YOU NEED NOT

Strike one, strike two.  Strike three.

-You can't seem to figure it out.  Now can't ya?  I understand.  I understand completely.

-Yes, I know that.  But really you should stop that.

-Well, I don't think thinking that way will amount to anything.

-I remember hearing someone repeating this mantra once.  Here, try it out:

ALL

THE LOVE

I NEED

IS

IN ME, 

NOW

-Now how does that feel?

-Well, maybe you should listen to your breathing while you do it.

-No, breathing slowly.  Relax.  Yeah, that's it.  Now repeat the words.

-No, you don't have to say them out loud.

-Well, if it makes you feel more comfortable then fine, say them out loud.

-No, no, keep doing it.

-No, you're doing a good job, keep doing it.

-Now feel the warmth growing inside of you.  It glows in-tandem with your breath.  In and out.

-Yes, you're doing a fantastic job.  Keep at it.

There was these eyes that came into the room I had been sitting in.  At first they were down the hall.  Then they came inside the room.  They even sat down across from me.  They looked at my eyes and I wanted to know more about those eyes.  They were haunting, they spoke to me saying, "You'll get trapped if you look too closely, now look away!"  I would look away only to return for more.  I wanted to know everything about those eyes.  Where did they come from?  Who were the people they got to know?  What do they look like when they are laughing very hard?  What do they look like when they are crying?  When they are lost and when they are looking very far away.  I had many questions, I wanted answers.  Please tell me I stared into those eyes.  They spoke few words back.  They said they come from the sea.  That they don't like being landlocked.  That any sort of water will do.  But they really wanted an ocean.  They wanted to know that there isn't land anywhere near to where they looked when they looked to the water.  And though the lakes those eyes have looked upon have been unbroken by land on their horizon that still wasn't good enough.  They wanted to feel humble knowing that what they were looking at was far too vast to understand.  That they were as close to infinite as they were ever going to experience beyond the sky and the deep reaches of the cosmos.  

-Do you feel better now?

-Yeah, I do it myself.

-Well, I'm not always so chipper.

-Yeah, I feel down too.

-Well, some days are better than others.

-And sometimes I am reminded of something that has been plaguing me for a while.  But these are feelings, don't take them so seriously.

-No, they are important but don't read into them as if they are personally attacking you.  IN FACT, they are not attacking you at all.  They are just telling you.

-They are telling you that you are in a moment that makes you feel sad.  They are saying, when this sort of thing happens it triggers off some chemical in the brain that says this is sad, it really is.  But that is fine, let your brain say, this is really sad.  That is ok.  It is sad.  That's it.  Does that make you feel better?

-Well, that is true.  But still, our bodies are constantly reacting to the world around us.  We need this feedback.  You know there is this great quote by Jack Kornfield, it goes something like,

Love in the past is just a memory.

Love in the future is a fantasy.

Love could only exist in the now.

-I think you can take any emotion and put that spin to it.

-Yeah, I know.  But think about this, there is nothing sad about our past, only once in a while, it is sad in the present.  But it won't last long.

-Me too.  I think you'd do great.  Just don't forget this.

-And don't forget those words.

-Yeah, exactly.

-Ok, and you too.  Take care!

-Love, you.