What does it really mean to love self? It could mean many things to many people depending on their definition of love… We all are not taught about love in the same ways. My experiences in life, including the relationships I’ve developed with my parents, other family members, extended relations, friends, intimate partners, business peers, mentors, teachers, spiritual/religious faculty, community acquaintances, etc…, have exposed me to various facets of what we have come to reference as love… Yet, rather than mirror every reflection, I chose to become an observer of the world unfolding before me… As a child, I watched the gestures of people, responses of what they were thinking and feeling. I closely listened to and heard their voices and words… I too had an acute sense of what was honestly being conveyed by their silence, what wasn’t being said aloud… I may not have known this in my younger years, but communication is multi-dimensional, seen and unseen, multi-layered, containing single sequences and sundry formations, and multi-versed, containing various linguistic styles… My own interpretation of communication led me to believe that it is the fulcrum of life that keeps the world moving, being and becoming…

Communication, vibrational energy, is what governs our lives…It is energy that lives as a frequency or pattern aligning itself with like frequencies and patterns… Our thoughts, emotions and physical movements create frequencies and patterns (undulating, energetic stimuli) that draw in more of the same energy and releases and/or fades away what is becoming less of its match or compliment. As earthly beings we get to view the physical rendition of the behind the scenes (invisible) energetic currents in play with one another. If we could see this unseen energy it would be similar to what we see on a musical sheet, chords: harmonies, melodies and rhythms being played together to make a song… So the question is, do you like the song being created by your thoughts and played by your emotions and physical movements? As children, we are taught by what we visually observe, even more so than what we audibly hear, but we are influenced by what we emotionally feel, more so than what we are taught through observation… Subtle vibrational energy, literally, touches us more deeply than any other energetic stimuli. Communication is in essence, invisible and visible, energy in motion or music… The less visible the music (sound/color currents) the more subtle it is… Music is the elemental foundation of all of life… We, ourselves, are music, patterns and sequences of energetic stimuli continually being created, built, multiplied and re-birthed into newer patterns and sequences of energy. This experience as a living being, as we all come to learn, is mostly influenced by our very own thoughts, emotions and physical activities…

We each have the capacity and freedom to write our own unique songs… Yet at times in our lives we have chosen to play songs that have been written by others and passed down to us… As a child and an adult, individuals, including my family, inspired me to write my own renditions of song, influenced by my overall perspective of life… My perception, inborn and externally conceived, is that I am a free being… I have a spirit, mind and body of my own… I think with my own brain… I can hear and feel my own heart beat… I see through my own eyes… I smell with my own nose… I talk via my own tongue and mouth… I touch and feel with my own arms and hands… I move and walk with my own legs and feet… I learn much from others, but the innate teachings of life are my discernment compass. Yet, although, as a child, I could see and understand through mature eyes and a precocious mind, I didn’t excuse myself from emulating existing patterns of familiar people and ways of life… Discovery for me was exploring old, existing patterns as well as new ways of being… This way of discovery has rippled into my adult life…

For the most part, as a child, I was given the choice to freely choose my experiences. Living a mostly liberated life positively shaped my childhood and adult existence. As an adult, my sense of freedom and adventure coaxes me to see life as friendly. If my experiences caused me to see life as otherwise, there were wiser ones always watching over me, gently and sometimes more loudly reminding me to heed my inner discernment compass. Usually they softly whispered in my ear that one road might be simpler to travel than another… They were the ones who saved me from experiences that could have caused me undue pain and sadness. They were the ones who listened to my prayers and wishes and answered with loving gestures, gifts and surprises… They were the ones who showed up in my life as perfect strangers and familiar faces with the life-directions, opportunities and/or money I needed… And they were the ones allowing me glimpses into greater and higher perceptions and perspectives of life letting me see what is truly real. In all, I was taught by these wiser ones that life is a beautiful symphony of music encouraging us to sing and dance the world of our fruitful imaginations and glorious dreams into existence…

