a house of love

One of these mornings, I sat in the living room, trying to eat breakfast mindfully... And so not only was I savoring the yoghurt, its delicate flavor and the temperature, but was also listening to the birds and the cars outside, looking at the yoghurt color, the clouded sky... And in this mood I started looking at the things in my living room... All very known to me, because I look at them everyday...

Yet, it was the first time I saw them.

The straw cushions my parents gave me, and so many others things they paid and gave to me... They were full of Love, given with Love, and I could feel the Love in them... The ceramics and a wood vase given to me by Rachel... So full of Love, given with Love... I actually felt the Love there... And the mud flowers I love so much, given to me by Alexs... And the two benches he carried all the way from Bahia, during a flight... There is so much Love in everything they gave me, and I could feel it... The orchid I bought a few weeks ago, and that is now coming to full blossom... Nature is always so full of Love, and I felt it... The painting given by James, who actually painted it... Painted with Love, given with Love, and I could feel it... The leather couch, the sisal carpet from Bahia I bought with Love, really appreciating them... I could feel Love in the stuff they were made of… The chair I was sitting on, given to me by Edith, with so much Love... So I was seated on Love!

I realized I was — I am — surrounded by Love... The Love in my eyes, when I look at these beloved things I cherish and treasure... It is not different from the Love with which these things were given to me... Love from my parents, Love from my friends and relatives... Love -- to be seen, to be felt, to be touched... Objects -- not as they are, and not important for what they are, but as a Thread of Love... I felt fulfilled, and for a moment I thought — is the world made of Love?

Of course it is not, I answered to myself. But perhaps it is... I am not a bodhisattva, so I cannot feel the Love that is there, everywhere... Even in violence, in war... No, I cannot.

But I could feel the Love that was there, before my eyes. Despite a tense relationship in my life at this moment... And that some of the gifts were given to me by former relationships, that might have ended on a sad note... There is Love. All I could see in my house was Love. Made of Love, reflecting Love. Love throughout time: Love from the past, Love in the present, Love from the future... All over the space: Love.

I felt I lived — I feel I live -- in a House of Love.

Quietly, I finished eating the yoghurt. And since then I haven’t eaten anything other than Love. How could I?!



Photo © Matthias Hammerl