A Dream of Love
by Jamie Gilroy
Last week we took a vacation to Sedona AZ. Not that we really could afford a vacation at this time, but my business is extremely slow and my wife and I were depleted from a VERY long, hard winter, so we needed a break. You could say that our Dream is in flux. And you could also say that we’ve been stressed from all the busy-ness in our lives.
Writing a book, raising a toddler, running a construction business – all these things are pretty much normal for us. But unforeseen situations have compounded the stress level, and we have been acting more like business partners than co-creators of our own expansive reality as husband and wife. For me, I know that the more I tensed up, the less awake I felt. The more work I lost to other contractors who were under pricing me, the more bitter I felt. In short, I felt I had lost my capacity to love.
Now before you dear readers say, “he doth protest too much” and that millions of people are now in similar situations, I have to say that until recently I have been pretty cool with whatever life threw my way. But lately I have just become cranky.
That is, until I went on vacation. Distance from the bubble of our own particular dreams can often give us a new perspective on it. Sedona did that for me. It took a few days into our vacation before I began to let go, to breathe, to relax, and to expand. I took a break from the intensity of life at home and in doing so gained another point of view. It seemed that I rediscovered why was I here.
I am here to love. To love it all. And with love comes gratitude. No matter what shows up, I can love it. Sure, when things are humming, the economy is good, money is flowing and increasing, it’s easy to love. When there is no stress, love is no problem. However, when the investments lose their worth, when business goes bad, and relationships get tested, love seems to slip away – just when we need it the most.
While in Sedona I had the good fortune to borrow a beautiful motorcycle. Whenever I ride I get into this amazing state of freedom and bliss – it truly lifts me in a way that is unique. One particular day I rode across town to get a massage. After a wonderful hour and half of bodywork I felt open and peaceful. I rode up to a Tibetan stupa and sat for awhile and let myself go…really just dropping out of my head and back into my heart.
Later, as I rode back to meet my family, I passed an empty building that caught my eye. On the window, in large four-foot letters, was written the word “LOVE”. That’s it. One word. And that one word by total chance got my attention as I passed by.
Love. What was I fighting? What was I resisting, and why? What if I simply surrendered to that word. What if I gave all of my faith to that one simple word?
LOVE.
Long ago I had a Dream of Love. In my dream I imagined that I could be in a state of love no matter who or what showed up at my door – complete and utter love. And why not now? What do I have to lose but the absence of love in my life? What is there to resist but the truth?
That is the reason I went to Sedona. To let go of my resistance. To embrace LIFE.
The Dream of Love is calling everyone. Are we listening?