
Universal Love
in the Realm of Spirit & Cosmos
1: Read about “Universal Love” vs. “Unconditional Love.”
Articles on the Web – these are good places to start. We’ve got more on the way.
- From Unconditional Love to Universal Love – from Ethereal Soul: Evolving to a Higher Definition of Love. Includes practical tips for integrating universal love into daily life.
- Unconditional Love vs Universal Love – from Prem’s World
- The Diamond Approach to Universal Love: Universal love is the basic energy of the universe. It is also known as universal consciousness or cosmic consciousness. When you experience universal love, you understand the action of love. Lots of directions to go from this website.
- The Self-Aggrandizing Myth of Universal Unconditional Love: a different, more psychological perspective on this topic begs the question: Where should we focus our loving effort for greatest effect in the service of not just local but collective, sustainable well-being?
Books
- All About Love – New Visions – by bell hooks: Here is the truth about love, and inspiration to help us instill caring, compassion, and strength in our homes, schools, and workplaces.
- The Universal Heart – by Stephanie Dowrick: change from within to create positive and loving relationships with family, friends, children, and colleagues using simple and fail-safe golden “rules”.
- A Return to Love – by Marianne Williamson: a classic meditation on what is love and how to work it into your life in simple yet miraculous ways.
2: Deepen your connection to Universal Love through daily mindfulness practices.
Try a loving-kindness meditation.
Books
- Loving Kindness – by Sharon Salzberg: how the practice of lovingkindness illuminates a path to cultivating love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity
- Loving-Kindness in Plain English: The Practice of Metta – by Henepola Gunaratana: how we can cultivate loving-kindness to find emotional clarity, overcome anger, and become more peaceful—both on and off the meditation cushion.
Podcasts
- Guided Loving-Kindness Meditations with Duncan Hamra: favorite guided Metta meditations from teachers all over the world.
- The Meditation Podcast – with Jesse Stern: a great guided meditation podcast that immediately puts you into a meditative state of mind. It’s highly recommended.
- The Daily Meditation Podcast – with Mary Meckley: Interesting approach featuring short meditations over multiple days exploring specific emotions or themes.
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Tara Brach Podcast – with Tara Brach: TB is a lovely meditation teacher and this podcast will introduce you to all sorts of meditations and inquiries into the mind, body, heart, & spirit.
Online Mindfulness Courses
- 40-Day Free Meditation Course with Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield: this is a modern classic and it’s free! 10 to 15 guided meditation minutes a day for 40 days. Stick with it and you will see beautiful changes.
Websites
- Lion’s Roar – Complete Guide to Loving-Kindness Meditation: great place to start and so many good resources @ Lion’s Roar.
3: Begin or deepen a gratitude practice: Celebrate, share, and further access your universal love experience with a regular practice of gratitude.
A Gratitude Journal
- My Daily Journal of Gratitude – by Ryan Puusaari: we like this approach of more prompts, day and night entries, plus the challenge of 90-day practice guided by the journal.
- 5-Minute Gratitude Journal – by Sophia Godkin: structured prompts guide you to reflect on what you appreciate in your life.
- Tiny Buddha’s Gratitude Journal – by Lori Deschene: Questions, Prompts, and Coloring Pages for a Brighter, Happier Life
Podcasts or Audio
- Gratitude Journal Podcast – with Matthew Stark: short musings designed to help become more grateful for the things present in life.
Books
- Gratitude – by Oliver Sacks: A deeply moving testimony and celebration of how to embrace life.
- Love for Imperfect Things – by Haemin Sunim: How to Accept Yourself in a World Striving for Perfection. Buddhist Monk Sunim believes that only once we accept ourselves can we truly show compassion and gratitude for others, creating deeper, lasting, and more fulfilling relationships.
- The Gifts of Imperfection – by Brené Brown: effective daily practices are guideposts to wholehearted living. Cultivating gratitude, appreciation, compassion, empathy and more…
4: Be of service to those in disharmony or conflict: Study nonviolent communication, conflict-resolution, and mindful compassionate dialogue.
Books
- Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Life – by Marshall Rosenberg: not enough to say about this book. Learn about connecting empathically with self and others to have more satisfying relationships, and so much more…
- Authentic Relating – by Ryel Kestano: groundbreaking practice that offers people a way to create profoundly enriching, enlivening, and nourishing relationships in all social domains of life
- Difficult Conversations How to Discuss What Matters Most – by Sheila Heen: walks you through a approaches for how to have your toughest conversations with less stress and more success.
Podcasts or Audiobooks
- Non-Violent Communication – read by author Marshall Rosenberg: Create your life, your relationships and your world in harmony with your values.
- WISEHEART Podcast – Relationships as Spiritual Practice: this podcast is from Wiseheart Mindful Compassionate Dialogue (MCD), which has similarities to NVC but takes a different approach. Very worth diving into this podcast.
- The Art of Non-Violent Communication – read by author Micah Salaberrios: a handbook for turning conflict into connection.
- The Art of Non-Violent Communication PODCAST – with Micah Salberrios: several years produced going deep into specific areas of NVC with interesting guests.
- Embodiment Coaching Podcast – episode on Authentic Relating with author Ryel Kestano.
Websites
- Center for Non-Violent Communication: the CNVC website is stocked with resources, courses, training opportunities and more!
- WISEHEART – Mindful Compassionate Dialogue: we LOVE the Wiseheart Community! Such great resources, tools, training opportunities, and more for the beautiful life tool that is MCD!
5: Perform small, consistent acts of kindness to share love with other people or animals. Help a neighbor or a friend, or volunteer locally with those who need assistance.
Books
- The Kindness Handbook – by Sharon Salzberg: how to cultivate an open heart, empathy, and inner peace — everyday.
- Have You Filled a Bucket Today – by Carol McCloud: a children’s book introducing acts of kindness as a daily practice of creating happiness. We believe in teaching children as a big part of integration practice 😀
- The Kindness Cure – by Tara Cousineau: How the Science of Compassion Can Heal Your Heart and Your World.
Podcasts or Audiobooks
- The Kindness Podcast – with Nicole Phillips: helps people take the heaviness of life and infuse it with hope through practical tips, new imaginings, and vivid storytelling that illuminates the kindness around us
Websites
- WISEHEART – Mindful Compassionate Dialogue: we LOVE the Wiseheart Community! Such great resources, tools, training opportunities, and more for the beautiful life tool that is MCD!
