The more I love,

the more present I am,

the more present I am,

the more open I am,

the more open I am,

the more creative I am,

the more creative I am,

the more I love who I am.

As a filmmaker, my heart must stay open because it is a direct channel to the divine.

Which means my heart is always on my sleeve, making me vulnerable to those who cannot hold all of me.

But the difference now is the wisdom from all those fragmented experiences, the discernment and seeing beyond what can be seen— trusting what is felt.

So I no longer fear keeping my heart open.

I allow myself to experience all of it, because to love is to feel alive and to feel alive is to be awake and there was a time when I was not.

So how can I not love?

To love all of you is to see all of me and to see all of you is to love all of me.

It’s raining today and it was the sunniest yesterday.

That’s just how it is.

And today was just as beautiful as it was yesterday, just with my hair soaked.

Something truly magical about that.

To see this crazy/beautiful world through this lens— that is my focus, that is where I put all my attention, with my heart open.

I hope you feel this love today.

As I wrote this, I was listening to a new favorite artist dwaler, check him out.

All my love,

Theresa

“We can complain that rosebushes have thorns, or rejoice that thorns have roses.” Alphonse Karr

It is my belief that human beings are wired for connection, belonging and to be in harmony and community with one another.

And it is my belief that this is only possible through the power of love.

So what is love?

My definition of love echoes the work of bell hooks in her book, ‘all about love’.

Words that inspired me to write my feature film.

“the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.

Love is a love does. Love is an act of will—namely, both an intention and an action.

Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love.”

She further explains,

“To truly love we must learn to mix various ingredients—care, affection, recognition, respect, commitment, and trust, as well as honest and open communication.”

Love is constant. Love is flowing. Love is alive.

And love is transformative.

It will show you everything that is love and every way that it is not.

This can be polarizing, confronting and uncomfortable but absolutely necessary for growth on all levels—spiritual, mental, emotional and physical.

Renunciation.

“the formal, voluntary act of rejecting, abandoning, or giving up a claim, right, possession, title, or belief.”

We must be willing to release what is no longer serving us or risk repeating the same cyclical cycle.

Rebirth.

“the action of reappearing or starting to flourish or increase after a decline; revival.”

Pretty self-explanatory and I love every time it happens.

“What have I ever lost by dying?”

Rumi

Integration.

“to form, coordinate, or blend into a functioning or unified whole.”

I feel this is where the gap widens.

Everyone has access to this knowledge and the capacity to understand it but to integrate means action— you must do, you must live it.

That takes discipline, consistency, dedication, patience, accountability, integrity— it is devotion.

Love is devotion.

Finally,

Embodiment.

“a tangible or visible form of an idea, quality, or feeling.”

Now it is who you are.

Clear and direct.

When you have clarity in who you are, it’s easy to say no to everything that isn’t.

This is not easy work but it is the work and we get to do this work.

You are more powerful than you think because who you think, is not you.

Let the light in.

All my love,

Theresa

Master your energy by transmuting it.

It’s all internal.

I recently reread “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho— something I try to do every year because every time I read it, something new is always discovered.

This time, this passage stays with me.

Read more

We must do.

As artists, as creatives, as human beings.

The noise is a distraction— feel it, acknowledge it, now transmute it.

Use its potency to keep you devoted to your craft, sharpening it every single day by showing up more focused, more disciplined, more committed, more devoted.

Alchemy is no longer an option.

It is required to expand our capacity to love and elevate one another.

Separation and division is the illusion we must fight against.

More than ever, we need artists— the truth tellers, the lovers, the healers, the ones who hold the seen and the unseen within them and shine their light,

I thank you.

I thank you.

I thank you.

That light within you, that burning flame inside— it must be protected because to facilitate the change this world needs, we need pure hearts to lead.

Discernment is no longer an option.

And despite the darkness, I see so much hope in humanity.

We are creating the new earth.

So please stay devoted to your devotion.

Love will always prevail and there is no greater expression of love than devotion.

The time is now.

All my love,

Theresa