Sundays With Buddha

 

 

 



 

Week 17

 

 

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserves your love and affection.

 

 

                                                                                                                                     --Buddha

 



Wow. What a revelation. One many of us find impossible to comprehend. It has not always been Western Society’s strong suit to rear individuals to love and show themselves affection. We, contrary to our upbringing, hardly treat each other with love and affection, let alone, shower ourselves with it. Whether it leads to feelings that we are being too egotistical and self-indulgent or that we are just plain undeserving, for most of us it just is not a part of our everyday practice.  

But it should be.

I so wish I knew all the wonderful things I now know, when I could have shared it with the people in my life that really needed it, when they needed it. That’s why I open myself now. To share what I’ve learned, my experiences. If only my brother knew all of the things I’m learning. He would have had a better opportunity at leading a life not so filled with pain and self-loathing.

 

I'll never know if anything I could have done would have changed something, anything, in his life, but it would have been nice to try. We get so wrapped up in our lives, in what has "happened" to us; in our "stories" that we lose track of time and before you know it, a year has slipped by. There is a very long, detailed history with my brother, one I may share someday, but, for now, just know that pain is varied, and pain runs deep. And pain can be rectified.

 

If only we all knew this and honored it, everything hurtful anyone ever said to us would pass through us like water through a sieve. We would know the truth--that we are perfect just as we are, that our worthiness is not founded on another’s opinions of how we should be. That we are worthy, no matter what.

 

My brother's life is the most prevalent example I have of the urgent need for us to all know that we must love ourselves. Only after learning this, can we ever really realize the essential truth of loving each other. It is not only important for our own spiritual health, but it is equally important for everyone else who shares this planet.

 

You must know that you are worthy of all the love you hope to give another. This is the key to salvation; the spark at the end of the fuse that will ignite humanity into our fullest potential.

 

 

Thank you for being a part of this today.

 

Namaste,

 

Nanette