When I am feeling all the feels, including anxiety and doubt, I sometimes imagine two buckets in an empty room. One has the word LOVE on it. The other has the word FEAR. Everything we do in life is based on these two buckets. Which one do you focus on? Which one do you fill?
Imagine placing "stuff" into each bucket with things that you love and things that you fear.
In my FEAR bucket, I can only imagine putting one thing inside - pain. That includes both physical and emotional pain. But that's it. I realize that's all I am afraid of in life, the potential 'idea' of pain in any form. Right now it's just a word on a piece of paper in a bucket.
However, I notice that my LOVE bucket is filled to the brim with things that I love...
...family, friends, sunsets, chocolate, movies, music, birds, fireplaces, butterflies, a great story, travel, cozy couches, full moons, the sound of thunder, writing, creativity, art, dreaming, dancing, laughter, the color turquoise, key lime pie, the moment before waking, trees, the smell of coffee, hugs, a nature trail, wind chimes, a smiling baby, stillness, wild flowers, and myself.
Yes, I am putting myself in my bucket of love because I know there is still enough room in there for me, and also because after years of living with myself, I have come to understand that love of self is the greatest love of all. I know it sounds like I'm just quoting a Whitney Houston cover song, but there's a reason it resonates. We can love our pets or partners as much as we like, but if we don't love ourself, that's when the bucket of fear tends to fill up and the world reflects the pain back at us.
When we focus on what is in the fear bucket (pain, loss, lack), we forget that we are these extraordinary beings full of unlimited potential with the ability to transform anything we experience into the vibration of love. When we focus on love and abundance (the sunsets and music and friends and family), our collective cups (or buckets) runneth over.
So write down on a piece of paper what you fear, place it in the FEAR bucket, and then light a match. Let it go. Whatever is in that bucket is weighing you down and not helping you move forward. Now write down what you love and fill that bucket until you think you can't possibly fill it with anything else, and then put yourself in there too, because you are love, whether you realize it or not. Take that bucket of love with you wherever you go today to remind yourself that you have so much love and abundance at your fingertips. And you have the power to share what's in that bucket with anyone or anything you come into contact with today and every day.