How To Renew Love

February 7, 2010

Samuel: Hello, dears.

Hello, Samuel.

S: How are you? Great? I’m hearing more greats than usual. Why?

[…]

S: I think that’s actually a very good answer, “Why not?” she said, “Why not?”

Well, the principle for the week is “I am more than . . .”

S: You are.

Thank you very much. It does create a different mindset that is totally liberating.

S: And officially that was actually.

I-we . . .

“Greater is that which is in, within, me than that which is in the world.”

Thank you.

S: And that is a good reason to be great.

What did you do today to make somebody’s day better and brighter. And remember, it’s what did you do for someone else. Stuart, was your hand up there?

Yes. I had made awhile back some cashew ginger sauce that I found in the fridge in a little container. And I thought that would be good on a sliced apple. So I sliced up an apple and spread that on it and took some to the form and she liked that a lot.

S: Ah! Another.

Steve’s sister and her husband were to visit this weekend, and when they went home, I sent them home with a gallon of homemade vegetable soup, which they love, and they were so excited. She wouldn’t have to cook tonight.

S: That’s a lot of soup.

They like it a lot.

S: I would say. So you’ve made a couple of people’s lives better and brighter for a couple of days, Aye. Good work. One from over this way? All right, then this way? Then back to the middle we are. Jim.

I fixed Marilyn’s towel rack.

S: It’s the little things, isn’t it? Jim is very handy. He’s very much a fixer. But you know what fixers are: healers. That’s right. Good work. Bonnie.

Our dog Ollie is getting quite old and he has a lot of pain in his hips and has a hard time getting up and down. And this morning I stopped long enough to give him a massage. And his tail was wagging back and forth, so I know it made him happy.

S: And one more?

I came in early today and set up the fund-raising table so we got to socialize more than work.

S: And whose day was better and brighter for that?

Heidi and Joni’s.

S: Good, good.

This is February. It is month number two in a year that is about renewal. What have you done over this last month to bring renewal into your life in one way or another? Now you know it throws things off when you all raise your hands like that at once. Heidi?

At the beginning of the year, I just became. . . . It’s a great feeling because I look through my kitchen and I said, “It’s time to re-do.” So, it was that sense of organization, of clearing out things that didn’t work, of making spaces that work better. And looking at the way that I cook or don’t cook, depending on what you eat that day, whether you eat something that’s raw or something that’s cooked. For me it’s been symbolic of my own sense of trying to put things in that work better and get rid of things that don’t.

S: Lovely. It’s important that you remember this—I’ll probably say it every time until I am convinced that you do remember this: Your home is the sympathetic magic of you. And what you do in your home returns to you in much the same way. So, as Heidi was getting rid of the old and bringing in the new, clearing out and making room, she was putting that into her life as well. Now, think for a moment. How can you make use of your home for what your life needs right now?

A very specific example, because Chris is building me a practice room right now. Playing piano and really making that a priority for myself, I kind of just manage to get by with what I need for teaching, but I really haven’t tried to further my own musical development, my performing, for many, many years. So, because it’s hard for me to find that space within my everyday life, he’s creating that space for me to actually have a designated room for the piano that’s going to be away from our general living space so that I can have some privacy and bang away, and practice, and bring more of that into my life.

S: That’s good. How about another?

I am in The Guardianship Program, and one of my big manifestations is to redecorate our bedroom, which never was decorated per se in the first place. Our guest room is gorgeous, but our bedroom isn’t. And I realized that that was reflecting how I felt about me. I wasn’t as important as the other people that I bring in my house or other people in general, and so this has been a huge, a wonderful gift-filled trip I’ve been taking to learn how to self-mother and to see really who I am and to honor me.

S: The bedroom—there’s a lot of directions one could go from that one. That’s good, that’s good. So you get the idea, yes? You’ve got to make it conscious. So when you wash those windows or clean that toilet, consciously recognize it as an act of sympathetic magic so that what you are doing for that place you are doing for yourself. Now, there is a warning that goes with this: Because what you’re not doing is also going to have a reflection, by not cleaning the windows, by not keeping it healthy then you are going to have a certain amount of lack of health that goes with it as well, because it works both ways. If in your household you have had an unhealthy spurt—spurt? That sounds like something you do when you’re unhealthy, doesn’t it? You sort of spurt a lot. A period of time in which you or the family has not been healthy, then maybe you want to look around at your four-walled simulacrum, take a look at your household, and see why you are neglecting and what is not healthy and needs some of that attention. So let it go both ways. Good.

