Love what is.
I can wait for “what is” to become “what I want it to be,” but in the meantime I’ve lost an opportunity to enjoy the outcomes of loving.
If loving is the foundation of human satisfaction, which I believe is true, then waiting for “what I want it to be” to finally occur means I cannot ever be satisfied, because I am never ready to love. And I am now the author of my own unhappiness.
Spirituality is a way of being in the world, and its foundation is mindful awareness: experiencing “what is” without judging. When judging is absent, then “what is” can be seen with clarity, and the capacity to love whatever “it” happens to be is realized. It isn’t up to me to make “what is” into “what I want it to be.” I simply have to notice it, right now, without judging it, in order to be in a state of love.
Love what is. Not in order to make the “what is” into “what I want it to be,” especially if “what I want it to be” involves another human being who may not treat me particularly well. I intend to “love what is” for my own happiness. And with my loving may come the serendipity of the unintended but beneficial consequence: someone else just might love me in return.
Peace,
Jim
PS All of this was inspired by Denise. Thanks!
James M. Walsh Pastoral Counseling 
One reply on “Love What Is”
So fascinating how one inspiration begets an inspiration which begets an inspiration… and on it goes. I won’t go into the specifics of my learning to ‘love what is’ when a difficult parent is aging…. but I will say that our thread of inspirations have been very very timely…just as it should be. Yeaaa for us!