For the past few months, I’ve received weekly inspiration from Maria Shriver’s Sunday newsletter. This week she’s inspired me to live in and lead from a place of love. Which is going to be a lot harder than just filling my blessing jar of daily occasions of joy. Because it requires work on my part.
I’ll admit it won’t be easy to follow Maria’s advice to show love to those who show none to me, or those I love and care about. I’m also going to have to find a place of love within myself when my first response to negativity and anger is anything but loving.
From today’s Sunday letter: “If I’m truly angry at the tone I’m hearing around me, on television, social media and elsewhere… then I must react from a place in my heart that is positive and productive. To act the same way only compounds the problem. I must show love and compassion for our world, not fire and fury.“
How will I lead with love in this new year? I’ll continue to wake with a saying from the Easter antiphon, in which I‘ve always found daily positivity: “This is the Day the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad.” Last year I found it more difficult to hang on to that first glow of morning joy.
I‘ll pour love into my writing as my characters struggle to find their well deserved happy ending. I’ll stir extra love into my dinners, and afterwards, when Hubs and I take Angel on her nightly walk, I’ll either marvel at all the stunning stars we can see away from city lights, or remind myself that the rain we’re walking in is what makes our beloved Pacific Northwest so stunningly green.
I’ll also remind myself that love heals. Love transforms. Love builds bridges. So, who’s with me on a year’s journey to find and share what—like the song says—our world needs now: Love, sweet love?
