"There's really no limit to how much love can grow and blossom in our lives.
" Elizabeth Kubler Ross (1926-2004) When we get to the end of our lives what really matters is how much love we gave and how much we were open to receive.
Of course there is also no limit to how much fear can grow and control our lives.
One very powerful question that can help us to ensure that it is love and not fear that grows in our lives is - what would love do now? As we respond to this question when facing decisions about our family, our career, our communities and our world, we may have to face perceived fears, but it is in facing them that they dissolve and lose their power over us.
Our loving response most importantly ensures that it is love that grows and blossoms in our lives.
I love to play music, yet I can remember many times in various different gatherings over the years where I would love to have performed, but I didn't because I was afraid.
I would come away annoyed with myself for not playing.
What was I afraid of? Was I afraid of not being good enough, of being embarrassed and making a fool of myself, or some other self-defeating belief? However, as the saying goes - 'face the truth and the truth will set you free'! Just after September 11, 2001, I went on a peace trip to Bosnia.
On this trip we were to visit Mostar.
I didn't know much about Mostar except what I had heard on the news, namely that it had been devastated during the Balkan War.
We were told we would go from the Christian section of Mostar into the Muslim section, and that we were to keep a low profile, particularly as the war in Afghanistan had just begun and many were calling it a Christian/Muslim war.
I knew I would need to be careful about where I played the pipes! The night before visiting Mostar we were having a briefing about the visit, and the group facilitator said: "I think it's best that you don't bring the pipes to Mostar, as we don't want to attract any unwanted attention.
" "Okay," I said, looking at him reluctantly.
However, as I reflected on his request, old feelings of rejection returned.
These feelings I had experienced many times before and each time they dampened my dreams.
I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew I would love to play my pipes.
I returned to my hotel room and reflected on fear and love.
What would fear do now? What would love do now? Fear wouldn't play the pipes.
Fear would hold its head down in rejection and mentally be angry with those by whom he felt rejected.
This would close the door even more on my dreams.
I thought about the many times in my life when I had acted from this place of fear.
Granted, this was about playing in a place where there had been tremendous fear in the recent past, but for me it really was about looking this rejection dragon in the eye and once and for all dissolving it.
How could it be dissolved? I knew the answer to this one; it was easy.
I love to play music, particularly the bagpipes - it is what I love to do, it is what I love to be! So, quite simply, love would play the bagpipes in Mostar and love would dissolve this old dragon.
Of course there was also the question about not getting others' approval.
Not only from the group I was with, who might not like the bagpipes announcing their arrival in Mostar, but also from the people of Mostar, who might not like them either.
I tossed and turned - will I or won't I play? I felt this was one of the most important times for me to decide - would I come from a place of fear or a place of love? I even dreamed about it that night.
By morning I knew; I must play whatever the consequences.
I wasn't looking for anyone's approval.
I was, once and for all, going to face my fear and do it in a place that had experienced the real extremes of human fear in recent times.
With respect, I informed the group facilitator and mentioned that if anyone didn't want to be near me when I played, that was fine.
He was reasonable about it and indeed we laughed.
We decided to put the intention out to the universe and let the moment present itself.
As we approached and arrived in Mostar I couldn't believe the destruction I saw - houses and buildings blown to bits, the walls of apartments blown out by incoming missiles, walls with literally hundreds of thousands of bullet holes in them.
It reminded me of some of the World War II documentaries I had seen on the Battle of Stalingrad.
I wondered what were the seeds of such hatred and destruction.
I wondered if this could have happened in my own country, Ireland, if the troubles, bad as they were, had really escalated.
Even if there had been no visible destruction you would know that something terrible had happened there because the energy of war was palpable.
We spent a number of hours in Mostar.
In particular, we negotiated our way into a Mosque to sing a Muslim prayer for peace.
In spite of all the fear that was being broadcast about September 11 and the war in Afghanistan, there was I sitting in a Mosque with a group of people, most of them American, from all walks of life, who believed in peace, singing a Muslim prayer for peace.
As we sang I noticed the Muslim man in charge of the Mosque being moved to tears.
