Week 1: Dropping Into Love

Engaging contemplative practices that connect us to our Source

This year, I added a subtitle, Rooted in Love. If you’ve been following my substack newsletters or in soul care groups, you might have noticed my shift of attention from our belovedness to beholding the beholder, to abiding in the Ocean of Love. I often share a favorite quote:

“Behold the Beholder, Beholding you and Smiling.” ~ Anthony de Mello

Often we need to be beheld first. Psychologist Dan Siegel emphasizes that for children to have healthy attachment they need to be seen, soothed, safe and secure. So do adults. We need to know we are safe.

Our wounds understandably have led us to see the world and others as not safe. We live out of this place. Yet as we gain wisdom about these wounds, we see how much they are impacting us in the present, trying to protect us in ways that actually no longer serve us.

We have barriers to receiving care, to believing in our belovedness that are rooted in these wounds.

So often in Christian circles we emphasize what to do, how to follow. We are overwhelmed by the needs and driven to make a difference. This makes sense given all the need!

Yet we need to know the Beloved, be beheld in love, and live and love from that place.

Contemplative prayer is one way of practicing being with God. It invites us to let go of our thoughts, distractions, and return to center. It is a constant ebb and flow, notice and returning.