During our spiritual group gathering on Sunday, I played a song called, “What the World Needs Now.” This song, written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, makes it clear that what the world needs now is love. This idea is just as valid in 2013 as it was in 1965 when the song was popular. Hal David, who wrote the lyrics, said that love is something that “there’s just too little of” and the song goes on to pray for more love for everyone. This is a beautiful intention.
As the song played my non-physical teacher, Joshua, gently spoke to me saying that love is abundant, and love is present everywhere. From his point of view there are too few people who feel loved. Joshua says many people feel unworthy of love. Some people have love confused with feelings of romance or sex. Some people think love is about connections and obligations to family. Sadly, he says, some people think about love, yet they don’t feel it. Love is a wonderful idea for these people, and they struggle to apply it to life, or to give love to themselves and others.
I could hear Joshua describing me as I struggled to feel love in my youth and early adulthood. I didn’t feel worthy of love. In fact, I hated myself. Love was an idea to me, and I wanted to feel it. I sought after it in my romantic relationships. I thought these women could make me feel loved. I believe they tried to show love to me. As you know, no matter how much they loved me – I didn’t feel it.
There was a time when I (secretly) felt jealous of friends who felt loved by their parents. As I matured, I accepted that my parents didn’t feel loved either. How could they offer love to me, or each other, when they didn’t feel worthy of it themselves? I feel love now. It is a feeling I cannot describe. When we want to describe feelings, we resort to other feeling words. I accept that my words fall far short of describing what I feel. Feelings are felt – not thought.
Joshua has been with me all of my life, yet I have been most aware of him for the last thirty-two years. I have consistently felt loved by him – beyond any conditions. As I opened my heart gradually over the years of working with Joshua, love integrated beyond an idea into a feeling. Awakened feelings of love also bring real joy into my life. The greatest revelation in my loving transformation is this: I am worthy of love just as I am. And, so are you. The cliché saying that you can’t love others until you love yourself is worn out, yet it is pure wisdom.
During the global shift of consciousness that is happening now, many are called here to model and teach love. Have you arrived at this moment to help us release fear and lean into love? You know who you are. I honor your mission. Thank you for showing that love is abundant for all. I join my heart light with yours. We let love show in countless ways. We see the light grow as others find the path into loving themselves beyond all conditions. Only what we are filled with may we offer to others. I say these words to myself as I say them to you: I love you. JOY!
Enjoy the YouTube version of What the World Needs Now for your enjoyment. It is a lovely prayer. This video, which is true to 1965, is posted with loving respect for Jackie DeShannon, Burt Bacharach and Hal David. ENJOY!
Love is on Earth. It is across the street, in the homeless person, in the high rise, in the city, in the country, in the animals, in the water. Love is everywhere and we can find it if we keep looking. Ask to find love, if even in the smallest of places. Then be open to seeing it, feeling it, experiencing it, sharing it. Savor those moments that you find love knowing that each time you embrace it, it changes you and helps you to find more. The goal of each Soul here on Earth is to remember who they are as pure love. Remember that there is nothing we can do to make us more worthy or deserving of love. We are loved because we exist, and we exist because we are loved.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful thoughts and your personal wisdom. I hear you, my teacher, my friend. Shine on!
Instead people who don’t love themselves and who have low self-esteem with poor ideas about relationships look to other people to validate themselves and also to fill the void and get loved. In seeking out people to be in a relationship, we gravitate to those that reflect how we feel about ourselves and life, so if you don’t love you, you find yourself with someone who will not only not love you but will reflect the negatives.
Thank you for your thoughtful insight, Thaddeus. I agree with you. When we truly love ourselves, the relationships we build with others reflect that feeling. Loving ourselves changes everything. Shine on!