We all long to be loved, yet in these complex times, we often feel caught in loneliness and separation. Love seems natural, and we shouldn’t have to learn, but love is like any other skill. It needs to be practiced.
Our egos are so armored and well-trained that as soon as the boundaries dissolve in the slightest, the guards show up to ensure we keep our separateness. The most potent way around this is love. Love demands that the walls stay down. However, most of us are so inoculated against love that we don’t let it guide us from our lonely separation.
Love allows us to break with what we have been taught for the last ten thousand years and move from the illusion of separateness into reclaiming our true heritage and nature in the One.
One of the first steps in breaking our obstacles to love is to listen to the voices of the parts that make up our being. We were born to give and receive love, but we all had to face the hardships of childhood in situations where we had little or no control. To survive, we made the best strategies we could, but those strategies may no longer be effective now that we are no longer children. Listening to the child voice and needs is the first step in seeing the obstacles to loving and finding new ways.
1. Close your eyes and invite the child part into your consciousness. Don’t think too hard, and let go of expectations.
2. Tell the child part that you are present and would like to know him or her.
3. The child part may be afraid. Do not make any demand. Be present silently.
4. Look into the child’s eyes. Allow yourself to feel into what the child might need to hear.
5. If it seems to be appropriate, speak to the child.
6. If not, tell the child part that you will return.
7. Take your time to get to know this child part of you – the needs, wounds, feelings, and dreams.
8. Make a practice of meeting your child part every day.
9. Learn to distinguish this child’s voice from your wiser self.