I Spy Love: Practice of Creative Reflection

Finding the Fountain of Love

For most of my life, I thought that growing love was about loving others more. But, overtime, I’ve found that my love for others only grows as I, myself, feel increasingly loved. When I feel loved, love for others naturally pours out of me, not as a moral requirement, but as joyful part of being alive.

That being said: I’m not talking about self-love (though self-love does come as a natural result); it’s about receiving Love from the world around me. This distinction is important because self-love, actually, can feel very isolated and lonely. Opening myself to receiving Love from the world around me helps me to love myself, and as an extension, to love others as well.

With that in mind, my practice of creative reflection has developed as a door to the fountain of love that lives all around me in every moment. It's a gift that’s been given to me, and a gift to share it with you. I hope that this practice supports you in discovering how loved you’re too.

Limitations to the Practice:

Before I share the basic steps of my creative practice, it’s important to note some of its limitations:

1. The love that is cultivated in this creative practice is not meant to substitute for love from other humans. However, it does set the foundation for healthy loving relationships to blossom. This is because the fountain of This Love is a steady source that can be relied on within the storms and droughts of our fumbly human hearts. As human love naturally waxes and wanes, This Love protects me from desperate states that can unknowingly make me blind to (and even sabotage) whatever love is here. Receiving This Love is the baseline from which all the other love in my life grows.

2. There is no rational proof that life loves me. For folks (like me) who believe in a higher power, this is likely not a problem. But, for folks (like me) who need things to be proven rationally, it’s important to note that even if I believe that This Love is my own imagining, it’s still a highly beneficial psychological practice that serves its purpose as a loving foundation. This is the miracle of the heArt’s creation. (For more on this, check out The Healing HeArt of Nature’s Love Stories).

3. Not all parts of life feel loving. Some, in fact, feel quite the opposite. Discovering This Love is not about denying or sugarcoating the parts that feel unloving, but finding the things that do love me alongside those that feel like they don’t: the sunrise, the birdsong, the air that touches my skin and fills me with life in every moment. (For more on this, check out Creative Reflection for Resilience)

I Spy Love Creative Practice

Let’s do it. Here are the steps that I take to discover and anchor This Love when I most need it:

1. I take time to write (or speak aloud) about what’s feeling difficult for me. I let myself be unfiltered: if I’m feeling angry, despairing, confused, frustrated, sad or ashamed, I let those emotions be expressed in their fullness. I acknowledge where those feelings come from within me. Then I ask for help.

2. I look around for something that catches my eye. When I can, I do this outside, and when I can, I do this while in service to life (read more about the heart of service-centered art)

3. I take notes of what I notice on two levels:

   1. Objective: What does it look like? Color, shape, form? What is it doing? What facts do I already know about its purpose, how it came to be, and what it needs? Optional: If it’s something in nature that I don’t know much about (and I have the time to investigate), I research its place in the ecosystem, including what it serves, and what it depends on (learn more about Biodiversity to guide your discovery here).

   2. Subjective: What does it remind me of? What memories come up? How do I feel about it, and why? (nerd-out on objective vs. subjective here)

4. All things considered, I ask: How is this loving me right now? Note:

   1. The answer is often abstract, metaphoric or hard to put rational words to. If so, no worries -that’s what art is for. (For more on this, check out: Unlocking the Poetry of Life)

   2. If I’m experiencing the challenges of shame, unworthiness, or trauma, finding how life loves me might be very hard. If so, that’s OK. In fact, that’s the point: to dig deep for love in all the places that I don’t feel worthy of it. Remember: This Love is here for me no matter what. This Love is unconditional. For more on this, check out: Dignity for Humanity)

5. I write a poem, song, letter, or story about how I’m being loved by what I’ve noticed, and/or how I’m grateful for it. (For more on this, check out A Hypnosis of Hope).

6. Optional: I share my reflection with others.

Remember: This Love is yours, so make it your own.

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Love it? Wanna dig in?

Read more about the Creative Practice of This Wonderful World here:

Tune-In for New Inspirations

It’s better together! Share This Love with those you love:

Thanks for growing This Love with me 😘