Love is a beautiful and essential force in our lives. Poets, philosophers, and playwrights have been inspired by it for centuries! Without it, we may be, quite frankly, empty. But what is love, really? It’s subjective, of course … but for me—and likely many others—love is a driving force that motivates us to be our best selves. Its passion and affection encourage us to live our best lives. I’ve found that approaching my meditations with an abundance of love can catalyze manifestation, healing, and self-discovery.

It all starts with a positive mindset—the lens through which we perceive and experience the world. When we want to manifest happiness and joy, we will find ways to live in that happiness and joy, whereas if we see the world as negative and painful, we tend to set the stage for a negative existence. Our mindset shapes our experience, which is why coming from a place of love is crucial. If we approach a meditation exercise in a bad mood, we can accidentally fuel a bad experience. Therefore I try to cultivate gratitude and love before every meditation. I also try to do this each morning before I start my day. Here’s how.

I find there is a deep connection between love and gratitude. When you find love, you surely find gratitude, and when you are feeling gracious, a feeling of love can easily emerge from it. So, when preparing to meditate, I spend fifteen minutes cultivating gratitude by contemplating the things I love that make me happy in life. I’ll pull forth my family, my daughter, my partner, my dreams, my adventures, my home, and all the things that bring me joy. From there, I generate appreciation for having these things in my life. Simply put, a feeling of gratitude forms from that joy and that love. It grows and grows as I move through each thing I hold dear in my awareness, and I project it into my meditation as I begin.

I’ve found that approaching my meditations with an abundance of love can catalyze manifestation, healing, and self-discovery.

Entering the exercise with love, I see the good, and I’m motivated to have my best experiences. It allows me to be more open to exploring and achieving the fruitful expanded states we venture into with Monroe journeys. It also allows me to build a great amount of energy for manifestation and healing. So, if my intention is to manifest or to heal, I feel that my results are much more successful when I come into it with this powerful positive feeling. I enjoy an expansive, happy state for any type of meditation. I’ve had the most wonderful time flying over the world, standing at the gateways of possibilities, visualizing the life that fills me with joy, connecting with my guides and more as I have the best mindset to do it. Simply put, love can fuel our most powerful journeys and allow us to see the world in the best possible ways. It gives us hope, happiness, and unlimited possibilities. So, I encourage you to cultivate love through gratitude before your meditations and to focus your mindset on seeing the wonderful positives around you each and every day.