The answer is love. Early this morning, I had a dream. I wanted answers, but I’m not sure what the question was. I felt my own hand on my heart as I woke, whispering aloud to myself the answer, “Love.”`
Victor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning, wrote that:
A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth — that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.
Victor Frankl
I recall that my most frequent childhood prayer was to love and be loved. Frankl wrote that he made it through his experience in a concentration camp by focusing his awareness on moments of love and connection.
I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved.
Victor Frankl
Mindfulness practice teaches us how to skillfully respond to difficult experiences. It also teaches us to savor pleasant experiences, including love. Dwelling our attention on love can bring warm feelings of feeling cared for and caring for others. Resting our attention on love is regulating for our nervous system. It brings us back to home base, to our resilient zone, where the parasympathetic nervous system is activated in rest and repair.
Meditation: Try to recall a moment in which you felt love or loved. Notice the good sensations and feelings related to this experience of feeling love. Try to continue dwelling in this recalled experience of love, imagining the good sensations and feelings of love expanding and growing stronger, and then imagine reabsorbing the good sensations and feelings into your entire being.
When we dwell in positive experiences, the positive emotions can become positive traits, so we begin to feel more love, peace, happiness, and wellbeing.
If you would like to learn more about mindfulness and meditation, contact Jen about mindfulness training and mindfulness coaching services.