It was, to say the least, a deeply humbling experience! As we walked through the streets after leaving the mosque, a member of our group asked me if I had seen the photo she took.
As she had taken it a white dove flew in front of her camera.
I was expecting to see a tiny dove in the photo she showed me on her digital camera.
Given that we had been waiting around for a couple of hours and I hadn't seen any doves, I was very surprised when she showed me a photo of some of the group with a large white dove in front of everyone! Just before we left Mostar on that life-changing day, the moment to play the pipes presented itself.
We entered a church that was being rebuilt after being destroyed during the war.
As I took the pipes under my arms I sensed an incredible presence and it felt so important to be playing.
Around me the group stood in semicircle.
As I played I entered a beautiful place of deep peace, a profound place of inner calm.
It was like when my father was dying; I felt that no matter what my opinion was about his dying there was another intelligence at work that knew what was best for all.
It is when we surrender to this intelligence and become instruments for its divine manifestation that the real magic occurs.
As I played in the church in Mostar I felt I was being held in the divine hands of this intelligence and everything was happening perfectly.
The tune I played was Amazing Grace, which reverberated throughout the concrete walls of this large church.
Many of the group watching were moved to tears, and in the days after came up to me and said: "You'll never know what you did for me, Sean, when you played the pipes in Mostar.
" I had moved them in ways I couldn't ever imagine, but really it was the divine intelligence that was moving through me.
I was simply being the instrument.
You see, as we decide to respond to the question, 'What would love do now?', we begin to create magic, and sometimes we don't even know what we're doing, but our connection with the greatest force in the universe, love, is helping others to feel it too.
We do not need to know if it is going to make a difference or if it is working, all we need to do is ask ourself: 'What would love do now?', and simply respond to the answer that presents itself.
An Invitation to Let Love Lead Your Way Let this week be a week in which you ask yourself, 'what would love do now?', and follow through on the answer that presents itself.
Put reminders everywhere - in your car, office and home.
Take note of what thoughts and feelings arise.
No matter what your age, no matter how wealthy, healthy or wise you consider yourself to be it's never to late to do what you love and realize your dream!
" Elizabeth Kubler Ross (1926-2004) When we get to the end of our lives what really matters is how much love we gave and how much we were open to receive.
Of course there is also no limit to how much fear can grow and control our lives.
One very powerful question that can help us to ensure that it is love and not fear that grows in our lives is - what would love do now? As we respond to this question when facing decisions about our family, our career, our communities and our world, we may have to face perceived fears, but it is in facing them that they dissolve and lose their power over us.
Our loving response most importantly ensures that it is love that grows and blossoms in our lives.
I love to play music, yet I can remember many times in various different gatherings over the years where I would love to have performed, but I didn't because I was afraid.
I would come away annoyed with myself for not playing.
What was I afraid of? Was I afraid of not being good enough, of being embarrassed and making a fool of myself, or some other self-defeating belief? However, as the saying goes - 'face the truth and the truth will set you free'! Just after September 11, 2001, I went on a peace trip to Bosnia.
On this trip we were to visit Mostar.
I didn't know much about Mostar except what I had heard on the news, namely that it had been devastated during the Balkan War.
We were told we would go from the Christian section of Mostar into the Muslim section, and that we were to keep a low profile, particularly as the war in Afghanistan had just begun and many were calling it a Christian/Muslim war.
I knew I would need to be careful about where I played the pipes! The night before visiting Mostar we were having a briefing about the visit, and the group facilitator said: "I think it's best that you don't bring the pipes to Mostar, as we don't want to attract any unwanted attention.
" "Okay," I said, looking at him reluctantly.
However, as I reflected on his request, old feelings of rejection returned.
These feelings I had experienced many times before and each time they dampened my dreams.
I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew I would love to play my pipes.
I returned to my hotel room and reflected on fear and love.
What would fear do now? What would love do now? Fear wouldn't play the pipes.
Fear would hold its head down in rejection and mentally be angry with those by whom he felt rejected.
This would close the door even more on my dreams.
I thought about the many times in my life when I had acted from this place of fear.
