By Lynda Shadbolt

This is a love story. Sort of. It’s Valentine’s Day.

I’ve been reading a book by Robert Holden called Higher Purpose. To sum it up, he says we all share the same purpose. To love ourselves, our families, our friends. All of life. 

Our purpose is to love. Not to look for love, but to give love. I’m letting his suggestion land in my heart, and I contemplate it daily. It’s easy to love people I love. It’s harder to love people that are mean spirited, unkind, etc.

Maybe that is where the real work of love starts. Here is my love story for the day. I have a class that I teach every Wednesday morning at 11.

Some students have been with me for 10 years, some are new. Everyone is on Zoom except for a couple. The class is a blend of very gentle movement, energy medicine and meditation. We use “The Power of Eight‘’ work by Lynne McTaggart to support all of us with the many challenges life is giving us (illness, recovering from injuries, supporting people in their dreams etc.).

This lovely Wednesday morning group is full of love. We often say as we practice that we are each love, sitting in the love. We are light, moving in the light.

Last week, we gathered, and I started the class with a reading. Part way through, I looked up at the screen and realized that the group was gone. I couldn’t see anyone. My computer said I had no internet and yet the internet was working in the studio. I tried to fix it and stay calm (I had one student with me in the studio).

I tried to send an email to the group to say I was having problems, and it wouldn’t go. I could feel myself getting worked up. I took a deep breath and decided I had to let it go and focus on the person in the room. So we sent our good wishes to everyone on zoom, and we did our own quiet little practice.

It was lovely, and I felt calm at the end. I got home an hour later and sent out a message to the group to apologize that I could not figure out what had happened. Within minutes, I got several replies from the Zoom members. They all said, “Oh, not to worry Lynda, we had a great class. We took turns leading different parts. It was really lovely and we spent the whole hour together.”

I just about fell over! I confirmed that they had stayed on my zoom account even though I wasn’t there with them (I have since learned my new phone may have taken over for my computer so the link was open on the phone).

Seriously, I do not love this technology, but I continue to embrace it and try. What I love about this story is that the group carried on without me, they loved each other, and trusted each other to create a lovely class for themselves. They had their class, and Julie and I had ours.

We all love this practice and recognize how it keeps us connected and supported. We focus on love and then we send it out into the world. To all beings who share this earth. And we know it makes a difference.