Open the Door to Love

Our main purpose on earth is to grow in love; our world needs more love. With more love, we could do away with war- we would have no prejudice, oppression, or violence of any kind. Everyone would have enough food because we would feed each other. We would care for the environment because we love our planet, and the animals, and our children too much to harm it.

How, then, do we create more love in the world? We simply need to open our hearts wide as often as we can, wider and wider, calmly throw open the door to love. 

If you have a leading to act in love, and you have gone through all the stages of discernment, you might be clear on your next steps. That's where we are often stuck, though - we might hear the Truth, but still have doubts about its absoluteness; we might hear the Truth and see our path forward but struggle against apathy, or mind-numbing fear.

Ed Bacon says, “But however Truth comes, it bears with it just enough of its own sense of rightness to overcome the fear of risk taking. While genuine risk plays a crucial role in all of the Habits of Love, it is perhaps most keen in the Habit of Truth. At too many forks in the road, anxiety stops us from following Truth's suggested direction. What will happen if I say yes to Truth as I recognize it? That question can arrest us in our tracks."

Whatever your biggest mission is now - personal growth, healing, service, relationship revival, activism, or something else - you need to find the strength to open the door. This is your growing edge: To accept that you will be carried beyond yourself; to accept that you will find the strength and creativity to take the risk, walk your path, and speak your message out loud.

Agenda:
1. Read the Creativity Book
2. Have a chat with myself

3. Open doors one at a time

4. Do the smallest thing

1. Read the Creativity Book:

A few years ago I started but didn't finish this book by Eric Maisel (one of my favorite writers). The subtitle is "A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance." Who doesn't want that? 

I'm on to Week 16: Leave for the Unknown. Maisel says we have to leap across the metaphorical gorge of our fears to unknown creative territory. 

"We are built to explore but we are also built to avoid exploration. We are genetically coded for both. In order to leave for the unknown on a regular basis --that is, to go wherever our creative efforts want to take us -- it looks like we need to have regular chats with ourselves about why that is worth doing..." 

2. Have a chat with myself:

The new moon is my built-in monthly time to write out my intentions for action and growth, including my deepest reasons why these are important to do. Here is a big one:

I intend to study anti-semitism and particularly the history of Quakers and anti-semitic accusation, and put together a reading list and (possibly) an interest group, so our Meeting can better understand the turmoil of feelings and divisiveness that surrounds us, what our culpability might be (if any), and how to heal our community. 

I want to understand, and be able to speak the nuanced truth of the matter; I want to start a loving conversation in our community that might lead to reconciliation; I want to own my part in creating the pain, and grow beyond it.  

When I have a particularly scary leading, I also like to

 make a list of all my values (and other priorities) that lead me to action for this mission: 

I am lead to take this action because of a need for Truth, and for peace, and a unified community. I want to grow in love.

Maisel suggests that I take this big list of motivations, and have a chat with myself: A back and forth conversation, arguing all the reasons why NOT to make the leap, and why TO. 

This is a transformative habit.

3. Open doors one at a time:

I have many intentions this month besides the BIG one above- how do I stay motivated to take action in so many divergent directions? How do I open so many doors without getting lost? 

Maybe the image is looping side paths: Today I open the "study Anti-semitism" door and step through for a little walk along that path, then loop back and take a breather to water the garden, then bolster myself with a snack, and open the door to the "Good Fortune for Forests" path, and paint for an hour.

4. Do the smallest thing:

Doing the smallest thing helps me to succeed - I make a list of small things I need to do for my current projects, print it, and assign one or two per day.

Some of my small tasks this week:

• Visualize the essence of "forest".
• Paint underpainting for Good Fortune for Forests collage.
• Collect fortunes, images and papers for Forest collage.
  
• Sew trees on a Small Forest appliqué.
• Begin to stitch the  background and frame for Small Forest appliqué.
• Make forests with sticks and play-do with grandsons.
• Paint and draw green paper with grandsons.
• Cut trees from green paper for forest collage with grandsons.
• Write craftivism tag for forests.
• Print and cut forest tags; prep string.
• Collect more tree cones.