How do I stir the feeling of love in my body?

[fopylo]

Hi, so I've been watching for 4 days Leo's video on Self Acceptance, in which there's a nice exercise to love your neurotic aspects of yourself so that you feel whole and one and connected with yourself. The first day I felt very great and conscious of my body and feelings. However, the exercise starts with you having to stir up a strong feeling of love in your body (by remembering a time in the past), for then spreading it all through your aspects.
This 'stirring up a feeling of love' is getting very hard for me and it is hurting the results. There's a limit to how much I can force my mind to think of a positive experience in which I felt love. It is hard for me to constantly remember and keep this feeling alive! I don't want this process to feel like hell to me because I can just see how beneficial it can be to me.
So what is a good way to stir up this feeling? 

[CultivateLove]

1 hour ago, fopylo said:

It is hard for me to constantly remember and keep this feeling alive!

There's your problem (At least it was for me)

Don't try to "keep the flame alive" by trying to keep remembering scenarios that made you feel love, once can be enough, then just focus on the feeling itself, dive into it, breathe it in, and feel it in every cell of your body.

 

[fopylo]

@CultivateLove

4 minutes ago, CultivateLove said:

once can be enough, then just focus on the feeling itself, dive into it, breathe it in, and feel it in every cell of your body.

You mean to imagine just one scenario and then just feel the love from it and maintain it for the whole session? It eventually becomes weaker though..
(btw love your username ?)

[fopylo]

@CultivateLove And also it's not so easy to just think about a scenario that brought a strong feeling of love just like that. Also, it's not as if recycling this scenario in my mind each session will maintain it's love charge

[CultivateLove]

8 minutes ago, fopylo said:

You mean to imagine just one scenario and then just feel the love from it and maintain it for the whole session? It eventually becomes weaker though..

The more the merrier, IMO. Love's all around you, so much so that you're like fish in water. Love comes in more shapes and sizes than either of us can imagine, yet it's all the same thing. You don't really even need to cultivate it, but rather just develop an eye for seeing it, and what is blurring your vision from seeing it, which is probably just a part of yourself that needs some love the most, try to simply see it, understand it, and be with it like the loving presence a child in pain craves. 

17 minutes ago, fopylo said:

(btw love your username ?)

Thanks 

[fopylo]

@CultivateLove Kind of paradoxical. The reason I need love is because I lack it, therefore I'm practicing self love. However, in order to start my engine I need some level of self love to start working with. And in order to get this start I need to practice self love...

Apparently I'm not so developed as being able to see love everywhere. The fact is that I cannot simply see it. Once I have this feeling of love in place, I've learned that I have quite a good handle in spreading this love to certain aspects of myself and developing compassion to my neurosis

[ilkjnkh]

@fopylo I would say the best way to stir up this feeling is to make it your habit. You need to practice it on a ha itually basis. At least thats what I do.

[fopylo]

@ilkjnkh Yeah but this is what's very difficult. It almost feels neurotic in a sense - to force myself to feel love. I wish I could do it on autopilot

[Tovius]

This worked for me:

The next time you are hit with a feeling within the chest (anxiety, a wave of depression, joy) "feel" into that emotion. Feel that it is a vibration with no interpretation to it. Your mind interprets these vibration feelings that are Love and interprets them into an expression. Depression is love wanting to express itself. Feel that these vibrations are the exact same as Love. Negative emotions can only originate from thoughts. Feel the immediate resistance in your head everytime you experience a negative emotion (anger, annoyance).

You are Love. An expression of love. Look around and see at the very root of everything in your direct experience is there because of Love, an expression of Love. 

So for me it was a wave a depression. When I felt it I asked "what is depression?", closed my eyes, and felt the feeling for my answer. It was Love. 

Edited April 8, 2021 by Tovius

[fopylo]

@Tovius Thanks, however, I was talking more about this specific exercise. When Leo tells me to stir up a strong emotion of love, how do I start from there? It's not as if I'm in the moment feeling something very noticeable, in fact, I don't feel much

[Tovius]

1 hour ago, fopylo said:

@Tovius Thanks, however, I was talking more about this specific exercise. When Leo tells me to stir up a strong emotion of love, how do I start from there? It's not as if I'm in the moment feeling something very noticeable, in fact, I don't feel much

I hear that, I was out of touch on how to actually do this too.

Try to imagine a time in your life that makes you depressed or happy. Literally feel this in your chest, then ask "what is this emotion I'm feeling?". Try to feel that depression and happiness are the same feeling without thought attachment. That's the real you, love. 

Memories dont work for me really, I had to wait for the moment to come while also noticing that that moment was a chance for the question. You may have to as well! 

Also, for negative reactions (anger, annoyance, etc.) Notice the pressure in the head. Be mindful and you'll notice. 

[Tovius]

If you dont know that answer to "what is love?", then feel into emotions to realize that love is you. This is my point. 

How can you tell what love is without knowing? The trick is to realize that emotions are love, which is you, expressing itself.

 

Edit: and I'm not saying you're an emotion. Emotions are just the expression. You are Love, which is all there is.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Tovius

[fopylo]

@Tovius

6 minutes ago, Tovius said:

feel that depression and happiness are the same feeling without thought attachment

I mean, even if I don't attach thought, I can still feel a different feeling in my body for each one.