I have lived and continue to live my life, more often than not, seeing all people and the world itself as good. Some have thought and said that my view is a naïve one, but the wiser ones have always insisted that my naïve view is simply my courage to live my life as innocently and trustingly as a child… Innocence and trust are the consistent friends causing me to invariably open myself to an abundance of joy, laughter, happiness, beauty and prosperity… I am grateful for the wisdom, words and guidance of the wiser ones who have trusted me and endowed me with the key to heaven here on earth and beyond… Thank you for seeing me as I really am and influencing me to see as clearly as you… I have continued to move through the world with a child-like demeanor and quality of being. Every fresh experience for me is as though I have walked into a new world full of magic and gifts. My thrill for pleasant experiences and surprises often overflows and inspires me to share my world with others who too enjoy the vibrations of joy, laughter, happiness, beauty and prosperity. I am grateful that I have had and still have the opportunity to do so…

I trust myself…and I trust life… I trust my judgment, wisdom and intuition. I trust that life will always open itself to me, letting me experience the very best of all people, places and things. And though I have experienced pain, sadness and disappointment, I am continually compelled to know and believe that life is always for me… The greater and higher frequencies of existence remind me that this is so… Love reminds me that this is so, the energy that aligns itself with me and lets me see beauty and magnificence in my own reflection… The energy that causes me to smile and laugh infectiously… The energy that causes me to walk this journey with upright courage and confidence… The energy that urges me to always see what is real, the true quality of all people… We all are children of the Most High God endowed with spiritual and human potentials, and therefore, able to make all things possible… Love is the energy that displayed for me the value of forgiveness after another had trespassed against me… It is the energy that moves me, tirelessly, to demonstrate the virtues of my own heart and the nature of my own humanity.

I have seen and felt the frown of others who have not understood my walk, but in my quiet conversations with God, I see and feel the reciprocated smile of life in the reflections of the Natural world… I have heard and witnessed the truths and convictions of others, but in my quiet conversations with God, I’ve learned that life is not meant to be a series of tests, but a sequence of organic experiences showcasing for us the benevolence, intelligence and power of God… I have observed the characteristics of disenchanted minds and hearts, but in my quiet conversations with God, it has been revealed to me that it is our own minds and hearts that make us free… Living is itself a conversation with God, but it is not so much the utterance of thought or words that allow for the revelations of Highest Presence, it is more so our ability to commune with silence… My walk with God has become for me a meditative practice of full presence in life, in love and in my relationships… Self-love is therefore, not an option… It is a requirement… Showing up for myself led others to show up for me… Giving to myself led others to give to me… Being patient with myself led others to be patient with me… Commanding the best of myself led others to see the best in me… Positively changing for myself led others to positively change for me… Giving myself permission to stand still on my principles led others to believe in my convictions and truths… Being honest with myself led others to be honest with me… Trusting myself led others to trust me… Respecting myself led others to value my mind, my heart and my body… Speaking up for myself led others to listen to and hear me… Self-love is not an option… it is a requirement…

This writing started as a mental and emotional letter to those who hurt and disappointed me in recent months and years. I wanted clarity regarding the unpleasant experiences I was caused as I tried only to live my own higher convictions and truth… I searched in my mind and heart for the purpose of being taunted and called a liar when I had only shared what was honest. I searched in my mind and heart for the purpose of being put out of homes onto the street with my belongings when I had respected others’ homes and property and heeded to their needs as I would heed to my own needs and respect what was mine. I searched in my mind and heart for the purpose of my personal mail and funds being kept from me or sent back to the sender without my knowing, though I had worked to live a life of integrity. I searched in my mind and heart for the purpose of having my clothing and other personal items taken and kept when I had taken and kept nothing from others. I searched in my mind and heart for the purpose of being judged and rejected by others because of past indiscretions that I had already forgiven myself for. I searched in my mind and heart for the purpose of the trials that man created and thought were necessary for my growth and awareness, but were not in alignment with the higher frequencies of life or with my own school of thought and learning. I searched in my mind and heart for the purpose of being violated and exploited, when I had willingly shared my life and gifts with others to inspire and encourage their walk too. I searched in my mind and heart for the purpose of being told I was too perfect and that only imperfect people were welcomed, when I had only vowed to walk a walk that was in closer alignment with God, therefore allowing me to be more complete and perfect within myself… I searched in my mind and heart for the purpose of being treated as foe rather than as friend, when I had clearly made known through my words and demonstrated through my actions that I had come as a humble seeker, witness and teller of truth… I searched…

