The Boston Marathon Bombings — another horrific tragedy that has elicited international attention.  Tragic.  Unbelieveable.  My heart goes out to those injured, either physically and/or emotionally and to the families of the deceased.  

There is no human intervention that can stop the ruthlessness, the cruelty and insanity of those who commit these violent acts of terror, be they domestic or international in scope.  Humanity continues to prove to me its separation from Spirit, from Source.  

Fear is the overlying emotion that we are left with in these situations.  Fear that we can no longer go about our daily activities — I mean really — shooting innocent people in a movie theatre?  Shooting innocent children while they’re in school?  And now bombing an event whose focus was on bringing awareness to Patriot’s Day and also the Newtown victims?   Insanity.  The world is going to hell in a handbasket as they say.  “Going” to hell?  I’d say these kinds of tragedies are beyond “going” anywhere.  Hell is here.  And it will continue to be hell on earth as long as we allow ourselves to be controlled by fear.  

What is it that dispels fear?  LOVE.  Not the “Johnny Depp-is-so-sexy” kind of love.  Not the “til-death-do-us-part” kind of love.  Not even the “peace-on-earth” kind of love that is so easily bantered about these days.  It is so easy for those words to come rolling out of our mouths.  “Peace on earth.” “Make love not war.”  “Love is all you need.”

Hmmm…if that is truly what is in the hearts of women and men on earth, if love is all we need, then why isn’t there peace on earth?  Why aren’t we making love not war?  Why are we continuing to pick up the pieces of a fractured country?  Why are we having to deal with Supreme Court rulings on same sex marriages?  Gun control?  Sexual abuse?  Child molestation?  Oh, and the list goes on and on.  

Really?  Is love all we need?  Not in my experience.  There is the need for truth AND love…I call it the divine design.  If we are not being truthful about the love that we offer into the world, then it all goes to hell in a handbasket.  It is only lies that come out of our mouths.  Until liberals and conservatives can stop bashing each other; until men and women can truly love one another without judgment, without bashing each other (literally or figuratively); until Christians and Catholics and Lutherans and Protestants and Jews and Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus and all religions and all their various sides, sects and divisions can love one another in TRUTH…well…we will continue to live in this hellish state of affairs.

Are we so surprised that there is this continued violence?  There are gasps of horror that something so vile could still happen in America.  Really?  I see Facebook posts on a daily basis that continue to affirm the judgment and separation that exists in the minds and hearts of humans.  Where is spiritual expression?  Where is the grandeur of love in its finest and purest communication?  I don’t see it coming from very many…and I’m not being self-righteous here either.  I fall prey to the ways of the world frequently.  I get pulled into the gossip and into conversations that in the end are devastatingly destructive.  Ugly energy, destructive energy.  Is that what I want?  Is that my purpose on earth — to emit and scatter ugly energy?  Of course not.  And it is a rotten sensation when I catch myself in the middle of it.  I have to shake it off and walk away.  And I also have to let LOVE radiate without concern for what comes back.  

These are just thoughts…some sensations and feelings and images that came to me this morning.  Do I see impending gloom and doom?  No.  I see Trouble with a capital T, but within that Trouble, I also see Spirit in Action.  I have many friends who I trust sense, feel and imagine many of these things of which I speak.  

How does all of this apply to Nia? — afterall, it is my desire to keep this blog mostly about Nia.  Nia invites change.  Nia activates my physical, mental, emotional and spirit realms through conscious movement, creative expression.  With Nia, I dance through life…I dance first, allowing the issues in my tissues to move and be free to leave instead of becoming repressed and stagnant.  Nia is about possibilities.  Through teaching and sharing Nia, I reach out through this incredibly rich and flavorful lifestyle and cardiovascular dance fitness practice — and I touch the hearts, minds and spirits of those with whom I am connected — and that energy and vibration allows LOVE to radiate into the universe beyond where parallels line meet…if in fact they ever do meet.  

Let the TRUTH of LOVE radiate.  Dance First.  Get In Your Body and move.  Let emotions and thoughts bubble up to the surface and express them through creative and conscious movement.  

Let Love Radiate with Awareness.  My love radiates to all of those affected by this senseless and violent tragedy in Boston.  There are senseless and violent tragedies being experienced EVERYWHERE in the world.  If it is to stop, it has to begin right here.  With me.  Make it so.