The Dream of Love

As we move into the month of February, it always brings up love. Or maybe it is just one of my favorite topics. We want it, want it to be better or are getting it elsewhere (this can mean a casual relationship outside your relationship, or settling for something else because you have stopped expecting you will ever find it!). Love is a complicated thing. Our media hypes it to be all about the beginning, the chase and the capture. Yet, rarely does it show the difficulties within a relationship. I’m going to have author Jessica Shepherd talk about two of her most recent books, Venus Signs and Karmic Mates, where we’ll get to the Heart of what Matters with regards to Love and Astrology. She has an interesting concept of planets in the 5^th house showing our Karmic relationships. I will interview her live on Tuesday February 3^rd and produced on Monday February 9^th.

As I explain to my clients, relationships are a lot of work!! The media portrays the fairy-tale image of relationships and as if that wasn’t difficult enough, we live in a society of serial daters who are unable to commit. However, it is also challenging because once you “land” the relationship, this is NOT the hardest part. The hard part is maintaining the relationship. The hard part is staying balanced, committed, open and willing to work through your triggers. Our intimate relationships are our surest way to grow and evolve spiritually. They also bring up all the patterns that we continue to create and react to. However, this month I want to talk about the “Dream of Love”!

The dream I’m referring to is the most magnificent vision of love you can imagine. When you think about love, what is it you desire most? Think of qualities like committed, authentic, confident, and inspirational etc.. Often the biggest mistake we make is when we think about the “whom” we desire the most! This limits what the Universe wants to deliver, but it also holds the “who” in a pattern that they can’t seem to get out of. It also doesn’t leave us room to dream!! By thinking that it has to be just one person, we can’t see that person changing, and we stay stuck as well. Instead think about the most alluring Dream you can imagine! Dare to Dream about all the beauty that a relationship can hold. Dream about what a relationship can offer you physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Often when we are in a relationship, large areas of this dream aren’t being met. And of course, although we would like to blame it on the “other”, it is our own limitations that hold ourselves and our partner in a pattern. Because we don’t dare to dream!

It’s easy when love has gone, because we can start over, but we are still limited by our own lack of imagination for a better life (we may settle because we are too afraid of being alone or we may not trust again for fear of being hurt, so we reject everyone first). When we are in a relationship, it really is the same; we fear the dream, because we believe it means that we will have to leave the person we are with. Yet, if you can dream, and dream big, and be open to all possibilities, you can free both of you from the stuck patterns you are in. The only thing we can’t do is change someone else, but since the problem is never with the other person, it is only us that we have to be prepared to change. If we can change our limited vision of what the relationship is, then we can open up to the possibilities that are all around us.

Forget about whether there is or isn’t a person in our life, and just Dream about Love in all the beauty that it can deliver to us (without the media’s vision of a fairy-tale love that can’t exist) and envision how a relationship will complement our lives and know that it will push us to be better. Let’s begin to dream a vision of equality, balance, spiritually and emotional fulfillment in our relationships. Dare to dream of a partnership with someone that encourages the best of whom we are and the best of who they are so you will both flourish! Challenge yourself to find the courage to be open to love unfolding without setting it into the boundaries of our patterns and their patterns. Love can express itself as the Dream you truly desire, in the relationship you truly desire. Unleash your dreams and invite yourself to open to a relationship in your life that truly reflects who you are in all your infinite love!

See more at: http://www.intuitivesoul.com/the-dream-of-love

How is Love Unfolding in your life?

As we observe the colder than average winter, we begin to long for spring and warmer weather. Our groundhogs have unanimously decided that we are in for another 6 weeks (although, our meteorologists were already confirming this). On a brighter note, this is the shortest month of the year and the one I have declared as “Love Month”. We allow ourselves an opportunity to open our hearts during this cold, short month because of one day. Unfortunately, many put so much emphasis and expectation on this day to be perfect and set it as a benchmark for how love will show up in their lives.

Valentine’s Day is a lovely opportunity to look at our lives and see what we truly desire in love. Love, first and foremost, should be appreciated from our own hearts. Asking ourselves what does love mean to us? Is it open and flowing or full of disappointments? Do we know Love from inside, or do we only know love from how others have given it to us? Do we share love or covet it like there will never be enough? Is it safe for us to love?

These questions are important to our definitions of love and who we continue to bring into our lives. Love almost always is defined through our parents, how they interacted with one another and with us. The imprint of these interactions are often unconscious, yet they are ever present in our day to day lives.

We often continue to play out these same patterns all our lives. Yet, we have the opportunity to become the observer and evolve our relationships. As with most growth, it must occur within us first. The goal is to become aware of what is operating in our unconscious that is sabotaging our best efforts to nurture love in our own hearts and our relationships with others. We must understand our relationship with self and who we are from the bigger picture. Are we generous, open and compassionate to ourselves? Are we unavailable, thinking only of ourselves and withholding love unless it is proven worthy or our expectations have been met?

Let’s face it, we usually have expectations and needs when it comes to love. We often manipulate and try to control how we get love to meet our needs. Or give love when others meet our expectations. And it is often difficult to just BE in relationship with self and others.

When it comes to love, I invite you to let things just unfold! That way you don’t have to make a quick judgment of the person or relationship (no matter how long you have known them). Judgments are debilitating because once made we then keep them held within a defined box with perceptions and choices restricted to our original judgment. The thing is nothing is how we perceive it, nor is it possible for our perceptions to be accurate, because our past experiences and our judgments are always influencing what we perceive. If you can release the ideas you have created around yourself and others, you can be free of the drama within your life. And you can observe the real unfolding of life. Instead we usually are trying to manipulate and control everything to have it fit our expectations.

That is why it is so important to be open and allow things to unfold, especially when it comes to love! Love is like a flower opening up to the sun! It breathes the sun into itself and allows it to grow. I believe we can be this open with regards to love. To let go of the pain associated with our first introduction to love and redefine what love means to us. We do however, have to begin with ourselves! Share love openly to yourself as well as to others. Focus on the giving of Love and not on the receiving of necessary needs and controlling expectations. Understand the choices that keep you stuck in your misperceptions of love. Love is always evolving and unfolding all around us. God is always showing us how we can evolve. As we evolve, our understanding of what Love is changes. It is Love that feeds our soul and evolves our consciousness. When we can BE and let life unfold, we are embraced in the dance of life. If you desire more love in your life (whether new or renewed) then give unconditionally of your heart and let love unfold freely.

See more at: http://www.intuitivesoul.com/how-is-love-unfolding-in-your-life