I have found that because of not feeling well, I have postponed doing things and use that as pretty much an excuse. I have just felt as if I’ve been in a rut because I couldn’t physically do a lot. And yesterday morning, I woke up and looked and decided I was going to do something. I didn’t care what it was, I was going to do something.

S: Good, good! What can you do in five minutes? Set the timer and give yourself five minutes. What can you do in five minutes to clear a little bit of space in your home, in your heart, in your life. Take little steps. That’s how a job gets done.

Now, to bring it back, I was asking about what are you doing for renewal. Paula.

There’s quite a few things that David and I do for Phoenix as a pair, and we sat down this morning and talked about what worked well and what didn’t work, and figured out some ways that we could change things and make different commitments so that things worked more easily for us together.

S: Good. Excellent, excellent, excellent! Mary Claire.

The New Year’s Eve ritual was really a powerful experience for me. It really did what you said it would do. And what it did was, by releasing and killing off those old parts, it made a wonderful, glowing space for the new. So Cam and I at the beginning of the year went off for just a little break, just to have time together to talk and to come up with some new patterns of communication, because we’d fallen into a rut. And we noticed that the old patterns . . . we’d already been aware of them, and we’d been doing some of your techniques to help—the karma buster and all that—to make a space for the new, and it was really a wonderful time just to focus on that, to come up with new patterns of those communications, and the way that we are with each other, that were just wonderful and so renewing. It’s made a huge difference as far as giving us almost like another honeymoon. It’s like that again, you know?

S: Excellent.

It was magical though, the beginning of that, though, with that ritual. It was just exactly the perfect thing for us. And I’m so grateful. Thank you.

S: Jeanean. And I’m going to stop there.

I had a whole list of things for renewal for the year, and one of them had to do with moving my diet to at least five percent raw, and I was using The Guardianship Program as a platform to do that. And I’ve been amazed. I had a lot of, well I wouldn’t say a lot, but I had some fear: Would I be able to make that move and be successful and have enough variety and have enough interest to keep it going and just, quite frankly, take the time that’s required to do the prep, to be successful at that. And I have been amazed. Not only have I been cooking, which is a miracle in itself, and I have no choice if I’m going to eat, you know? So, it’s great. This group is . . . so many people have reached out and helped me, helped me with the recipes. Me and Laura, we cook for each other on Monday nights, our raw day. Mary Claire bought me a little food processor. And the gifts keep flowing in to support that change in lifestyle. And the benefit is immediate, not only in that actual food and that benefit, but the consciousness around how I eat and why I eat, you know? I have found that not really wanting to eat food that’s not really food. And that’s amazing to me.

S: So you see, miracles do happen.

They do, they do. It’s nothing for me now to look and go, “Nah, I won’t be eating that.” That’s great. So I’ve really appreciated this new shift. It’s been a great start.

S: Lovely. Lovely.

[admiring the decorations on the table in front of him] One of the most delightful functions of renewal that I have been enjoying is the renewal of Titi and Poof’s extravaganza. They’re amazing! Nice work. Nice, nice work.

There’s a lot going on spiritually this month. You know? What? Well, there are birthdays this month, and yes, they do have a lot of good things about them. It’s not exactly what I have in mind.

A celebration of love?

S: Yes, there is a celebration of love in the middle of the month. Imbolc, what is Imbolc. The first signs of spring. What does that mean? It means if you live in Kentucky, forget it because there has been no sign of spring at this Imbolc.

It’s an opportunity to sow what you’d like to harvest later.

S: The opportunity to come out of hibernation. To begin planning what you are going to be sowing later. What do you want in your life? Now is the time to think about what you need to do to be able to have those things in your life. And of course one of those things is, and that leads to the Valentine Day celebration, which I still try very hard to take seriously even though I find it sort of hilarious, nonetheless. And why is it I find it somewhat hilarious. Maybe because of the story of St. Valentine. And if you need a reminder, I imagine there are several people in here who could raise their hand now and say that if you don’t remember the story, I can remind it to you. Anyone in here remember it that well? All right, try this, then. The very condensed version . . . Rebel priest who against all law chose to marry, to perform marriage ceremonies and create marriages for those who should not be together. He was caught, he was killed. Now you celebrate it. (laughter)

Heartwarming.

