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Here’s another interesting juxtaposition of news stories. On the front page of yesterday’s Rocky Mountain News business section were two main stories:

"Panic rules day on Wall Street" and "Spirited times for craft industry"

Apparently, along with the still pervasive panic and uncertainty about the stock market, it seems that Colorado’s craft spirits industry (small distilleries that specialize in handcrafting whiskey, vodka, gin, and fruit brandy) is undergoing one of the biggest growth spurts in the nation.

While my thinking naturally goes to the question of whether there’s a direct correlation, I also choose to use this as an opportunity to take the broader, mile-high view of the world. Yes, we’ve collectively created a global financial situation that will require more creativity to transition through than I can possibly wrap my brain around.

At the same time, I also choose to focus my thoughts on the signs of growth, possibility, expansion, and healthy businesses.

Choosing Love (which is the focus of this website!) in our collective situation is, to me, choosing the path of creative possibility thinking. This approach DOES NOT suggest that we all pretend that everything’s fine and dandy. We DO have some tough decisions to make, both individually and collectively.

But instead of creating more of the same panic by only focusing on the panic, and instead of spending time and energy pointing the finger and searching for someone else to blame, it seems that a more productive approach is to ask more productive questions:

What CAN we do about the situation right now?
How CAN we find our way through this financial upheaval we’ve created for ourselves?
Where can we put our attention and intention in order to get the outcomes we want?
How can we work together more collaboratively?
How can we do MORE of what’s going right?

There’s no quick fix when it comes to our collective evolution. Our best choice is to continue to put one foot in front of the other and always be open to new opportunities to choose love instead of fear.

One of my long-time favorite CD’s is of Emmy Lou Harris singing duets with a variety of great artists. She sings a beautiful duet with Graham Parsons that’s titled "Love Hurts." Here are the first few lines:

Love hurts, Love scars.
Love wounds and mars.
Any heart not tough, nor strong enough
Will take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain.
Love is like a cloud, holds a lot of rain.
Love hurts.

I have to say that, although I’ve always really appreciated the harmonies in this song, and I frequently sing along at the top of my lungs, I think it’s a crock!

IF IT HURTS, IT’S NOT LOVE.

It’s fear. We feel fear when a relationship turns out to be anything other than what we want it to be.

It’s attachment. We get awfully attached to our fantasies and the stories we make up about the "perfect relationship."

It’s an expectation that doesn’t match with reality. The pain, hurt, wounds and scars all live in the gap between what we want a relationship to be and what the reality actually is. The wider that gap, and the more we’re attached to how we think it "should be," the more pain and hurt and betrayal we feel.

IF IT’S LOVE, IT DOESN’T HURT.

So what IS Love? That’s the million dollar question that we’ve been trying to answer over the course of human history. Here are some of my definitions, as I’ve come to believe so far - and I reserve the right to evolve and to revise my definition at any time:

• Love is a deep connection to and acknowledgment of another Soul that’s swimming in the same "energy pool" as we are.
• Love is the unconditional acceptance that we’re all doing the best we can with the tools, skills and knowledge we have in any given moment.
• Love is seeing and honoring the Divine in another human being.
• Love is seeing and honoring the fears in another human being.
• Love stands all on its own, without any need for reciprocation, understanding or agreement.
• Love helps us be more of who we truly are.
• Love is a power that gently and easily overrides fear.

How do YOU define Love? (I invite you to share your definitions, thoughts and comments below.)

If your definition includes any reference to pain, hurt, sadness, difficulty, struggle, confusion, fear, heartbreak, or betrayal, I will also invite you to take another look at what it is you’re defining. Because it’s something other than Love.

IF IT HURTS, IT’S NOT LOVE.

AND IF IT’S LOVE, IT DOESN’T HURT.

I’ve been talking to and hearing from lots of people in my network that are all saying the same thing: this is a tough time to be sensitive to other people’s energies.

When the news hit of the major plummet of the stock market, and then the world-wide ripples began trickling – or rather gushing – around the globe, I started feeling depressed. Then, as the days went by and the market dropped lower and lower, I felt even more fatigued and dragged out.

Even though my own financial situation has been adversely affected, too, that didn’t really feel like it explained the depths of my feelings.

Then it hit me – I was “channeling” the energy of everybody around me, and around the planet. This happened after Columbine, 9/11, the hurricanes and tsunamis, too. But I was far less aware of this acute empathetic response back then.

We are all – EVERY ONE OF US – sensitive to the energy around us, even if we can’t see it, touch it, or explain it. And each one of us is aware of it to different degrees.

Regardless of our ability to articulate it, we sense it. And it affects us. The less aware we are of what’s impacting our own energy, the lower our capacity to do anything positive about it.

It’s easy to just feel the collective fear and get sucked into it – the Chicken Little response of “OMIGOD, OMIGOD, OMIGOD!” When this “virus” spreads throughout the collective energy “pool” that we’re all swimming in, it’s real easy to catch it and fall ill, adding all our own fears to the epidemic.

The other option, which requires a lot of awareness and vigilance, is LOVE. My preferred form of LOVE at this time is a belief that we humans are extremely resilient. I have faith that we will – individually and collectively – learn something from this and come through it smarter and more evolved. Even just a little bit smarter and a little more evolved is still going in the right direction.

You might hear a bit of scoffing coming out of your mouth right now, which is also coming from fear. And that’s okay. I respect whatever choices you make in response to your own situation.

If you want a little immunity boost from the latest strain of the Fear Virus, though, I’d like to prescribe large doses of creativity and possibility thinking.

My personal response comes in the form of some questions (no surprise there!):

“How can I continue to do what I’m here to do and also take care of my own financial needs?”

“Even though I may have my own fears pop up now and then, how can I keep my vibration consistently high?”

“What are my options and what CAN I do about my own financial situation?”

“How can I stay focused on Love, Faith and Hope when Fear is blustering all around me, threatening to infect my Peace of Mind?”

“How can I maintain that Peace of Mind no matter what the economic situation is?”

“What can I do today to help others feel better and more confident about their lives and their options?”

I’m feeling better than I was a week ago – more in control of my own feelings and energy and life, and less at the unconscious mercy of other people’s fear-based choices.

Here’s the bottom line for me: I’d rather use this opportunity to get smarter and to create my own future with some Love and Joy, than let this latest Fear Virus create my future for me.