LETTERS FROM LOVE — With Special Guest Yung Pueblo!

On coming into presence

Oh, Lovelies, how I am reveling in all your many comments! This community is the most open-hearted and kindest corner of the entire Internet. Your sensitive care of one another, your willingness to take a leap of faith among strangers, the outstretching of welcoming arms — it’s all so very nourishing. Thank you.

Some of you say that the letters you’re downloading in this practice seem to be written by a “presence,” which made me think about how important it is to be present when trying to connect with Love (or, incidentally, when doing almost anything else in life). In this week’s video I share with you a simple technique that is, for me, a foolproof way to ground my body in its physical space, which then interrupts the spinning of my mind. I use this quick exercise to return to presence any time I am feeling unsettled or overwhelmed, and I want to share it because I suspect that one or two of you might know that feeling.

So! This week’s prompt is to try out the 5-4-3-2-1 meditation I describe below, and see if it makes you feel more grounded and peaceful.

Okay, let’s go, Lovelies!

Dear Love, what would you have me know today?

Angel wing, listen to your friend Love. Your mind, with all due respect, is a liar. It doesn’t mean any harm, but it’s been trained to have an extreme negativity bias — particularly about you. It tells you scary stories about all the ways in which you are bad and wrong, and shows you scary movies around the clock about all the ways your badness and wrongness will ruin your life, unless you do more, more, more, more — produce more, give more, perfect your character defects more, change more, transform more, help more people, show up more, be better, more, more, better, more and more and more. Shame, doom, alarm, and MORE — it’s all nonsense, my love.

Your mind is like a scared security guard in an empty building at night, shooting at its own shadow in fear of intruders. Darling little seashell in the palm of my hand, please take a moment to observe your actual surroundings. There are no intruders, there is no catastrophe. There are no monsters, and certainly you are not one. Wake up from the scary movie, tiny duckling. Is there a seat beneath your bottom? There is. Check — there it is. Is there ground beneath your feet? How reassuring! Is there a glass of water next to you, should you feel thirsty? How abundant your life is. Amazing, right?

Observe how the ceiling isn’t falling down upon you. Isn’t that incredible? What holds it up? Look outside — do you see the sunlight? Isn’t that astonishing? Can you feel the breeze through the window? Are your teeth brushed? Do you see the people walking in the city outside, taking care of their lives, going from place to place? In this actual moment, do those people you see outside on the sidewalk need you? Or are they somehow miraculously managing to convey themselves about their business without your assistance or interference? Incredible, isn’t it?

My love, my love, in this moment, nothing needs you. Nobody needs you but YOU — so turn your attention in this moment toward allowing love to permeate your frightened imagination. You have heard me many times in meditation reminding you to let life take care of life, to let the world turn on its own power. Pause here, and observe how everything is working.

There was a world here long, long before you arrived, little soldier with your little mind, and there will be a world long after you go. And there are more worlds than this one, seen and unseen. And love was here before you were born, and love is what you will return to when you’re done with this body. Please don’t believe the stories your mind tells you, dearest. They are tales of imagined dragons told around a campfire that does not even exist. Be here with me, my love. Stay present to reality. And the reality is that I love you. Have a gentle day.

Try the 5-4-3-2-1 meditation