Stepping away from division into love

It's not always easy. And perhaps one of our biggest and most important challenges of our time, of anytime.

Back in 2021, a group of four folk, some friends, some unknown to others, set up a small group to come together with an aim to help increase the amount of love energy in the world. Aware of the division going on, which, they felt, was perhaps driven by certain agendas, they wanted to step outside of this, accept all comers and just focus on love.

I'm one of the four and it's been an amazing experience to be a part of. We're still a small group, but we meet every Tuesday at 9am and 8pm and have done every week since our inception (even the session where I, responsible for the tech side of things, managed to forget, others hopped onto WhatsApp and still made it happen).

It strikes me that seeing division or separation may perhaps be a part of human nature - the other perhaps at times is regarded with suspicion. If that other is a sabre toothed tiger about to attack, perhaps rightly so. A shark, maybe, though I'm also fascinated about the disservice the film Jaws did to sharks, and intrigued by those hopping into the water to highlight the majesty of these ancient creatures.

I'm curious too because I love my work, and yet I see finger pointing going on around that. Dr Samuel Hahnemann, the (IMHO) genius who founded homeopathy as a system of medicine, was no stranger to dismissing the 'other' - the practitioners of orthodox medicine certainly didn't get glowing praise in his writings. These days homeopaths have been used to being dismissed at times from the 'other side' too.

On a personal level, my challenges with a neighbour continue, and she is currently appearing to be enjoying whacking our plants (which do slightly go above and outside our garden border but so too do others' in the street) as she walks past (though only if we're in the garden - if we're inside the plants remain unscathed) and loudly muttering things. It's been good training. How do you deal with active hostility on a daily basis? I don't have huge reams of advice, but for me the main ways I've come to terms with it is accepting it's not my business (thanks Byron Katie), and I love the Mel Robbins 'Let Them' theory for her. If it's making her day feel OK to have this response to me, I need to step out of my indignation about it. The plants will bounce back. As did I.

Some things are clearly not OK to allow and I've been loving the counter movement here in the UK. Flipping it is something else I love, which I've done several times with the aforementioned neighbour. When there's been acts done which I've percieved as being intentionally to irritate or annoy me, at times I've turned it on its head and gone forwards with a random act of kindness for someone else or even several folk. If we look at something like this - I wonder if we can outnumber the 'bad' to the lovely, loving acts carried out in the world. Sharing words of love, remembering so many people have it tough or are struggling and being kind where we can feels to be a gentle way to rebel in a world that is fast - and seems to be constantly telling us we have to choose a side.

If everyone does even just one act of something lovely for someone else each day - or - which I took a long time to learn - for themselves - I truly believe we can create a world of love. It took so long for me to recognise that whilst others may have said hateful things to me, I've said worse to myself plenty of times. It took me years to recognise Mother Theresa's 'peace starts at home' didn't have to mean in the home-home - but perhaps in the only home our body, our mind ever has, in ourselves. Stepping into love with ourselves feels so important right now. With ourselves, with one another wherever we can, and with this beautiful planet we live with.

I think fear creates division and a need to choose sides. Love creates unity.

I'm choosing love. Kindness. Compassion. Wherever I can. Which if I work at it, really is everywhere.

With love,

Em x

PS if you fancy coming along to hang out on a Tuesday 9am and 8pm UK time, you're very welcome. There's more info here.

PPS Well worth a read is Rutger Bregmen's HumanKind - full of fabulous examples of where perhaps the reported take on the situation wasn't quite the same as the kind reality.