By John Ashbrook
When two people make a conscious decision to enter into a spiritual relationship, they commit to traveling a path together. That path is one of self-exploration and it requires a mature, deliberate effort by both parties to look inward with an attitude of honesty and understanding acceptance. Lasting and truly fulfilling love is the result of shared personal growth and the enhancement and expansion of both lives.
Romantic love is born of exciting emotions that hopefully will give way to permanent feelings. Unfortunately, and too often, people are afraid to feel permanent feelings and then true love does not develop. Instead, the promise of a steady, even-keeled, peaceful relationship becomes the heartbreak of an emotional roller-coaster ride with all of its peaks of ecstasy and valleys of despair. This situation is obviously not true love, but in many cases, it is accepted as normal and a state of unfulfilled love is manifested.
What then is true love? True love is like a glass-smooth lake. There is not a ripple in it. Remember, still, waters run deep. True love is a feeling of permanent trust and constant peace. True love contains emotion, but it is not controlled by emotion. Certainly, there are peaks of passion and excitement, but there is a constant peace-of-mind like the surface of that glass-smooth lake. Therefore, it remains satisfying at all times.
True love is a constant state of knowing trust – it is a permanent feeling. You know your partner will respect your peace-of-mind and never knowingly provoke any fears or insecurities that you are still working through. You trust that this will not happen. You are committed to an all-out effort to do the same. You take responsibility for creating your own life and fulfillment and your partner does the same. Two responsible people, coming together to further enhance and expand what they already have, separately. True love always adds to; it never detracts from. True love is both detached and united. It is a high state of spiritual development and, of course, it requires gigantic inner work to achieve.
So, how does someone get to this exalted state of being capable of sustaining true love? It is a lifelong journey and as long as you and your partner both pursue the journey, you both move toward completion (ie. true love). True love knows no fear. So as individuals, you just search out, identify, work through, and release all feelings of fear. Once you have, as individuals, discovered your fears, you must then reveal them to your partner. This revealing of your vulnerabilities to each other is crucial because it fosters trust. You are saying to your partner, “I trust you with my secrets. I reveal myself to you knowing that you will not use your knowledge of your fears to provoke or control me.” You and your partner will make mistakes in this area, and friction will result, but these frictions must be discussed openly because they are stepping stones to growth in the relationship. Do not fear mistakes and when they are made, do not condemn or judge harshly – either yourself or your loved one. Forgive freely and move forward.
As you reveal your fears to each other, you will be surprised to find that many of your fears are mutual, and you become mirrors of each other. Your partner reveals a fear, and in doing so, they become a mirror by which you can look into your own soul! The activity of revealing yourselves to each other will become in itself, very fulfilling. As you discover more about yourself, great excitement will be generated. You can’t wait to get home to share your inner discoveries with each other in an atmosphere of true harmony and trust. The more you discover and reveal, the more you open yourself to infinite revelation and personal growth. You and your partner become calm and secure in your constant and ever-expanding state of true love. This is the path to true love, and it is self-nourishing and ever-satisfying. It heals the past, it sustains the present, and it guarantees the future.
John Ashbrook is a professional numerologist and an intuitive spiritual counselor with 30+ years of experience. He teaches a comprehensive spiritual development program that combines ongoing classes with individual sessions. For more information, call: 734-326-3433.