The answers came… I had come into the company of those who were aligned with a fear-based reality rather than a love-based reality. Those who wanted to teach me how to survive rather than how to live. Those who wanted to influence my behavior through difficult and unpleasant trials and tests rather than through open and respectful dialogue and kind and complimentary displays of character. I had come into the company of those who wanted to teach me strategies for protection and defense rather than teach me techniques and practices that fostered peace and positive and un-prejudiced relations. I had come into the company of those who believed that my independence of mind and heart was a discriminatory and/or arrogant act rather than a demonstration of my own self-truth and worth. I had come into the company of those who measured my person-hood and value based on past choices deemed sinful or devilish rather than see me as the more complete spiritual human-being I had become. At the time of these experiences, there were in my midst, those who believed that there could be no gain if there was no pain, and therefore, such experiences as mine were necessary for a desired end result. There were also those who believed that to garner one’s submissiveness a beating down of one’s will was required. I had come into the company of those who believed that they had not been properly compensated for their honest work and thought that I should experience the same. In truth, the vibrational frequencies I had come to be in communion with emanated from psyches still affected by the traumas, distraught, despondency and deceptions brought on by the experience and remnants of our collective past, containing within it, psychologically, emotionally and physically oppressive systems. All human-beings here in America, of all ethnicities and cultures, had been unpleasantly affected in some way by these systems, for they were not of our Natural and Universal Laws… I hadn’t realized how much others had been unpleasantly affected until the distance lessened between us, until I’d been physically in their presence, homes, schools, centers, churches, businesses and communities… Due to what I experienced during my travels, it seemed my own thoughts, imagination and dreams were becoming blurred… I too began to find it difficult to see clearly and decipher the presence and messages of those who had shown up in my life as Divine Servants and friends…

In spite of the experiences that could have caused me to entirely lose sight of what is real, the truths made known to me in my Conversations with God and with the wiser ones, I remained steadfast in my walk… I continued forward in love, grace, faith, courage and confidence. I smiled at life and humbly, lovingly and respectfully received the many ways in which life smiled back. I vowed to always walk with God within this journey as a spiritual human-being. I too promised it would always be unconditional love that colors the world I share with others rather than discouragement and resentment. I have willed not to accept or embrace for my own life, without thorough investigation, the creeds, dogmas, doctrines, theories and arguments of those who live and speak on behalf of a dualistic world rather than on behalf of a world created through the one path of a pure heart, a world without evil, opposition, sickness and dis-ease. In my walk with God, I was first only a witness to such a world, glorious and eternally abundant, made manifest by pure thoughts and emotions and honest actions. Then my own thoughts, imagination and dreams became imbued by the vibrational energies of love, peace, beauty and abundance… The world made manifest of a pure heart became my foremost reality. As I continue this walk, I vow to make the world of a pure heart my only truth and reality… I am in conversation with God now, as I write this letter, serving always as scribe to only the greatest and highest knowing revealed to me within the space of silence… I invite collective humanity to commune with God in silence too and listen… Self-love is not an option… It is a requirement…

For more about my life, walk and work, please read my latest publication: “Rise & Reach: Life and Leadership,” available through Partners In Goodwill, partnersingoodwill.com, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and most on-line book retailers…Also, visit Wisdom In New Dimensions (WIND) at: windinc.org …

I am truly grateful for this walk in life… Life is Good…

* If you haven’t clicked on the wonderful messages in the side windows of the photograph at the very top of this letter, make sure to do so… You’ll be inspired by each of the messages… :0)