Granted, this was about playing in a place where there had been tremendous fear in the recent past, but for me it really was about looking this rejection dragon in the eye and once and for all dissolving it.
How could it be dissolved? I knew the answer to this one; it was easy.
I love to play music, particularly the bagpipes - it is what I love to do, it is what I love to be! So, quite simply, love would play the bagpipes in Mostar and love would dissolve this old dragon.
Of course there was also the question about not getting others' approval.
Not only from the group I was with, who might not like the bagpipes announcing their arrival in Mostar, but also from the people of Mostar, who might not like them either.
I tossed and turned - will I or won't I play? I felt this was one of the most important times for me to decide - would I come from a place of fear or a place of love? I even dreamed about it that night.
By morning I knew; I must play whatever the consequences.
I wasn't looking for anyone's approval.
I was, once and for all, going to face my fear and do it in a place that had experienced the real extremes of human fear in recent times.
With respect, I informed the group facilitator and mentioned that if anyone didn't want to be near me when I played, that was fine.
He was reasonable about it and indeed we laughed.
We decided to put the intention out to the universe and let the moment present itself.
As we approached and arrived in Mostar I couldn't believe the destruction I saw - houses and buildings blown to bits, the walls of apartments blown out by incoming missiles, walls with literally hundreds of thousands of bullet holes in them.
It reminded me of some of the World War II documentaries I had seen on the Battle of Stalingrad.
I wondered what were the seeds of such hatred and destruction.
I wondered if this could have happened in my own country, Ireland, if the troubles, bad as they were, had really escalated.
Even if there had been no visible destruction you would know that something terrible had happened there because the energy of war was palpable.
We spent a number of hours in Mostar.
In particular, we negotiated our way into a Mosque to sing a Muslim prayer for peace.
In spite of all the fear that was being broadcast about September 11 and the war in Afghanistan, there was I sitting in a Mosque with a group of people, most of them American, from all walks of life, who believed in peace, singing a Muslim prayer for peace.
As we sang I noticed the Muslim man in charge of the Mosque being moved to tears.
It was, to say the least, a deeply humbling experience! As we walked through the streets after leaving the mosque, a member of our group asked me if I had seen the photo she took.
As she had taken it a white dove flew in front of her camera.
I was expecting to see a tiny dove in the photo she showed me on her digital camera.
Given that we had been waiting around for a couple of hours and I hadn't seen any doves, I was very surprised when she showed me a photo of some of the group with a large white dove in front of everyone! Just before we left Mostar on that life-changing day, the moment to play the pipes presented itself.
We entered a church that was being rebuilt after being destroyed during the war.
As I took the pipes under my arms I sensed an incredible presence and it felt so important to be playing.
Around me the group stood in semicircle.
As I played I entered a beautiful place of deep peace, a profound place of inner calm.
It was like when my father was dying; I felt that no matter what my opinion was about his dying there was another intelligence at work that knew what was best for all.
It is when we surrender to this intelligence and become instruments for its divine manifestation that the real magic occurs.
As I played in the church in Mostar I felt I was being held in the divine hands of this intelligence and everything was happening perfectly.
The tune I played was Amazing Grace, which reverberated throughout the concrete walls of this large church.
Many of the group watching were moved to tears, and in the days after came up to me and said: "You'll never know what you did for me, Sean, when you played the pipes in Mostar.
" I had moved them in ways I couldn't ever imagine, but really it was the divine intelligence that was moving through me.
I was simply being the instrument.
You see, as we decide to respond to the question, 'What would love do now?', we begin to create magic, and sometimes we don't even know what we're doing, but our connection with the greatest force in the universe, love, is helping others to feel it too.
We do not need to know if it is going to make a difference or if it is working, all we need to do is ask ourself: 'What would love do now?', and simply respond to the answer that presents itself.
An Invitation to Let Love Lead Your Way Let this week be a week in which you ask yourself, 'what would love do now?', and follow through on the answer that presents itself.
Put reminders everywhere - in your car, office and home.
Take note of what thoughts and feelings arise.
No matter what your age, no matter how wealthy, healthy or wise you consider yourself to be it's never to late to do what you love and realize your dream!