Synonyms For Love

Love is a small word with a big meaning. So as a follow up to I Love You, I am writing my thoughts on love.

Love and the heart

I am not talking about love as opposed to hate. That’s the conditional love based on calculation. I am not talking about love as obsession or possessiveness.

What I mean by love is the natural flow of energy when we open our hearts. (Whereas obsession and possessiveness close the heart.) So love is hard to define, just as the “I” is hard to define. But still, let me work around love. . .

Love is acceptance

Acceptance is a close synonym of love. When I accept someone or something as they are, I am opening my heart and loving them.

For those of you who thought “Acceptance? That’s all?”, may I ask who accept you exactly who you are. My parents wanted me to be one way or the other, as they fancied, and I think this is a pretty typical case. I am currently unattached, but even when I was married, I don’t think he accepted the whole me. So acceptance — complete acceptance — is a big deal.

Acceptance is the same with allowing when something is happening. In other words, no resistance. I don’t know who said this, but I like the quote:

Love means never saying I told you so.

Love is appreciation

Appreciation and gratitude are also synonyms of love. The key is to appreciate everything, not just what you think is good. To love something totally, appreciate both the sunny side and the shadow side.

Obviously, to accept and to appreciate, we need to notice. Consider this quote:

The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference. — Elie Wiesel

Love is … forgiveness?

Forgiveness is a form of love. However, most forgiveness is done from the head rather than from the heart.

Real forgiveness is being okay with it. So when you see someone you intend to forgive, and you are the same you as you always are, then you have forgiven. Or when a memory wells up and you can say in your mind, “Hi, memory, do you need something from me?”, then you have forgiven. (And the memory automatically disappears.)

Are there other ways to say “I love you”? Let me know. With love, acceptance, and appreciation.
(Photo credit)

Online Gratitude Journal January 2010 Edition #37

Are you having a great start of the year? Keeping up with your new year’s resolution? Time is speeding up and I can hardly believe one twelfth of the year is already gone. (Photo credit)

January in review

My big goal of this year is to write a book on Akashic Records. This will be published in the old fashioned way in print. The starseed series will be incorporated in the book, with some additions and updates. So I’m putting extra effort in completing this series.

My another goal is to eat healthy and well. The Slow Down Diet that I reviewed was very influential to me. I want to pay attention not just to WHAT I eat but also to HOW I eat.

Fun & Challenges

This is the dilemma I face: When I was working in the corporate world, I wrote in the evenings and weekends. I love writing. I forget foods when I write. I can almost forget sleep when I write. I love to express my thoughts and feelings, and the possibility that my writing might help you is exciting.

Now that I work for myself, writing for this blog and the book is part of my life and work. I do what I love all day long — reading interesting books and blogs, writing my own, and doing Akashic Record Reading. Life is full of joy and fun, right?

Right. Yes. And a bit of no somehow. When I have so many things to do (again, all fun things I like to do), I’m a bit overwhelmed, and for a reason I don’t really know, the fun becomes a challenge, too.

Does anyone know how to keep the fun as fun? Do I need to introduce some dread so that fun can stand out as fun? Do I need to meditate more?

Link Love

Be sure to check the book review of the controversial The God Delusion, by my friend Hunter Nuttall. I think the discussion in the comment section is very interesting, too.

My old post on meat eating vs vegetarianism still gets hot comments. While some people insist vegetarianism, or even stricter veganism, is good for health and environment, I found a few information that question this statement.

One is from someone who has been raw vegan for 15 years who found some deficiencies when he had blood test.

Another is a book called The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability. I haven’t read the book yet, but I read the review here and on Amazon. I find it interesting that we need some form of animal products to grow plants. I checked my bag of organic soil and it has earthworm castings. Other organic soil mix has chicken manure or bone meal. So what happens to the chicken afterwards? I bet they were either hens for eggs or meat chickens. And if vegans are committed not to eat even honey because they don’t want to force the bees to work, how do they feel about the earthworms that worked for the soil? The dogma of veganism to never harm any animals is very hard to sustain, I think. Even if someone is not eating any animal products, some animals are dying to grow their vegetables.

I don’t think this is a bad thing, however. All lives are in the big ecosystem, supporting one another. The problems happens when we reject this system. When I die, please throw the cremated ash in the ocean so the fish can benefit. The fish may end up on your dinner table or become fertilizer for the farm that grows your vegetable. This very Buddhism view sits fine in my mind and spirituality.