S: So it is a day for all political rebels, it is a day for those who want to die long, heinous deaths, it is a day for those who should not and yet must come together. It is a day that is dedicated to love in some form or another. But what I’d like for you to think of it as this year is a day of unity, because over time the holiday has become something of—well, like many of your holidays tend to—something of a buy-in opportunity where you may not really feel like you want to give a little card to somebody that is your classmate, but your mother gave you these things and made you sit down and write them all out and you will. Or maybe you’re in a relationship and you’re not real sure what exactly you should give to let them you know you care about them, so you go and get them candy. “I have a bunch of very pretty poison for you.” Or you bring them flowers to remind them, of course, that “these beautiful parts of the planet remind me of you.”

That’s a good thing.

S: The better thing to do would be to go and volunteer some time to Gayle and Charlotte, who get sort of ragged? Ragged? Around that holiday. That would be probably much more appreciated than a card any day, wouldn’t it?

It has become something of an opportunity or requirement to give, which sets off a lot of issues. If you don’t get something, does that mean you’re less than? If you get something but it’s not something you want, does it mean that this person doesn’t care enough about you to really know you? It’s got to be one of the most dangerous holidays on the list. So I think, rather than looking at it as cupid shooting his arrow, and little boxes of candy and bouquets flowers, and “Oh, love!” you should look at it as a day of unity, because unity is a function of love. A day in which your connection with those you live with is renewed. A day in which those you are in contact with in any kind of way, you can look for a way to function in a united heart or, if nothing else, a united mind. It’s a beautiful opportunity for Guardians to put tremendous amounts of working love into the world on a day that’s very acceptable for you to be thinking about it.

I’m going to toss this out there. Amidst the things that humans and plants and animals need, love is a very important part of it. I would like to encourage you this month to speak your love as often as possible—appropriately, inappropriately. Humans need to know they are loved. They need to know they are appreciated. They want to be recognized and respected but they need to know they’re loved. And although it is not accurate in every culture, and it’s not a planetary problem, right here in . . . River City?

From a play.

S: Got it, because this is not a river city. People don’t express love. Love is an intimate thing that happens between two consenting adults, children, plants, animals. And the limitation of love creates a society that believes it’s not love unless it’s ooey-gooey. It’s a shame because there is so much more love in this world and so many ways to express it, so many more ways to speak it. When you say the actual words, your energy changes. Your energy becomes very powerful for those first few moments and actually can penetrate in ways that cannot be done otherwise. When I say “I love you” it’s going to touch your heart. But do you really love the checkout person at the grocery store? Well, in the biggest picture, you do. But if you think “I love you,” and you say “I really appreciate what you’re doing, thank you so much,” you can activate that same presence of power as if you had said the words, “l love you.”

So how do you do that? Tell me back, what’s the ways?” Stuart?

Through recognition, recognizing the service they’re providing or the good they’re doing.

S: You’re right; I’m not asking it correctly. I want you to tell back to me what you need to do to get that power up, even though you’re not using those words. Suzie.

Think those words,

S: Think which words?

I love you.

S: Think I love you.

Think I love you then express gratitude for the gift or thing they’ve done for you.

S: Think it.

Could you do that with students, say, think I love you but say, “It’s so good to see you today.” It would seem to me you could do that saying a variety of things that would be acceptable in this situation.

S: You could. And what’s the key to it?

Have the intention.

S: Have the intent. That’s right. Establishing that intent. Share your love verbally where you can. “I love you.” “Love you!” “Love, love!” And where you cannot express it because of a situation that does not feel appropriate, put it out there: “I love you.” And it’s going to open that door, and you are then going to direct it by speaking specifically a gratitude or a specific statement to that person. You can do this with plants and animals, too. You can do it with minerals, rocks. Where you’re likely to see the greatest response is human to human, but the one after that is most likely going to be when you do it with animals. One of the easiest ways to connect with nature: You’re sitting at your window watching the crow eat food and you look at that bird, and you tell it that you love it. You’ll be surprised how often you receive back a response.

