LOVE. What is it?

Fernwood Painted Power Poles

Gillian Cornwall, c. 2014

Ah love, amour, the passion of the heart! Odes are written to it, people die for it, statues and edifices are built to it, but what the blazes is it actually and why is it causing such a kerfuffle?

Is it what happens between the sheets?

Gumby and Pokey - cuddling ...that is all.

Gillian Cornwall, c. 2012

Is it a feeling like you have gone to heaven because someone makes you feel all funny inside?

Mount Baker on a Summer Day

Gillian Cornwall, c. 2012

Is it a walk with someone on a Spring day, thinking of all the wonders you have shared and will share, today and ever more?

Spring in Victoria, Finnerty Gardens, UVic, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. 2011

LOVE.
What is it, anyway?

All I have is this, in whatever state of togetherness or separateness from another human:

Love is energy. It is the energy that is constant, just as in physics. It is an energy that cannot be taken away. It may change along the way. It may shift from one way of being to another but it is eternal regardless of its form.

If we think of love as energy, as the energy of the universe flowing through us and all around us, then perhaps we can let go of fear a little. Perhaps we can breathe more deeply (for holding tightly serves no-one) and let love, energy, flow through us freely. In this way, like a fresh spring, we will always be full. There will always be enough. We will have nothing to lose.

Let us be brave. Let us love freely and kindly without holding. As far as people go, if we truly love someone, we must be brave when they need to go and wish them luck on their paths. Love means we want others to be happy. We want them to follow their dreams and sometimes that means letting go of the physical connection and letting their energy continue to flow through our hearts. It does not mean there is no longer love between the two, it only means that energy has shifted and changed shape. In this, there is no real loss.

Fine for me to say! I know, I'm no expert. Have I hurt when someone has left? Heck, yes! What helped? -realizing that they weren't leaving me; they were just leaving. We cannot take on the actions of others; we can only control our own actions and reactions. Do we love only as a result of someone loving us or is it something we choose to give freely, without expectation, without holding? That is for each of us to decide as we walk our own paths.

May you love in some way in every day. May your love expand your heart rather than cause it pain and depletion. May we all hold hands around the world, for many threads woven together make strong cloth.

-Gillian Cornwall, Edit and re-post August 14, 2016

c. February 15, 2015

Bamboo, Finnerty Gardens, University of Victoria

Gillian Cornwall, c. 2012

"Bamboo is flexible, bending with the wind but never breaking, capable of adapting to any circumstance. It suggests resilience, meaning that we have the ability to bounce back, even from the most difficult times.... Your ability to thrive, depends, in the end, on your attitude to life circumstances. Take everything in stride with grace, putting forth energy when it is needed, yet always staying calm inwardly."
~ Ping Fu, Author of Bend, Not break: A Life in Two Worlds

The Universal Place Within Us

 
The Waves of the Mother - Lana'i Hawaii

Gillian Cornwall, c. December 2012

In light of the events in Canada this past week and because some concepts of this work arose during an interview I watched between Oprah Winfrey and Pema Chodron last Sunday, I have chosen to republish this post. The principles here guide me through my life and I re-read this work every time I start to lose my way. I hope you find it helpful.

"Love. Kindness. Joy. Patience. Endurance."

I repeat these words and live their meanings to the best of my ability in each moment and in the face of my fears. I follow the path of the femina magna with calm and steady breath: impeccable in word, not taking the path of others as my own, not making assumptions and doing my best with each step.

Wars, heartaches, lives and deaths have cycled through us and we walk on, down our paths, making decisions with each and every footfall:

a) the path of love

b) the path of fear

Let us go to the universal place within us, 

the place we have all recognized at one time in our lives, 

if only for a fleeting moment:

We are beings of love, of energy,

we are inextricably connected.

Let us be our best one.

Let us walk our paths in a state of openness and love,

independent and together,

as the roots below our feet

and the flow of the oceans,

as all the creatures of the earth.

Let us weave this beautiful basket of life and love together

so when we look within

our introspection shows the wonder of limitlessness,

the universe in each of us as one connected being.

From mother to child we unfurl

with limitless love for all

and no fear of loss,

for love flows through us as an endless fountain

with no fear,

no need to hold,

for it is all there, all ways,

if we are open,

if we trust.

Breathe.

Gillian Cornwall, c. January  20, 2013.

Plumeria Blossoms, Lana'i, Hawaii

Gillian Cornwall, c. December 2012