radical love

this is radical. it cuts to the heart of the matter. it is the medicine this world needs. thank you for your courage and your offering. please send all of my love to yourself, your daughter, laura and edie.

i love you.
catherine
10/22/07

Home Away From Home

The Whole RV Bunch

Laura the RV Drivin' Rockstar

Be Part of the Experiment!

Vermont and Prospect - Back at it

Just got back from Hello Love on the corner of Vermont and Prospect. It was exactly what I needed to get back on track with Hello Love. I’ve been feeling kind of hopeless about the state of the world and the polarization of the world and the polarization inherent in every moment. I’ve been feeling like Hello Love has an insurmountable task ahead.

But today gave me hope. It reminded me that the smallest greeting can affect a change. Edie, Maria and I all went out and while we were all our usual nervous selves as we got underway, immediately people were smiling and waving and greeting us in lovely ways. We settled in immediately and all, almost instantaneously felt buoyed by the love that came back at us.

People were hungry hungry hungry for it and they took it in. It’s the simplest thing to do... greet people with love, with openness, with kindness and such a little of it can go such a long way.

My favorite moment was when a guy walked past us and asked if we were the ones that sell the t-shirts! I thought “This is working...” The word is spreading.

I think we must have waved at over 1,000 people today....and a good 888 of those people waved back and smiled or flashed the peace sign or nodded or said Hello Love back. And I can’t help but think that even the tiniest shift in energy for each person that we interacted with is a huge shift for that little corner or a significant shift for the energy around all those people today. I think it makes a difference.

Maria, Edie and I all felt so happy to have done this today. It was a boost, a reminder... an hour or so filled with potentiality.

The fact that our muscles hurt from holding the signs above our heads or waving is a great reminder that our heart muscle is working as well... working to include... working to extend... working to embrace, to transmute... It’s also a reminder that I am willing to endure the muscle ache if I feel steeped in JOY. And it’s so easy to stand in JOY when an energy of LOVE is being exchanged.

I don’t know how Hello Love will grow...I don’t know what place it’s meant to hold in the grand scheme of things... but I do know that right now, going out and waving each week... showing up... is what I want and need to do. I want to practice standing in the energy of openness and love.

Hello Love. Hello Love? Hello Love!

Today I took the opportunity to love on strangers. I didn’t physically love "on" them. I didn't touch them. I mostly didn't even talk to them. But I looked at them, in a soft-hearted kind of way, each person that passed me on the street. As I set out with Heidi, Madley, Laura, and Maria on our first day out with the Hello Love Experiment, I pretended that I had amazing secret super-powers, and that I could mentally send a force field of pure love to each person, psychically! I held the idea that this force in me was powerful in a universe-creating, big bang, atomic nuclear reaction, kind of way, huge and almighty, and that if I focused really intently, they would receive it. Even if they still looked grumpy or tired or worn down by the world, with each stranger that walked past, I held the idea that on some level they got this beam of love. I flashed in my mind thoughts of them living the happiest, highest idea of themselves. I imagined them prosperous in all ways and their eyes filled with creative excitement for life. I imagined them fulfilled and lovingly connected to the people in their lives.

I did this with my friends.

How nice to have friends that wanted to go out and try this.

Yes, we also put up signs that said, Hello Love. We handed out business cards at the corner of Sunset and Argyle--the business of sending love. Sometimes, we had to explain ourselves.

"No, we are not with a religion, or any organization. We are just a group of friends. We are not raising money for any cause, there is no other reason than this moment, to stand here and send you love--because it feels good."

I have to admit, we were all nervous at first, none of us are the type that do this kind of thing... talk to strangers; none of us are outgoing look-at-me kind of people. So we had to rally ourselves. After all, this could be seen as ridiculous... and on some level it's illegal; posting signs in public areas. So there was the possibility of scandal! Worse than that, someone might make fun of us, might say, "That’s stupid." So there was also the possibility of being scoffed at. Sounds silly, but being scoffed at in public is very daunting.

But even more than those reasons, I think it just makes one nervous to blindly offer love. It goes against the social training of life: self protection, guarding against people that want to take advantage of your good nature, which could be anyone--especially strangers; it's just not safe. And besides that, what's the pay-off, what is the profit to be gained?

Which brings me to the surprising discovery of this morning for me: Which was A.) how I felt safer in the world with each passing person that I beamed love to. And B.) how satisfying it felt to walk around beaming love, how much better I felt inside myself. People pay good money for that--feeling good. And here it is, free.

It's a lovely thing to try, to ask yourself is this ridiculous or revolutionary, this Hello Love thing, and then just walk out on the street and test it.