A Lens of Love Leads to Blissful Living

Life viewed through a lens of love can lead to blissful living. As I reflect on some of life's journey, I remember painful times during my growing up years. I accepted a truth of myself as viewed through a lens of fear and poison. At that time, I wasn't aware my view was one from fear. I had no idea that a life viewed through the lens of love could be blissful.

A Fearful View Can Overshadow a Blissful Life

During those growing years, I took on a view of myself as ugly, not smart enough, and not good enough. I grew up on a beautiful, shady, tree-lined street in a quaint little town in the friendly Midwest. However, I was taunted and bullied day after day. I wasn't able to quite understand it. I desperately wanted to be liked by the other girls in my class. We seemed, on some days, to be the best of friends. Friends who shared secrets, clothes and music. And on other days, I was the brunt of their jokes, their fears and their insecurities. They took it out on me in ways that make me shudder today as an adult.

A Loving View Can Lead to A Blissful Life

Because life has it's share of suffering, it also has it's share of overcoming the suffering. No matter the stage in life you find yourself, by letting go of past fears and pain, you can accept joy and love in your view through life's lens. To overcome past sufferings in my life, I've included the following four steps as part of my movement to viewing life through a glistening lens of love from viewing life through a dark lens of fear.

1. Move your mind from the past to the present. Events from the past cannot be changed. Filling your present mind with thoughts of what is joyful in your life right now opens space in your heart to accept love and joy, leaving no room for past bitterness.
2. Accept self-love to release self-abuse. Having a self-image of perfection is what leads to having an image that you can never live up to. By releasing the need for perfection, you are able to allow more room to accept who you are and therefore, less abuse of yourself.
3. Accept your truth as your power. You control your power to accept what others say to you or about you. By accepting hurtful words of others, you are accepting their thoughts and their truth, not yours.
4. Begin a path of awareness. Becoming aware of your own set of beliefs about yourself is the first step to being able to agree to love as your truth instead of agreeing to fear as your truth.

When I finally saw myself through the lens of love instead of with fear, a blissful life unfolded in abundance.

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