love

The Joy of Being

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Even in this dark and frozen time, I am alive and thriving. I am fully aware in the way of trees. My spirit never sleeps.

Grandmother Cottonwood

Here in my beloved home my roots reach deep into the soil. I do not question my existence. I do not worry. I do not fear. I simply am.

I do what trees everywhere do. I root to the earth and grow effortlessly toward the light. I respond to the seasons, sending out seeds in spring, bursting with growth in summer, releasing my leaves in fall, sleeping in the winter.

I am expansive. I am so much more than the magnificent tree you see before you. I feel what you humans would call love for this life.

This love is me. It is my energy, it is who I am. It may be invisible, but those who have the sensitivity, the ability to feel beyond the five senses will know it.

Life here on this patch of earth under the dome of the eternal sky, day and night, sun, moon, planets, and stars brings me what you humans might call joy.

Perhaps joy is my true purpose here…

…the joy of being, the joy of living, of expanding toward the light, the joy of knowing the precious gift of life!

No boundaries

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My love knows no boundaries. It does not know time, space, distance, or dimension. It is eternal and indestructible.

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Purple iris and yellow sedum

Perhaps you doubt this truth, perhaps you do not remember the serenity, the calm, the dropping away of obstacles worry and dread that come when you are tuned to the frequency of love.

My dears, you have known this frequency, this feeling before and you will know it again. It is the foundation of all that is. You have known it before, as an infant or child, or perhaps between lifetimes. It is an integral part of you and cannot be separated from you.

It is your birthright to remember and know and feel this love. Allow yourself to reach beyond the clutter of your mind to the ocean of love at the heart of all that is.

You are meant to take delight!

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You are meant to dance!

You with two legs and a heart are meant to dance, to love the easy movement and flow of your body. You are meant to take action, to reach with your arms and gather in the amazing variety of gifts this planet offers.

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Sunlit ornamental grasses

You are meant to allow the energy of life to move you to play, sing, speak with a clear pure voice.

You are meant to gather your children and grandchildren with loving arms so they will feel your heartbeat in sync with the rhythm of the earth, so they will know your love and be calmed.

You with two eyes are meant to open them to the breathtaking beauty of this planet, the prairies, forests, lakes, rivers, mountains, wooded valleys, sea shores… open them also the unrepeatable beauty of your beloved ones, for they are priceless treasures that have been entrusted to you.

You with two ears are meant to come into silence and listen to the sounds of life on earth– the sighing of wind in fields of grass, the ticking of insects, the shimmer of breeze through summer leaves, the hoot of owl, birdsong, the full stream rushing along, the crunching of autumn leaves under your feet, the calling of spirit.

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Ripples on a shallow stream

Breathe in the cool autumn air as you lay on the mother earth, silent under a billion stars and know you belong.

Coming into this moment now through your senses, worry,  fear and doubt will drop away.

You are meant to take delight in the magnificent life that is spread before you. There is no charge, no commission to pay for pure joy in the sensory joys of your life. They are freely given to all!

You reflect the universe

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Within each living thing is a reflection of the entire universe. You are brilliant! You are a miracle! You are a reflection of all that is – And all that is is delightful, magnificent, and ever expanding.

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Hosta in blossom

All that is is great and abiding love. At our core we are the energy of love. Expansive, all encompassing.

It is common for humans in your culture to forget this most basic fact of life. We – all living things are animated an fueled by love! It is the foundation of our existence.

Those who turn away from this fundamental truth need not fear, for they too are supported, permeated and uplifted by this life force you call love.

Life in a human body on planet earth is about rediscovering your origins. Discover your basic make up deep within – the particles, the energy of love!

Rededication

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Jack in the pulpit

We (GCW and Betty) rededicate ourselves to bringing forth messages of nature’s wisdom and loving words of spiritual healing to those who are ready for them. Grandmother Cottonwood authors and transmits the feelings, impressions, images, and information. Betty receives the information and puts it into a form others of her kind can understand.

GCW speaks: My dears, this is first and foremost about love, the framework, the foundation of all that is. I wish to communicate to you the vast incalculable web of love that is woven around and throughout all existence. You are each and every one an integral part of this web. There is no separation, no complete severing of any particle in the universe.

The only separation, if you experience it, exists in your mind and heart. If you think you are separate, if you feel that you have been cast into infinite darkness, you are living in illusion – in your head.

My desire is for you to know the oneness of all things for then you will begin to care for each other with love, not obligation. You will care for the earth with appreciation and partnership, not dominance and destruction. You will care for yourselves with heart expanding joy, and in the joy and appreciation and love you will be made whole and all that surrounds you healed.

When you are love, the reflection you see in the mirror is love. If your reflection is less than love, seek to release the illusions you have taken as beliefs. These beliefs may seem true, but they harm you and do not serve you.

Wake up to the love at your center! Live it!

The heart

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Self expression!

The human heart radiates such love when healthy and thriving. And when the heart is broken, such pain and confusion, such hurt, radiates to those nearby.

Do you transmit love or hurt with the powerful energy of your heart? If hurt, find a way to heal and clear and forgive and move on. Then you can one again feel light and joyful, living in the flow of grace, your default state of being.

Guilt and fear and hurt weigh you down as surely as if you were carrying an armload of rocks. Why do that to your precious self? Why carry a useless burden that only holds you back?

I’m telling you, you can let it go. You can release the dead wight of blame and unexpressed emotion. But you must have the courage to forgive, to  feel deeply and fully and to express what you feel in ways that honor you and those around you.

Heal your heart and you heal your life.

Newborn babies

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Beloved newborn

Grandmother Cottonwood speaks of newborns.

You know you are in the full presence of the divine when you are honored to hold, or look at, be near, or touch a newborn infant. All the universe is contained within this tiny perfect being. All possibilities, all collective wisdom, the web of life is reflected in her.

The newborn radiates trust and peace. She allows you to contemplate the divine light she brings to your family, to all who call this planet home, for she is an expression of the infinite unending love that holds this universe together.

Allow yourself to learn from the little one. Let her teach you to simply be, to bask in the simple joys of life in a body. Let her teach you the sense of wonder as you open your eyes to the magical world of material form before you each morning.  Learn to see through her eyes, everything, fresh and new and magical.

Allow yourself to be moved and changed by this new relationship, to connect and feel and know once again where you come from and who you are. A miracle of divine light.

Love is…

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Q.   L of Ames, Iowa asks: What is love?

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A rose in winter

A.   Love, my dear, is your natural state of being. Do you remember what you felt like before you were clouded with fear, doubt, resentment, inadequacy -when you were a fetus in the womb, then an infant?

Love is the flow of the life force, unencumbered throughout your entire being – your physical bone, blood, muscle, tissue, and spirit, your aura, your energy. It is the highest, most delightful vibration. It isn’t solemn or stuffy or “good”. It simply is the thread that weaves the web of life and holds the universe together.

You are made of this thread. You are part of this fabric, interwoven with all existence. Behind all the clouds in your mind is the bright and shining foundation of all that is, the design and structure of your being.  As in the song, it is “a crazy little thing called love”… except it is a big thing.  It is the only thing.

You will find it inside of yourself, this love, and nowhere else. What seems like love outside of yourself is only a mirror of who and what you are.  Enjoy your reflection!

Let this love that you are shine through little by little just as the sun rises over the horizon until all is light! Allow yourself to connect with it at your core. Learn to feel it know it and live it.

You are love itself.