I have a crow story, Samuel. Last winter the bird bath was frozen over and there was a crow sitting on the edge, and this other crow came in for a landing and just slid across the ice. And Greg and I were watching that and just howled at that. It was hilarious. And that crow turned around and looked at us and gave us the meanest look you’ve ever seen.

S: And were they around the next time you took a slide on the ice? (Laughter)

This is the month to practice stepping outside of yourself and passing the love that you are along. Stepping outside of yourself and sharing love with your words and, of course, with your intent and your thought. And please, with your deed.

I wanted to talk, and it’s actually pretty quick, so don’t worry—I wanted to talk tonight about the importance of renewing love and how to do that. Renewing love. Now of course there are, as we have discussed many times, many different kinds of love. And in the very biggest picture what you are here to do is to bring the love that you are into this world, which is to say any version of you, any version of your love. But human-to-human it’s very easy to forget your love. Why is that? What makes that happen? And I’m not just talking somebody that’s in an intimate relationship. I’m not just talking somebody that you have sex with. I’m talking any human-to-human relationship. Yes.

For one thing, stress kicks us into survival mode, I think, and survival mode is competitive, and that sets us up against people instead of aligning us with them.

S: David, that was so perfect I want you to say it again. Would you do that? So good. Not the same words, it’s all right, just that idea.

The stresses of life put us into survival mode, and because survival mode is competitive, it sets us up against other people instead of putting us on their side.

S: Excellent. Excellent. An over-abundance of stress in your life, and I’m going to say specifically negative stress but that’s not necessarily the case—some of you can have an over-abundance of positive stress. You’re busy, you’ve got a lot of great things going on, you have a lot of opportunities in front of you that you are thrilled about. But that’s change on a regular basis, and that is stressful.

So take a look at the stresses in your life. Why do you need them? They’re giving you something or you wouldn’t keep them around. Is it something you can change? It may not be. And if it’s not something you can change, what do you need to do?

Change the way you see it.

Change the reaction that you have to it.

S: Change your response to it. Shift it from a reaction to a response to it. Relationships of any kind tend to function on the easiest flow. And more often than not, that easiest flow means unconsciousness. It’s not easiest flow as in, “Oh, everything’s flowing so well and easy.” That’s not what I mean. I mean, “We have two roads we can take. We’re going to take the easiest one even if this road is going to provide much greater bonding, much deeper experience, much more fun and pleasure. We’re going to take the easy way because our lives are so full, and so overburdened, and so much going on, and being pulled apart in so many ways,” that just doing it the easy way is all you can manage. That will kill a relationship. It is a shot to the heart. A relationship requires constant and conscious, constant and conscious, activity centered around growing closer. Doesn’t have to be your mate. It really can be the grocery clerk. But it’s a conscious desire to make this happen. Releasing what is not needed and replacing it with that which fulfills the vision will help you do that.

The vision for you and your doctor, “We’re going to have this surgery, it is going to go easily and well, I am going to be the most compliant patient you’ve ever had; you’re going to be the most perfectly functioning medical genius you have ever been. This is our vision.” So what can you do to consciously help that vision grow, to get rid of what’s not working in it and bring what does? Well, a for-instance might be you don’t bad-mouth your doctor and then go in and smile and say, “Well, all right, we’re ready for this, aren’t we?” Or your mate, or your teacher and you’re the student, or your . . . You speak positively; you hold them positively in your mind. Too many people don’t do that. Letting go of what is unnecessary, replacing it with that which is a positive function of the vision. And a piece of that is, get out of ruts. Do something new. Now, depending upon the relationship and how deep the rut is, I might suggest you do something new once a week, or once a month, or every other time you see this person. And this isn’t hard stuff. It’s “Let’s pack up and go out to dinner.” It’s “I’ve never given you a hug. Let me do that.” It’s taking an opportunity to change habit.

