There are many posts and quotes out there on unconditional love.

You may have seen quotes such as “Love others as yourself” and “To love is to recognize yourself in another” or posts about unconditional love toward all living beings, or about seeing the positive in seemingly difficult situations.

But what do you do if you don’t see yourself in everyone? If you don’t feel loving toward all people? Or if you don’t find a way to see the positive when life tears you down?

And how do you act if you don’t feel that way but think you should? Do you pretend? Do you try to turn red flags green in people and situations? Do you turn against yourself for not having a more positive or loving outlook?

Many of those quotes(or what they are referring to) are meant to help us remember that there is more to life than what we see on the surface, and they can be reminders of a different state of consciousness.

But they can also put tremendous amounts of pressure on people to feel a certain way when they don’t, if interpreted by the mind.

Another state of consciousness

Many of the spiritual quotes that people post come from a deeper place. They come from and refer to a different state of consciousness – the awakened state.

So, that is the view from that state of consciousness, and it is a very different reality and way of looking at life.

Those quotes have nothing to do with trying to feel one way and not another. Or with having a positive outlook on life. That is the mind’s interpretation of something much more profound.

And that is what happens when the conditioned human mind (the ego) interprets deeper insights and truths.

The mind cannot grasp the deeper meaning – we can only experience and know the state of consciousness the quotes are pointing us toward.

Feel what you feel

Many people experience awake moments where they feel oneness and unconditional love, for example, in meditation and when practicing being in the present moment.

Those moments are beautiful. They are also glimpses of what is possible.

But to live an awake life, we also need to see and remove what is in the way of living in that state.

That means we must see and acknowledge all aspects of ourselves, even the ones we may not be proud of. We also need to feel what we feel fully, without judgment (that is also a way to find out why we feel that way).

When we do that, we can heal old wounds that keep us from being awake.

We can also take back our inner listening and the parts of ourselves that we have invested into the ego – the places inside where we have left ourselves and our inner guidance.

Unconditional love and healthy discernment

Unconditional love and healthy discernment

All so-called negative emotions are not “negative” or from the ego. They are healthy and necessary and can work as guidance.

By allowing ourselves to feel what we feel, we can learn to see the difference and trust ourselves and what we feel. With that comes clarity and healthy discernment.

Feeling unconditional love toward everyone can almost be a byproduct of doing that inner work. Because when we have removed what is in the way, we can see everyone from the awakened state of consciousness. We can see the light in everyone from that state.

But with clarity and wise discernment, we can also see where they are in life and choose who and what to surround ourselves with. We don’t have to put a positive spin on unhealthy or harmful behaviors or stay in situations that are not good for us to be in.

We can love unconditionally and still let go. And how we feel is a significant part of our guidance system when making those decisions.