What Gets Between Me and Loving Presence?

This is part of a series about the journey through the lower 7 spheres of the Kabbalah Tree of Life. This week is focused on Chesed.

connect with presence
lead with enthusiasm
open to love’s flow

Chesed of Chesed: Embrace the Flow

Day 1 of the Omer is Chesed of Chesed.

Chesed of Chesed is pure, untempered, boundless love.

It’s about showing up with complete presence, open to what others need, and not thinking about what you can get.

It’s also about allowing yourself to be seen in your unbridled enthusiasm.

Consider how you show up when you see a friend who you haven’t seen in a long time. Or the way a dog greets its owner at the end of the day.

Chesed of Chesed is about pure love and care. Showing up fully open. Present.

How I Want to Engage vs How I Actually Engage

In theory, this would be how we’d show up all the time.

In practice, we can lose touch with the pureness of Chesed of Chesed.

This is normal. Pure unbounded love can feel overwhelming for giver and receiver. And real life concerns can interfere with our presence — sometimes without us realizing it.

What’s Between Me and Loving Presence?

The infamous quote from the Sufi poet Rumi comes to mind:

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. — Rumi

I think of a question posed by meditation teacher Tara Brach:

What gets in the way of me and loving presence?

What are the barriers I erect to showing up as my full, loving self?

What keeps me from sharing my enthusiasm for my latest project or simply from sharing the things I’m learning and reading that I find fascinating?

What are the things that get in my way?

How Can I Remain Open?

The biblical male archetype of Chesed is Abraham. Abraham’s tent was always open to strangers and guests.

How do I remain open?

Where do I close off and shut down?

The Sephirot also apply to our inner lives, not just how we show up in the world.

What does it look like for me to show up for myself with full loving presence?

How can I remain open to myself and my experience?

Chesed of Chesed in My Work

In the context of my business, my blog, what I’m called to share, and how I’m being called to serve, Chesed of Chesed is about giving and sharing without worrying about all the typical “results” questions:

• where will this lead?
• how will it make money?
• what will people think?
• how will this help my business?

What changes when I lead with love instead of expectation? When I lead with giving without requiring or expecting anything in return?

How would I show up if I wasn’t worried about what people might think about my work, my enthusiasm for what I’m called to share, where it would lead, how I would generate income from it, how it would impact my business, whether people would be confused?

How would I show up if I wasn’t worried about what people would think of my hair, my teeth, my clothes, my body?

How would I show up if I wasn’t worried about what I thought of those things?

Chesed of Chesed requires trust.

Lead With Love

I know that I am capable of showing up in this way — when I don’t overthink it and don’t let the other stuff get in the way.

At Chesed of Chesed, that’s what leads. There’s not yet consideration of boundaries or other details. It’s just about showing up with a pure intention and an open heart, giving to give.