How many of you have or have had a cat? All right. Most cats have a routine and they don’t like it if you mess with their routine, do they? It starts out first thing in the morning, and they have their day mapped out. And if you put a piece of furniture in their pacing path so that all of a sudden they have to walk around it or over it, “Change!” They’re not going to appreciate that and you will hear about it. But humans are the same way. Everybody likes their routine. Nobody wants a piece of furniture stuck in their pacing path. Nobody wants a piece of news that wasn’t expected. Nobody wants a job to disappear, an income to get tight. Nobody wants change unless that change comes with a check for twenty-six million dollars or something like that, right? “That’s good change. I want that change.”

Harvey.

Somebody once said that humans are like cats. They want to be touched and they don’t want to be touched.

S: I think he was talking about you.

[…]

S: Humans are like cats. They all want love but they don’t want to have to work for it. They want it to fall into their laps naturally. Your prince will come and you don’t have to do anything to bring it about or keep it about. If you have been in a relationship for longer than about thirty minutes, you know already that a relationship won’t function that way. Love is that function of Source that is constant renewal in this world. Love is a function of renewal. It is the function of Source in this world, and what Source brings to this world is change, chaos, great power, and great love. Renewal is love. And to make love work, you must constantly be in the process of renewal. Release stress, do not avoid change, replace ruts with positive function that enlivens the vision of that relationship.

Renewal also implies seeing with new eyes. Seeing with new eyes. So when you are frustrated and angry and not feeling very loving, think about new eyes. Love is blind, yes? Or at least it needs to be. Constantly refreshing your sight so that you’re not holding onto old judgments, so that you’re not assuming a lack of change.

And ultimately, biggest picture, if the love that you have for yourself is not vibrant and alive, changing on a regular basis, if you’re not seeing new things about you that you appreciate and love, if you are not feeling good about you, then you are not going to be capable of making connections outside you. Your ability to love, to bring unity, to bring renewal to this world, is all a reflection of the love that you have for yourself. That’s one of the most beautiful and most scary things about love.

I said a few moments ago that renewal was Source in this world. That renewal is love. It is a function of love that is Source. Well, many of you are also aware that I have said that money is God. Now, God and Source are two very different things in my book. Nonetheless, while you are working to love yourself more, to have renewal of some attitudes, experiences, memories, while you are seeking unity this month, I would like for you to think about your issues with money. Now I promise you the Universe has a way of helping you see these things, so you’re not going to have to look very hard. But I want you to think about money as love, as a function of love. Pay attention to how you relate. Do you feel a resistance when I ask you to think of money as love? How about when you pay a bill? That you allow yourself to think that you are giving love to this company, to this person. See if you can help peel away negative beliefs surrounding money—having it, not having it, who has it, who does not have it, what you must do to get it—see if you can turn some of that around by making a conscious effort to see it as love. “I have five dollars of love here for you.”

You say money as God. Could this also be money as father?

S: Yes it is. When I’ve spoken about money and your issues about money, it’s always God and father energy. I’m interested to find out if your choosing to look at money as love ends up having an effect on the way you think about father, masculine energy, God.

These are not money. (Samuel refers to plastic gold tokens he uses this meeting as give-aways). These, actually, I do not believe are even meant to pretend to be money, are they? They are little pieces of joy that remind you of something exciting. And at the great Mardi Gras festival, the kings and queens and princesses throw it to you and you catch these pieces, and then you put them in a drawer somewhere and never think of them again, and pretty soon you forgot what they were or where they’re from altogether. Well, that’s not going to happen with this. This is a reminder for you; a reminder that what makes you happy is love, so money should make you happy because it’s love. A reminder that when somebody gives you something out of the blue, it’s an amazing great surprise that you enjoy so much– that can be love. That when you share your love you create a bond. I’m not going to tell you how to use these. But they’re a gift of love from Lillibeth and Angela. And they are meant to go with what has been said tonight.

So how could you make use of these? What I would like is how about one, two, three, four, five, volunteers, yes? (Hands volunteers tokens for disbursement.) I’m just throwing them around up here. This is love. It is money, it is fun, it is good memories. It is love. Please make it a piece of magic as well. Please give all of those out.

One each?

S: Just make sure everybody has one, then go again, and again, and again. [Tokens are handed out.] This is love. Who does not have one? Is it possible to put one of these in the CD? Perhaps not? More love, more love.

This is a year of renewal. This is the month of unity. You are Source in this world, which means you are love and you are money.

Glochanumora.