifts me up to the shore.

When I watch the mighty waves crashing into Carmel beach, love lifts me to appreciate the magic of the moon dragging the water from the oceans this way and that for the past four billion years and stirring up the ocean so that life could form.

China Cove, © Jerome Freedman, 2002

Hafiz, the 14th century Iranian poet, wrote

I once asked a bird,
“How is it that you fly in this gravity of darkness?”
She responded,
“Love lifts Me.”
– Hafez

China Cove, © Jerome Freedman, 2009

I have another memory of an egret floating in the middle of China cove and use this image often in my meditation.

I also love what John Lennon wrote

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life.
When we are in love, we open to all that life has
to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance.
We need to learn to love ourselves first,
in all our glory and our imperfections.
If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open
to our ability to love others or our potential to create.
Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision
of people who embrace life.”

~ John Lennon

What lifts you in your life? How does love lift you?