Well, i know Valentine's Day was yesterday but i think every day should be LOVE day!! A lot of people celebrated or were cynical about that particular sentiment yesterday, but i believe feeling and sharing and expressing love should be something we all do way more often all the time in our lives! Love comes in many forms and has many faces..... I suppose love can be a pretty loaded word in this language ~ it means a lot of different things to different people in different contexts.... it can bring to mind all sorts of romantic fairy-tale fantasies and dreams of finding that perfect partner, or it can be a painful reminder of the tender disillusionment that comes from having loved and lost someone.... We can say we love something like chocolate ice cream or the color purple, or that we love a band or a good song.... We're attracted to the similar vibrations we emanate.....And then there's that special wordless unconditional love we share with our animal companions, all you cat and dog lovers out there know exactly what i mean! And then there's the love (or lack of) we experience within our families growing up, which sets a template pattern of love or dysfunction for us to either blindly live out and re-create or to consciously transcend when we go off into the world to live our own lives, depending on the circumstances.... There's the love parents have for their children, all the sacrifices they make because children are a sacred responsibility, they are love made manifest, and all the hopes and dreams parents have for them to be happy and make it our there in this big crazy world, the devotion and desire to teach them well and give them strong roots and then the inner struggle to accept and encourage them to eventually grow wings and go do their own thing, which might be different that what the parents had perhaps expected! Oh, but acceptance is one of the major keys to unconditional love ~ the kind of love that holds no contracts and does no bidding ~ not the kind that says i'll love you IF you do or be this or that or something else i will love you.... True love accepts and respects, gives and gives but never expects anything back.... Our families will challenge us to the core to live these ideals, to be able to forgive and love each other as we are is what we are here to learn in this life.... And we need to do it now before it's too late, life is short & precious and we can't take each other for granted and waste time with petty conflicts! Love as if you'll die tomorrow and learn as if you'll live forever, cuz your soul will! And also oh so important is the love we share with our close friends who can sometimes be even more accepting of us than our own families! With their support and inspiration and reflection, oh how we can explore and become who we are and have a lot of fun times together too!!! I feel eternally grateful to be coming from a family that loves and supports me, and of course we have had our share of trials but have stayed together and strong throughout them all.... And i am so grateful to have made so many amazing friends from all over who are like family in spirit to me..... That's you guys and I LOVE YOU!!!!!! Thank you for all your beautiful soul reflections!!! Love is this mysterious thing that the more you give it way, the more it comes back exponentially!! And i rediscover this every day, how kind smiles and random acts of kindness can make such a positive difference in someone's day ~ and then i feel better too!!!!! Try doing something nice for someone without having to be asked! Be sincerely friendly with no ulterior motives, that is so precious and rare in today's dog eat dog society, and even if you have been hurt before, trust again, forgive again, and believe there are good people here, and become one of them!!! Offer your love, you are connected to the source of it all and you will never run out!! Even if you feel shy or inadequate believe me there is someone out there who feels more unworthy than you and if you just get over yourself and open up you will realize what a blessing it is to share your soul with another, and that most people are just wandering and waiting for someone to really SEE and HEAR and appreciate them too!! Everyone deep down just wants to love and be loved! And as i have opened my heart beyond any conventional definitions of love, i have let go of the pain and fear and suffering that were not caused by love as i had once thought, but more from the attachments and expectations i had about love, and the illusion that love came from somewhere outside myself..... As much as this life gives us all these beautiful outward reflections of love to make it seem obvious and tangible that we ARE LOVE, we need to remember that it all starts in our very own heart, to move into a place where we are abundant and generous with our love, not needy and fearful that we'll lose it or run out ~ it's simply not possible!! YOU ARE LOVE!!! WE ARE LOVE!!!! I can see love everywhere, pulsing throughout all of creation, it's literally the reason any of us are here and have any motivation!! Surrender to love!! Follow you heart!! Do what you love, love what you do, love who you are, love who you're with, love the earth and the animals and the trees because there is no duality ~ no i and you ~ no them and me ~ we are all one, energetically dancing through eternity.... A human lifetime is a great blessing and opportunity to do a lot of good.... All that is Good is God and all that is God is Good, so be Good and be God!!!!!

Whew!! You guys still with me? All this raving about love and i still haven't even touched the subject of romantic love yet, and it's usually the first one people think of!!! I believe once you discover the love that exists and flows out of you, when you really truly love yourself and all of creation, then and only then are you ready to experience true love with another who has discovered the same thing.... Then it is a joyful sharing, not a fearful clinging..... And i believe that if you have discovered that divine flow and have not yet met your partner for this life that you should just relax and enjoy the ride, no need to be looking too hard, when the time is right he or she will come to you!! As the prophet Kahlil Gibran said, "Think not that you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course." And not every love is meant to last for your whole life, sometimes you learn what you need to from a relationship and grow together to a certain point, but then you find you are holding each other back from being who you truly are, instead of encouraging that continued growth in each other.... At that point it is best to listen closely to your heart, even if that means you have to be apart.... A relationship is a constantly changing and evolving phenomena, and blessed be if you have found someone to walk together through this life with, someone to share all its joys and sorrows and who will be there for you no matter what!! Someone who will challenge and inspire and help you become the best and happiest you that you could possibly be, that you will be that for each other, and create a life together better than either of you could have done alone.... Perhaps you will begin a family and continue to learn all these lessons about love in the deepest way.... It is a beautiful thing, and love is a gateway to the most divine and sublime understandings of the meaning of life and love and all of it!! When this kind of soul love happens, when you are ready to meet this person, you will know it's real, there will be no questions or doubt about it and it will be mutual!!!!

Thanks for reading all these words as they flow from the source and though my heart and then out through my fingertips onto this screen and then travel across the wires and wireless networks of cyberspace to be read somewhere on some computer screen by you.... i hope it doesn't get lost in the translation and that you can feel that i am really connecting with you heart to heart, and though i have not written to you all for some time, the love is always there and i am grateful for all the magical musical moments we have shared on this journey together thus far.... Happy love day everyone, everyday!!!!!

Love,
Maria Mango



"Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand." ~ Mother Teresa