Only Love Is Real

Photo by Lynette Garden

Don’t Let The Little Things Drag You Down

I was walking into the store one day and I smiled and said “Hi” to a woman that was walking out. She scowled at me and said nothing, we both kept walking, going about our business. In that moment, I became angry. I said to myself that I am sick of being nice and getting nastiness in return. I had come to hate the job I had at the time and was always on the defensive; at my job, when I went to church, and as a result, at home, I was not very pleasant to be around at times. Home has always been my respite, the place where I was loved and appreciated no matter what. My husband and children were always extremely loving and supportive of me. However, when someone gets stressed out, they can sometimes take it out on those closest to them… at least I did.

I live in a small town, and the areas where we do a good portion of our business are still relatively small, so in a way, everyone knows everyone. Even when I don’t really know someone, I know who they are and we usually have mutual acquaintances. People know my life because some of my experiences have been extreme, the kinds of things people like to talk about. So, for me, a lot of people think they know me because they have heard a lot about my life; that can be difficult at times.

At the time of this experience was when the concept of the Law of Attraction was fairly new to me. I had been trying to change my perspective and the way I speak; to concentrate on the things I want, and speak in a positive way, instead of spending a lot of time and attention on the things that I didn’t like or want and venting about those things. I love this memory because it is just another one of those times when I was struggling with something and a thought to help me understand my next step came into my mind.

Seeing The World In A New Light

As soon as I had told myself I was going to stop making the effort to be nice and kind to people I don’t know, and stop taking the high road like I tended to do, the thought that bolted into my mind was, “So you are going to allow people that you have never even met take your happiness from you?” When I had these experiences, it used to put me in a state of guilt and shame for the pettiness. Eventually, the shame and guilt began to fade, and now I am just grateful for the fact that I will always continue to grow and learn. That makes me excited to wake up every day to anticipate the wonderful experiences I will have and the blessings that will come into my life.

So, as is my process, I kept that thought. I thought about it and I began to realize that when I show kindness to others, I am showing kindness to myself as well. I began to realize that I was allowing myself to be offended by things other people said or did, which fostered negativity inside of me. Eventually, every time, it would sow seeds of self-doubt inside of me, so often wondering what is wrong with me. I then decided that I was going to set the intention every time I went out of my house to look for the good I see around me, especially in people.

My experiences changed and eventually others started greeting me first, and instead of me striking up a conversation with someone I didn’t know, others began to do this with me. I also began to realize that when someone is hurting, they don’t act very nice, so they need the kindness more than ever. I never know what a person is going through, so I made the decision to be kind.

Light Of Love

I was a fighter most of my life, and the more I have practiced looking for the good, and embracing it into my life, I have learned that I have no desire to fight; fighting about something, or for something isn’t my best approach. I got the tattoo pictured above, which was inspired by the ending of the first “Wonder Woman” movie when she understands that no matter how hard she fights for justice and love, it always comes down to the fact that every person has a choice. I know that the only person that I can make choices for is myself, so I put my energy into choosing love as often as I can and the light of love is growing constantly in my life because of this.

This tattoo represents to me that the only thing in my life that is real, is love. I put down my weapons and decided to concentrate on the good; because of this, my heart is being healed more all the time with the light of love. That is why I asked for the heart in the tattoo to be yellow; the light of Love has healed my heart that has been shattered into a million pieces and it continues to heal. This allows me to see things more clearly and to love my life, and love to live and be present and appreciate every moment of my experiences.

A Tip That Has Helped Me:

At the end of the day, I like to write down the good things that happened to me throughout the day. I used to have a to do list for the day; for some reason I loved to check things off a list. This however brought me frustration because it seemed like I usually only got one or two things done. I eventually decided to stop giving myself things to do, instead, I started writing down in my planner all of the things I got done during the day, this helped me a lot to see just how much I got done. Now, mostly I just like to write down all the good things that happened; it helps me to stay in a place of appreciation and gratitude.