The Way of Rest: Finding The Courage to Hold Everything in Love

by Jeff Foster

Great healing begins when we align with the universe exactly as it is, yet hold in our hearts the way we know it can be, and we simply stop comparing the two. Keep your eyes on the prize, but do not oppose the present moment—this is the great paradox of transformation, and the secret to changing the world by not changing it at all.

You cannot go “in” or “out” of the Now. You are the Now.

Only love remains. Only love. Not a feeling, not a thought, not a belief, not a state, not an experience, not something that you “have,” not something that you’re “in” or “out” of, not something that you “get” from others (despite the romantic myths we are sold), but the endless embrace of all of this. Love is you. You, before you were named, before you were even born, before the universe came into form. You. You are the One. The One you have always sought. The unsilenceable call of the heart. The cry from deep within. The fragile stillness in the middle of the night. You will never abandon yourself again.

If you would see me naked, shaking, stripped of my image, my make-up, my foundations and sprays and cover-ups, my pretenses, my defenses, my barriers and walls; with no hiding, no games, no masks, no persona, no part to play and nothing to lose. If you would see it all, raw, uncensored, uncontrolled. Would you still love me? Would your heart open? Would you see ugliness, or would you see art?

A vulnerable heart. Longing to be met. Perfect in my imperfection. You say you love me. You say you care. You say a lot of things, but words are cheap, and I am worthy of the kind of love that builds galaxies.