A Return to Love: Marianne Williamson
I read a lot and I love to share what I read. One of my daily practices is to read a personal development, leadership or business book for 30 minutes. So I have set an intention to write a blog about each book I read. It will help others and it will help cement what I have learnt for me too.
During 2022 I increasingly wanted to learn from the field of spirituality. I love Gabby Bernstein’s books and in November of last year took part in Deepak Choprah’s 21 Day Abundance Challenge. I have learnt that what you focus in grows, I’m appreciating the immense power of the universe and when a good friend said read “A Return to Love” I decided I would.
Now I’m going to be honest; when I started reading it and was faced with a lot of stuff about God and Jesus, I was very definitely being turned off., not because I’m an unbeliever but because there are so many ways of viewing this. And then I just said stop, get over yourself, what is this all about? Marianne is very clear that she talks about God but she acknowledges that we all have different words to describe the same idea. For example I talk about the universe, that voice inside ourselves that if we stop for long enough and listen we can hear the wisdom within us. I know I believe that we are all part of something so much bigger than ourselves and if we are open to it, amazing things can happen. So I read on and I have to admit to being blown away by some of the key messages. And there’s a similarity to another book I read a while back, “The New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle; in both books there are messages of hope to the world, that more and more of us are hearing and acting on what we are learning.
We are all born with love and we learn fear, the opposite of love, here in the world and that fear acts like a cloud over a blue sky. Blue sky is permanent as is the love we are born with, we just need to connect with it. Love is who we really are, not the ego lead individual that we so often show up in the world as. I am aware of mine so often. And reading this book makes me so aware of the need to listen and feel past that fear based ego voice that drives so much of our lives and does not bring us happiness. Why is living from a place of love so important? Because “we need love in order to live happily, as much as we need oxygen in order to live at all” (p22).
Our fear ridden ways are threatening the survival of our very planet, she writes, as it leads us to fight ourselves, each other and our planet. Just think about the events of the past three years: covid, Putin’s war in Ukraine, Trump’s behaviour in the US and the storming of the Capitol building about a year ago. And then think of the confrontational Brexit negotiations and threats from the Johnson Government. I could ask where the women were when all this was going on because we have certainly needed a dose of loving female energy.
But I digress; what else can I take from this remarkable book?
To trust in the universe which is acting in our best interests, I know … so much easier to say than do, we so love to be in control of our lives, don’t we?
Love is not an option, it is essential to life, we must love each other because a lack of love will kill us
The first part of the book talks about principles and then the second is about practice and there are great chapters on relationships and work. I was particularly interested in the section on work, in part because I often reflect on why I’m here, why do I do what I do. Included in it was the author’s famous quote, used by Nelson Mandela at his presidential inauguration:-
She goes on to encourage us to do what we love, to spread joy, to see our work as service, as our ministry, an expression of love and an act of giving & service, rather than what we can get from it. The money will come and that gives us the opportunity to employ others and, she says, with money we can heal the world. I have a goal this year to be giving 10% of what I earn to charity by the end of the year, and I am starting small but I am starting!
The final section is entitled “The Body” and I was intrigued by a section on ageing as that is an area of particular interest to me. “An ageing body reflects the heaviness of our pained and worried thoughts” so, if we were to let go of this and live from the perspective of love, ageing would be a totally different experience because we would have released our fears. Marianne says “Let’s remember that the longer we live, the more we know, and the more we know, the more beautiful we become.”
This reminds me of another book, a very practical book called “The Complete Guide to the Menopause” by Dr Annice Mukherjee, which ended with a chapter called Menopause Glory and was a catalyst in me developing my Unlikely Guru brand because I saw it as some kind of a calling forth. It concludes with these three quite powerful and thought provoking sentences:-
“Menopause is a stage of life that should be empowering and liberating. It signifies that you are a mature woman who has built up experience and wisdom”
“You will be respected and revered by those (younger) women. You have a perspective that is invaluable. You are a role model. You are the matriarch. This is a stage of life that should be celebrated”
“You can inspire those younger women around you so that they want to follow in your footsteps. You are the real deal. You have the power to influence and inspire a generation of young people as they observe your mental and physical strength and resilience. You bring to the world a gift of experience and tenacity. It is a big responsibility because the world needs you”
And what are my actions as a result of reading this book? I ask that question because there is no point in reading something like this if you do nothing with it. I think there are two main actions:-
To maintain my meditation habit when I can go within to that calm space where my wisdom lives
To choose love not fear at all times
So there you have it, my thoughts on “A Return to Love”. Some might say this book is too “woo woo” but with the rise in quantum physics, science and the woo woo are getting closer. Let yourself be challenged and read this book.