 

6 minutes ago, Tovius said:

If you dont know that answer to "what is love?", then feel into emotions to realize that love is you.

by 'feeling into emotions' do you mean feeling the fabric of which emotions are made of?

10 minutes ago, Tovius said:

I had to wait for the moment to come

You mean you had to wait for a thought with a strong emotional charge to come to mind? I feel that creating those feelings by choice is better than waiting for fluke luck 

[Tovius]

8 hours ago, fopylo said:

@Tovius

I mean, even if I don't attach thought, I can still feel a different feeling in my body for each one.

 

by 'feeling into emotions' do you mean feeling the fabric of which emotions are made of?

You mean you had to wait for a thought with a strong emotional charge to come to mind? I feel that creating those feelings by choice is better than waiting for fluke luck 

What is depression without the thought of depression? When you have am emotion go into the vibrational energy in the chest area and feel what it is. 

Exactly 

If you can do it, great! It's stronger in the moment for me. 

[Nahm]

On 4/7/2021 at 4:31 PM, fopylo said:

How do I stir the feeling of love in my body?

Hi, so I've been watching for 4 days Leo's video on Self Acceptance, in which there's a nice exercise to love your neurotic aspects of yourself so that you feel whole and one and connected with yourself. The first day I felt very great and conscious of my body and feelings. However, the exercise starts with you having to stir up a strong feeling of love in your body (by remembering a time in the past), for then spreading it all through your aspects.
This 'stirring up a feeling of love' is getting very hard for me and it is hurting the results. There's a limit to how much I can force my mind to think of a positive experience in which I felt love. It is hard for me to constantly remember and keep this feeling alive! I don't want this process to feel like hell to me because I can just see how beneficial it can be to me.
So what is a good way to stir up this feeling? 

Awareness is directly aware of thought, perception, and sensation. When you attempt to utilize a memory to feel, you’re actually focused on thought, and inadvertently conceptualizing feeling. “Forcing my mind to think of a positive experience in which I felt love” is not focusing on feeling, it’s focusing on thought. There is no “my mind”, that is a thought you’re focusing on.  “Results” is focus on motive thought, not feeling. “Remembering” is focus on abstract illusory thought, not feeling. “I don’t want this...” is focus on a concept of yourself in thought, and avoidance of feeling. “Process” is focus on analytical thought, not focus on feeling. 

If that sounds complicated the short version is ... focus on feeling. 

Focus directly on feeling. Is there sensation present in the bottoms of your feet right now? 

What about in your legs? 

What about in your torso, arms, hands, neck and head? 

 

Now take that sensation off, like you would a jacket, and put sensation on the floor next to you. Let me know once you’ve successfully removed sensation, and I’ll tell you the next step. Be sure to double check and make sure it’s not present first.  

[fopylo]

10 hours ago, Tovius said:

When you have am emotion go into the vibrational energy in the chest area and feel what it is.

So I've tried practicing it in the session that I've done today but I had 2 problems:
1. It was very hard for me to extract the fabric of 'love' from the sensations I felt (it didn't really feel high like love but I might have had very little bit of thoughts)
2. Even when I did manage to feel the love within the emotions it was very weak and I couldn't hold it for long.

I feel that the best way for me to experience it is if I have a powerful loving scenario in my head (however it usually doesn't last for so long). So another powerful way is to rely on compassion and understanding to the different aspects of me, showing acceptance to those parts. But sometimes I get the feeling that I might be splitting myself into 2: one who is experiencing and one who is observing and showing compassion

[fopylo]

@Tovius     

[fopylo]

@Nahm

12 hours ago, Nahm said:

If that sounds complicated the short version is ... focus on feeling.

The thing is that Leo is saying in the video things like "bring up to mind this one who is sitting here, who gets angry sometimes. Now give it you love". You could replace angry with lazy/anxious/has family problems (basically many neurotic aspects). So in some way I do need to bring to my mind the thought of those aspects in me so that I can really feel into them. However, like you said, I'll be focused on the thought and without realizing I might subtly conceptualize the feeling.
There is no way that you can say that thought is so useless. Obviously we use our thoughts in many ways, such as communicating. You need thoughts to make decisions and plan your trajectory.

12 hours ago, Nahm said:

and put sensation on the floor next to you

I'll let you know once I removed the sensation, but what do you mean by "put sensation on the floor"?

[Nahm]

@fopylo

That sounds great. I don’t believe I said thought is useless. But useless is a thought.

Just let me know, once you check for sensation and verify it is no longer present.  

[freejoy]

First is having the intention.

Get a dog. : ) Dogs are wonderful teachers.

Wish everyone you see or walk past love and peace everytime. See light coming from your heart into their heart.

Try to see the beauty in everyone you meet. Notice the way they smile, move, they way they express themselves etc. no matter how you might think otherwise.

Listen to them, giving attention is a form of love. Plants do better if you give them attention.

Ask questions you really want to know about.

See the hardest ones that you find to love as your teachers. What judgement are you holding?

There is a tantra practice of looking at people with the eye of love.

Enlightened Ones tell us everything is us. So to love yourself you must love everything in the end.

Edited April 10, 2021 by freejoy