Happy Father's Day! On this day, we're all reminded of different things but one thing connecting it all is that we're surrounded by love. If you've got a Father who lives up to all you could ever ask for in a parent, it may seem a little easier to recognize this love. And if you've been through the loss of a Father either through physical death or perhaps a mental disconnect, this love could be harder to tap into. Yet that's where the heart of our practice is. To seek love is not why we're here..the fleeting times when we feel that it's already here is our gift.
Through being loved and returning love to my own Father, I feel extremely blessed on this day. He has been a constant in my life. Even when my parents ended their marriage, he stepped up to the plate to give all he had for his children. I realized in my adult years that my parents are just people, trying to work out their own issues. That was a hard one, to realize that my parents are not the all-perfecting figures I always thought them to be as a child. This realization brought to me even more appreciation for them and what they gave to their kids. Through their own struggle and pain through countless issues (many of which I may not even know about), they stayed present for the sake of their children and their progress into adulthood.
My Dad has always been the "good guy." I can probably count the times he was legitimately angry with me on one hand. Now this isn't to say he didn't provide a strong guiding hand in my youth because as a teen I felt like I wasn't allowed to do anything...oh how lucky my friends were to be driving around on their own time doing whatever they pleased while I was at home. The humanity of it all, that I should have to do my homework! Now I recognize how lucky I am to have parents that cared enough to make life a little more difficult for themselves through requiring me to live up to whatever standard they held for me. I learned at a young age to figure out for myself what was right and wrong. And though I've made my fair share of choices that I've been unsure of as "right" in the moment, I see that they were right for me in my path to get to where I am now. As I continue on this path, not sure of what lies ahead (and pretty excited for that wonder), I'm cultivating a new way of living. This new way stems from simply doing what I feel is best for me in the moment. I've been known to push myself due to some kind of idea that I have of the way things "should" be, or what other people want me to do. This has materialized through all my years up until this one of my 25th, I have spent a lot of energy trying to live up to what others expect (or what I think they expect even if I don't know for sure). Instead, treating the self well is the best thing you can do for those you love and for those who you don't even know. When you're kind to yourself, it's easier to be kind to others. When you love yourself, it's more natural to give others the space to love themselves too.
So on this day, what's important for me is to enjoy my moments with family and to open myself to receiving their love. Once open to receive, love permeates through all of our cells. Once we're filled up with that love, others can benefit from it in a way that they may not even be aware of at first. And when along comes an emotion that isn't so full of light, recognition that this is love too is important for me to remember. All emotions are love..they can all bring us to a higher connection with ourselves. After connecting with ourselves in a more true sense, our loved ones feel a spacious love that is different from the kind that places expectations. I give to my Father on this special day the feelings of love I have for him, yet the space to feel his own love that I cannot possibly comprehend because it's not me.
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