February

Happy February! I almost cannot believe how quickly the first month of the year has gone. I hope that this month's newsletter finds everyone well and with a great start to 2010.
Being that it is February; I felt it was only fitting that this month's focus is on relationships and relating. As Valentine's Day fast approaches we cannot all help but be distracted by the hearts, balloons and flowers filling up our neighborhood grocers and markets. For some, this holiday will be filled with new love; while others are trying to forget. Some of us may be cynical about the V-Day holiday, while others may tap into their 'romantic at heart' selves. However you choose to experience Valentines Day, it is important to remember what relationships are, what they mean and how to hold them in the highest of consciousness.
Many of us had a roller coaster of experiences with matters of the heart in 2009. There were incredible soul connections made and lost in the same breath. Some of you finally found 'the one' and some of us are still discovering what we want in a partner.
I can share, that in this last year, I learned how important it is to be present with those we connect with. To 'relate'. To stop 'projecting' what we think will happen or what we think the other person feels and instead; to listen, to feel, to be conscious in the connection. Many times we can get 'caught up' in what we desire...lust, sex, wanting...instead of learning to Trust, building an understanding, and connecting on a deeper level. If we truly listen to each other and hold each other in a realistic light; we will find out who that person really is and what their connection really means. Ultimately, each person we connect with is a mirror reflection of who we are. For those that we are attracted to: They are showing us our own beauty. For those that we find an intellectual connection: They are showing us our own intelligence. For those that we share a spiritual connection: They are showing us a new layer of ourselves.
Each relationship and connection that I experienced in the past has brought me to who I am today. Each man removed another layer of past belief systems and patterns of behavior that no longer served me. No matter how difficult or how easy, how light or how dark; I learned more about myself from the beautiful mirrors presented then I could have alone.
I was told by Spirit; "Each relationship, each soul mate, is brought to an individual to serve their growth. Sometimes it can serve your growth more to be apart then together. Sometimes learning comes from having an experience last. No matter what the outcome, you were brought together to be changed."
Whatever your relationships are in your life at this time; take the time to have gratitude for who has been brought into your field and for the many lessons you are learning from it.
I look forward to what 2010 has for me in the world of relating. My lesson, as could be the lesson for all of us; is to learn how to appreciate each connection brought to us and to release it without regret or sadness when it is complete. To love without attachment and without expectation. To embody unconditional love. Osho speaks to this in the most beautiful of ways:
"First meditate, be blissful, then much love will happen of its own accord. Then being with others is beautiful and being alone is also beautiful. Then it is simple, too. You don't depend on others and you don't make others dependent on you. Then it is always a friendship, a friendliness. It never becomes a relationship, it is always a relatedness. You relate, but you don't create a marriage. Marriage is out of fear, relatedness is out of love.
You relate; as long as things are moving beautifully, you share. And if you see that the moment has come to depart because your paths separate at this crossroad, you say goodbye with great gratitude for all that the other has been to you, for all the joys and all the pleasures and all the beautiful moments that you have shared with the other. With no misery, with no pain, you simply separate."

Below I have shared some words of wisdom that I believe embody the beauty of relationships and the heart.
Until next month...

Love and Light,
Lisa