Today, love is the practice.
Not the la-la, laid-back, Everything-Is-Beautiful- I’m-Going-To-Sleep-Now
kind.
But love in every fiber, every muscle, unconditional, wide-ranging, absolute, tangible, no bullshit, excluding no one, not even my next-door neighbor who never lets their dog out.
Everyone is within reach of this radiance.
Everyone.
Even the old woman screaming at her barefoot grandchild outside of Target, yanking him to her beat-up Honda by his little arm. Unconditional love for how hard she tried and how badly she failed at getting where she thought she was going. How completely fucked and
without resources she feels right now. Real love for her. May you be safe from inner and outer harm. May you be free from guilt, shame and hatred. May you enjoy physical and mental well being. May you, old lady, may you live with the ease of an open heart. And may you awaken to your true nature, which is an inexhaustible source of love, compassion and wisdom.
Can’t we find it in ourselves to send that blessing out to everyone? To send a prayer for that kind of love to all beings?
Today, love — Leave-nothing-on-the-field love. Unreasonable, extravagant, all in, all out love — is the practice.
Love even for me in my shut down, sour-faced, negative state, even for me.
Love even for *him.* Yes, I mean it. Even *him.* When I say everyone,
I mean everyone.
The world is devolving into an obscene circus of catastrophes where anguish is entertainment and caustic contempt masquerades as courage.
And in the middle of this circus, holding a tall, pink, beehive hairdo of cotton candy in its hand,
love, the bloody, beating heart of love, naive, stubborn and without end, pumps its crazy tenderness into the world regardless of the odds and we are probably all still here because of it.
If we do not use this muscle, it dies.
So today love is the practice.