Dr. Carolyn Porter

Recently I was sitting quietly in a meditative state and asked what exactly my purpose is for being here at this time. The answer came instantly — feeling love, being love and spreading love.

I had asked that question because I had been guided that this year is a year of big changes, of letting go of some things to make way for new opportunities, ideas, and even locations for residence and business. I was expecting a different type answer, one with some specifics about the changes, but instead I received the very simplistic answer of feeling love, being love, and spreading love.

As I contemplated what I had heard, I realized just how simple, yet profound, our "task" is while here on earth — it's all about love. We know that love is our essence and our core, yet we grab onto the fear mindset that earth programs into us. Although we don't set out to intentionally buy into fear, it is what we do as we internalize what we are taught as truth.

Basically then, we all have the same "task." It will look differently for many of us, but the root of our work is the same. We are here to first feel love, then be the love, then spread it all around. So let's look at what this could mean for all of us.

What does it mean to feel love? Most likely you've experienced the feelings of love whether it be for a parent, child, spouse, partner or friend. It makes you feel happy and often content as well as warm and fuzzy; you feel it in your heart. When you feel love for someone you want to share time with them and connect physically, mentally, emotionally and perhaps spiritually; you want to do nice things for them — your heart feels open. But the love mentioned to me goes way beyond the physical feeling we have for another, great as it is.

Feeling love means understanding where you came from, that you are born from love and therefore it is your heritage. So this means you must first love yourself for this is who you are, yet so many individuals don't experience self-love because of being taught that they aren't good enough, or smart enough, or pretty enough, and don't deserve good things. That's where the low self-worth issues originate — from the fear-based conditioning of not enough. Yet love is your inborn heritage, so it is imperative that you must first learn to love yourself, realizing that you came here perfect as you are and deserving all good things. You cannot give what you do not have, so in order to ever consider spreading or sharing love, you have to feel it for yourself first.

When you feel love for yourself, you fill up with compassion, understanding, acceptance, appreciation, abundance, peace and joy, all the things you truly want in your life, and you do this first for yourself. It requires some soul-searching to understand what you truly want out of your life and what you are here to do — your purpose. It also requires allowing spirit to direct rather than you trying to run the show.  You learn your incredible value for who you are and understand you don't have to do anything to earn approval or value — you came in with it!

So when you can look into the mirror and say to your reflection, "I love you" and mean it, you are then experiencing how to feel deep, unconditional love, for this is where it must begin.

Being love means living your life through the eyes of love. This doesn't allow for stored anger, hurt or malice toward others. As you are being love you will feel compassion, acceptance, understanding, caring, appreciation, forgiveness and peace for others as well as yourself. Love can heal anything, and when love rules your life, what others seemingly do to you can easily roll right off your back because love is stronger than hurt or anger, and you can let the pain go. This doesn't mean you allow others to walk all over you and do whatever they want, but it does give you more tolerance for the unwise choices some people may make who cross your path. You remember that this is their stuff and you don't need to carry anything around on your back that's theirs — you have enough of your own unwise choices to deal with. However, it can give you great empathy and compassion for those who do unkind or hurtful things, or who "mess up," and you will be able to forgive them.

Being love changes your mindset about life in all its ramifications; you see things differently than the average person because they have a base of fear (negative) while you are coming from love (positive); being love is your way of life. You can look on the bright side more readily since you see the glass half full instead of half empty. 

You are the great encourager and support person, wise and caring with a warm, open heart. Love simply is, so being love doesn't require learning anything to accomplish it, it only requires remembering who you are so you operate from your heart.

Being love puts you in a space of acceptance of everyone as okay just as they are. Others don't have to agree with you or even like you, but you are able to accept them without taking offense or trying to "argue your case" and change their viewpoint. You can easily respect anyone else's truth as perfect for them even if you do not accept it as truth for you. That's the beauty of our free will — we have the right to believe as we wish without others doing their best to convince us otherwise. Of course, if it is too distant from what you feel is truth for you, and certainly if it hurts someone or is illegal, then you can detach from the connection and go on your way with no regrets.

Being love becomes your way of living and you are known as "walking your talk" because it abides within you. To me, authenticity is the most important attribute for any individual to possess. Many people speak the words but their behavior is totally different, and as you probably know, it is the behavior that tells the true story of what that person is. Operating from love in your heart makes it easy to follow the heart's guidance and be the love in everything you do or say, and definitely in how you act!

Doing something wonderful for another individual is truly an act of love, and you remember how great it made you feel when you made someone smile or did something nice for another who was suffering in some way. That's why spreading love is so important — it's a double blessing since it blesses the giver and the receiver. Doing kind deeds, like letting someone in line ahead of you or helping an elderly person by carrying their shopping bags, holding the door open for the person behind you — that's spreading kindness and love. And when it really counts for good is when no one even knows it was you who did the act of kindness or good deed, as in giving money anonymously to some charity or church or leaving bags of groceries at someone's doorstep who you know has no food to eat. This is spreading love because of who you are — walking your talk — not because someone sees you and gives you a brownie point. Although you are blessing someone elses life, you will genuinely feel blessed as your heart expands with love.

We have multiple opportunities to spread love every single day. However, we have to first feel love and understand our value, then we have to be the love from the inside out, before we can spread it around to others. Although acts of kindness certainly apply to spreading love, I believe it should expand even more than that. I believe this means spreading out into the community, city, state, country and world in which we live.

What could that mean for you? Perhaps you need to become a speaker or author and spread your message to many. Or perhaps you could join a community project, or an organization for feeding the hungry or fighting crime. Maybe you need to become active in a church or even do some volunteer work in another country, or start a group or organization of your own. The possibilities are endless!

For me, as a writer and speaker, I am able to reach many more individuals than with my coaching, yet even the coaching sessions reach people all over the world. Anything you do that helps people improve their life in some way is a means of spreading love.

Think about your life right now. Do you feel love for yourself? Are you being love as you go through each day? And are you spreading love at home, in your workplace, in your neighborhood and community, or perhaps in larger areas of service? It is our core "task" for living in the world at this time, and if you look at your own life and the lives of people around you, it is obvious that more love is needed. So begin today by paying attention to how you are living your life. Are you living through love or have you adopted the fear mindset of the world? Remember that love is your true essence, something inborn in you, and is the only thing that can ever bring you happiness, peace, joy, abundance and the kind of life you truly want to experience! Love is truly all there is!