MAKING HEAVEN ON EARTH

What is hell?

By my definition, hell is believing all the negative thoughts about ourselves and others that arise in our minds. These thoughts blind us from seeing life as it is, including our true potential and the potential of others. This is the only hell I know of, and it exists within us.

The good news is that heaven is also within us.

The difference between heaven and hell is the difference between unconditional and conditional love. The demons depicted in my nightmares represent the stories I create about the world, and they are contingent upon conditional love: “I will love you if you behave the way I think you should,” or “I will love this situation if it goes my way,” and, finally, “I will love myself if I achieve this or that.”

By remaining open to all possibilities, and loving without conditions or restraints, we release ourselves to embrace everything as heaven. We love without any catch or hitch; and by no longer looking for the better, more perfect thing, we’ve accepted things as they truly are.

With all of the freedom of life, I say yes to loving you and to loving me. What do you say?

Practice

When you love and accepts everything unconditionally, including yourself, you walk out of hell. When you no longer believe in the distortion of conditional love, heaven reveals itself inside you.

With awareness, say to yourself: “Today I love life unconditionally, allowing me to see the perfection that all manifestation is in every moment. Accepting and loving myself exactly as I am in this moment is to love all of God’s manifestation.”

Living a Life of Awareness

~ Don Miguel Ruiz Jr.