Love

Reprinted from the February 1997 issue of Body, Mind, Spirt.

Interview with Timothy Ryan
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WHAT IS MY DEFINITION OF LOVE?
Love is the direct and outward reflection of the god source from within us. This god source is the energy that is felt as “love”.

IS LOVE THE SAME AS SPIRIT?
Spirit is a reflection of the god source energy, which is Love.

DO I HAVE ENOUGH OF BOTH IN MY LIFE?
The energy of love and spirit exist inside us and is always there. It is through our lessons in life that we learn to recognize it and claim it. God exists inside of us and we are the direct reflection of that energy, which is Love. Through understanding this concept we come to realize our potential to expand love and spirit on a daily basis in everything we do; relationships, work experiences, cooking, gardening, etc.

HOW CAN I TURN MY DAILY LIVING INTO A SACRED ACT?
Go through the day listening with your heart and not your head. Recognize those things that reflect back to you the very same energy of love you are trying to reflect. Sacred acts are different for all of us. My sacred acts could include taking a walk outdoors and delighting in the beauty of nature, planting or tending to a garden, inviting friends over for dinner and taking the time to cook a wonderful meal. It could also be something as simple as taking the time to read poetry, taking a bubble bath with candles lit all around you or just listening to some beautiful music and living in that moment with dance or song. Its all about recognizing the beauty around you and inside you and giving importance and time to the energy of those things around you that inspire you, calm you, tickle you, strengthen you or humble you. In whatever dimension; the energies are all the same - Love.

WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES ME WHEN MY ENERGY IS LOW.
I think it most important to try to be inspired from within. To try and tap into the God source within us to reconnoiter our energies. I try to do this through introspection, meditation and claiming the sacred in my life. Apart from this, I usually turn to friends whose energy and support I can draw from for the moment to re-inspire me. When my energy is low It is quite common for me to turn to the teachings of great leaders and healers like The Dalai Lama, Jesus Christ, Gandhi or Buddha, I also find it very helpful to turn to the wisdom, compassion and inspiration of modern day mystics such as Thomas Moore, Pam Hogan or Marianne Williamson,

AM I LAUGHING ENOUGH?
We should challenge ourselves daily to laugh more and to play more, Laughter is an outburst of the energy of Love. To laugh is to be in touch with the God source inside of us. It truly is the best medicine.

WHAT IS THE MOST VALUABLE LESSON I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR?
I have learned the ultimate lesson....learn to love yourself. For it is only by loving self that we can then show love for all other things. We must recognize that we only need the love of self and not the love or approval of anything else to be whole and complete. By loving self we are acknowledging the God that is within us and then are able to outwardly express this energy - which is Love.

IF I HAD THE POWER TO CHANGE ONE THING IN THIS WORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Ultimately, that all of us understand that we only need love of self and not love or acceptance from others to be a whole person. That God exists inside of us and is not the property of an organized religion. It is through this understanding that a healing takes place inside and outside. When this kind of healing takes place within a person hatred, violence and crime are removed as are diseases and the destructive forces of mankind that continue to threaten our ability to exist on this earth. Once we learn to really love and accept ourselves we partake of our divine nature and find it then expressed in all parts of the universe around us.


SINCE I HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE MYSELF, AM I WILLING TO LIVE DIFFERENTLY?
Absolutely. when I chose to live and play in the light that meant that I had to think less and listen more to intuition and impulse. This created dramatic changes in my lifestyle. We must have faith in ourselves and our intuition and the Universe will take care of us. I find that the changes do not happen over night...but in small “baby-steps”. Change is a reflection of progress. It is not important how far we progress but simply that we do progress.

DO I HAVE ENOUGH TOLERANCE FOR OTHER PEOPLE’S POINTS OF VIEW?
No. But I recognize this and continue to work on it. We must not put ourselves in the position of judging others. We must accept others for their limitations and understand that if we show them compassion and can teach them to love and accept themselves more, they will experience a new way of living and change will occur.

AM I WILLING TO EXPLORE AND WELCOME MY DEEPEST SELF?
Yes, but only recently have I accepted and welcomed this task. I have always been conscious of the abuse of power by people in our everyday lives. I have equated exploring my deeper self with tapping into the power inside of me. Having seen power abused so often these days, I have subconsciously stopped the exploration of my deeper self for fear of tapping into and then abusing my own power. Therefore, I have limited my growth and the acceptance of my full potential as a healer and channeler.

Through working with Pam Hogan, a wonderfully enlightened channel in Taos, NM and her spirit energy called ARGO I have come to understand my issues around the abuse of power. As one who seeks to play in the light and live in the now, I have recently learned to embrace my power and not to fear it and that having tapped into the God source inside me, I know how to use it and not abuse it. Through this understanding I am now making a more conscious effort to explore my deeper self and connect on that level.

WHAT IS THE MOST SACRED MOMENT EACH DAY?
The most sacred moment for me each day is that first moment - early in the day when, without thinking about it, my eyes first notice something like a flower, a color, a mountain, a ray of sunshine or even the sweet eyes of my dog and I realize at that very moment I am looking right into the face of God.

Timothy Ryan
Santa Fe, NM
February 1997