Word of month

“Laughter is a great way of letting go. . . Laughing releases endorphins and lowers stress hormones in our system. The other two activities that do the same are sex and meditation.”
– Lisa, aka Mommy Mystic

Well said. Let’s pick at least one of the three for our well-being.

This is all for today. Enjoy your weekend — the day is getting so much longer (in the northern hemisphere, that is )

Related reading: After I posted this article, I was informed about another great post about the problem vegans face, especially raw vegans. (HT: Gena) I think the whole discussion on vegan nutritional health is very interesting.  Additionally, this part by Shazzie caught my eye:

“…many raw food enthusiasts who identify themselves as vegans are in fact not totally vegan. Whether it’s a free range organic egg or a little raw goat’s cheese once a week or some fish once a month, these people think of themselves as vegan and will tell you they’re vegan…This makes us wonder how many more who identify themselves as vegans are doing the same but not admitting to it.”

Ah. So there is honesty and awareness issue, too.

Online Gratitude Journal November 2009 Edition #35

Hi! Did you have a good Thanksgiving? (that is, if you are in the US, I guess.) Are you excited about the coming holidays? My November was filled with gratitudes. And one milestone achievement. . . (Photo credit)

November in Review

My highlight this month was definitely the completion of my eBook “Lightworker’s Guide to Self-Employment”. I’ve spent considerable amount of time and energy writing this eBook on spiritual entrepreneurship. It’s my gift — it’s FREE, so please check it out if you are interested in starting your own business.

Thank you all for your readership. A writing needs to be read, so you are supporting me a great deal just by reading this blog. ^_^

Fun

Have you noticed I redecorated the front page of this Yes to Me blog? The center column now shows random posts from “Ascension” and “Spirituality” categories. Because “Spirituality” is a huge category, I added subheaders that show the ten subcategories. (Everything on this blog is about spiritual growth, but I set aside” Ascension” as a special independent category, and also set aside “What’s Akemi Doing?” for posts that are mainly about sharing of my life — like this post.)

If you are reading this article by subscription, please click here to see the new front page!

Yes to Me now has nearly 200 articles. I hope this new design helps you to find older articles that you may have missed.

I also updated my About page and the blurb on the sidebar. Do you like it?

Challenges

As you probably know, English is my second language. I do quite well but I have a slight accent (and I make some grammatical errors, like with the singular / plural rules. . .). Most of the time, I hardly think about this. I know I have important messages to convey and I express them well in writing. When I do phone sessions for my Akashic Record Reading, most clients have no problem understanding me.

Except when I need to do public speaking.

I’ll be on Small Business Trend blog radio (podcast) in January, talking about spiritual entrepreneurship and my new eBook. Aaaagh! I feel a bit nervous! Wish me luck.

Where in the blogosphere Akemi has been

During the Thanksgiving week, I spent a lot of time on Twitter for the #RadicalGratitude experiment.

Twitter is fun. If you are willing, you can find interesting people worldwide to chat. I’m not sure how effective it is in marketing because I’m personally put off with people who only shout what they want to say and never seem to listen and respond to others even when they are talking straight to them (that is, using @, like @akemigaines. When you put in @akemigaines in your tweet, it shows up on the “Mentions” timeline on my Tweetdeck, so I can respond.)

If you are new to Twitter, a piece of advice is NOT to turn on auto-follow. There are so many internet marketers and hookers (I’m not joking) who just want to increase their follower numbers by preying on those who have automatic follow on. Let’s use Twitter for real conversation and learning. I follow people who have valuable messages (even if they don’t follow me back).

Some well-known spiritual teachers are on Twitter. My favorite is @Deepak_Chopra. He tweets great insights, and he often responds to tweeted questions.

Word of month

“How unconditional is your love for yourself?”
– Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, aka SARK

I found this line in her article at Crazy Sexy Life. In the article, she describes how self-love helps to love others. Self-love is not about self-indulgence — it’s about loving life and the world as it unfolds from within.

The world is a mirror that reflects your beliefs, as Gregg Braden explains so eloquently in his book. Self-love, then is the beginning and the end of all LOVE.

Stay warm, friends. With gratitude,

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