Dear Eve,
I’ve been in a few relationships, but I’m not sure if true love was ever part of the equation. I’m single now, and I’m feeling really isolated and alone. I just hate feeling like no one loves me. I just want to feel loved and I don’t know what to do.
Aloha,
Authority has meant cruelty and dictatorship, but it can also mean the keeping of sacred boundaries.
As the chocolate buzz of Valentine’s Day fades, I find myself thinking about radical acts of self-love. Over the last week I’ve polled my friends, asking them for their take on the qualities of someone in a state of self-love.
So often when Valentine’s Day is approaching, we all start looking for signs of love outside of ourselves—chocolate, cards, phone calls, flowers, gifts or other sweet sentiments. The sad truth is that even if there is love all around us, if we don’t love ourselves, we may not notice it—nor believe or trust what we see.
Here's some bad news: love is fleeting. It’s not even unconditional, despite what you’ve been taught.
And that giddy, passionate marriage you’re in? It’ll probably feel stale within two years.
Recently I met someone who reminded me about what really matters, someone who inspired a perspective that remade my world anew. And for that reason, I’m so glad I can say yes to the question that is all the buzz across Texas: "Have You Seen Leon?"
When I walk through my plant nursery, The Sacred Garden, right after we have watered, there is a tangible energy in the air. Everything feels different. When I stop to be observant and consider what it is that I am feeling, I realize that the feeling is oozing and emanating from the plants—it feels like gratitude and joy fill the entire greenhouse. Then I discover that gratitude is contagious.I feel different. I feel joyful.
If you choose to honor fear over love, remember that fear will stay in your life—whether your partner does or not.
Having suffered several losses in my family over the years, I must admit that it has changed my view of gratitude. Before my mom and brother got sick and passed away, I might have offered thanks for the obvious (and usually external) things—like financial stability, friends and family, or perhaps my home, abilities, and opportunities.
This morning I decided to eat mindfully. Then, halfway through my lunch, I suddenly realized that my conscious mind missed the first half of my sandwich. I was typing, unmindful that I was eating. So with the next bite, I ate more mindfully, paying attention to the different tastes as they passed over my tongue.
