In 2019, after the Christchurch shooting in New Zealand, there was a photo of then New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wrapping her arms around the survivors of that shooting.

I shared with you then that when I saw the photo I was reminded that we live in a time so lacking in unconditional Mother Love.

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We are still living in that time.

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And Dolly?

"The fact that a single human being could spend over sixty years in the global spotlight and leave behind a spotless record of goodwill isn't just nice; it's a statistical and social anomaly. It forces us to confront a rarer truth: we don't just happen to like good people; we are actually starved for them." ~ Jason Hedrick

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After my father died in 2010, I learned something.

I learned that there are things you can't know until someone meaningful in your life dies. There are things that can't or won't happen until that person dies.

Dolly Parton's death is an invitation to grieve, yes, and it's also an invitation to come alive.

Her death makes space for aliveness.

Her death makes room for more light.

The void she leaves asks us to fill it with more of what she practiced, and in our own ways.

Yes we are starved.

And the unconditional love we crave is available to us because it is inside of us.

We do not have to wait for an imperfect human mother to change in order to receive it and feel it. We can reclaim and access Maternal love – not our imperfect human mother's conditional love – but the pure, unconditional Mother energy that exists within all of us.

You can do this by cradling your lovely face in your hands for a few seconds and then by placing your hands over your heart.

With your hands over your heart, repeat after me: I am here. I am alive. I don't have to be any different than I am in this very moment in order to feel and receive love. I choose to be open.

Much, much love,

Karen