Love & Light - Peace & Love

I have a couple of friends who use these phrases as signatures at the end of every email they send. I used to think it was such a cliche. Until I actually needed these words. I was having an unpleasant day that resulted in frustration and negative thoughts. I decided to go for a run to blow off steam. I normally run with music but for some reason that day I left the headphones at home. As I started my run I remembered the Buddhist practice called Metta or loving-kindness. The practice begins with cultivating loving-kindness towards oneself then spreading that compassion towards loved ones, friends, strangers, enemies, and then to all sentient beings. The key word for me that day was enemies or in other words the person that was bringing disharmony to my life and causing the frustration. Having the courage to spread the compassion towards someone you are in conflict with is difficult. But like the practice teaches, you first start with yourself then once you rid your mind of negative thoughts and feelings only then can you begin to have love and compassion for others. They say you are what you think. So instead of thinking the negative thoughts that were plaguing my mind, I did a complete 180 and ran this phrase through my head the entire run. Love & Light - Peace & Love....over, and over, and over again until I actually began to feel the love, light, peace, and love within me. It was hard when I got to the so called 'enemy' but I started with a little ray of light, then I sprinkled on a little peace until I was able to engulf that person with love. By the end of the run my whole being had changed from the irritated person that first walked out the door to a calm, peaceful state. The next time you are in need of changing the negative, hurtful dialogue in your mind simply state these words and see what happens.

Love & Light - Peace & Love
Namaste~
Chica