Question...

What keeps us from being able to Love ourselves and others freely?

I don't care how many books you read, or how much education you may have, there is usually some sensitive part in all of us that holds us back from being able to Love unconditionally. Yes, we can read that it is our judgment of ourselves and others, or that our egos think we are better or less than our fellows...blah blah, but even when we "know" these things, we keep judging! I don't have an answer to this, because it is still something that I have to work on each and every day.

Now I used to think that I was only "not loving" the people I disliked or hated, but I have come to realize that if I am excluding anyone from Love, then I am separated from the whole completely. A beautiful example that I refer to when trying to intellectualize this whole Love deal is that of a Rose. A rose does not exclude any person or animal from its beauty and  or smell. It does not stop smelling beautifully for one person, and continue for another. It simply is. It does not exclude. That is how we are meant to live, unconditionally extending Love to all, and never excluding Love from anyone or anything.

Still, we do it. Each and every day. I used to judge this about myself, and find it a fault. But isn't the purpose to learn from any place that we may hold a fear about someone or something? Those places we feel that we cannot love ourselves or another are steps to a new lesson. An opportunity to grow and open up. To blossom. So the next time you find yourself in judgment of yourself or another...sit back an observe. What is keeping you from embracing this being? What is keeping you from extending that all powerful Love that is always inclusive, no matter if we think otherwise? Observe...then embrace what you may find. Only then may you transcend that place of fear you are holding on to.