If Love Were Sitting at Your Kitchen Table (Rebroadcast)

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I love the Thanksgiving holiday because it’s a reminder of the abundance we experience every day. But instead of focusing on gratitude for this episode, I want to focus on love.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We have many false concepts about love, concepts handed down to us from others and “affirmed” by our life experience. The ego would have us believe that love comes from others as if it’s outside of ourselves. Many of us grew up believing that love is conditional and is something we need to earn. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If we believe love is something we have to earn, there’s an inherent assumption it can also be lost, withheld, or taken away when we don’t perform or measure up.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And if we believe that we only receive love after doing something “worthy,” there will always be an element of questioning our own worth, which can easily lead to a sense of not-enoughness hanging over us. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is not love. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Love just is — it’s all around you. It’s there whether you accept it or not, and is unchanging and is always available to you. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Why does having an improved concept of love matter anyway? </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Because living in the reality of love as an ever-present force brings peace to the self. When you embrace that love simply</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">is</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, that it doesn’t have to be earned, you can begin accepting yourself as you are. And when you accept yourself as you are, it’s much easier to accept others as they are. This is the personal freedom we all seek. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">See how beautiful and contagious can this be?</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: