Love Letter from Gina : February 2021

February 2021

Dear Friends,

Gina Murdock, Founder of Lead with Love

Last month I wrote about taking breaks from media to see how it feels to consume less content and take more inspired and creative actions to shift culture from fear to love. You can read that letter HERE.

I’ve certainly felt much more inspired and well based on taking my own advice and consuming less content this last month or so. I am curious how and if that landed for you? Please reply to this letter or leave us comments to engage in this conversation. I enjoyed hearing from so many of you last month!

I’ve often felt somewhat conflicted on this subject. On one hand, I have a deep desire to tune in and be educated and informed about what’s going on and to take action toward a better world. On the other hand, I know for myself I need filters or boundaries around the amount and type of content I take in to preserve my health and wellbeing both mentally and physically. The news, in particular, has felt particularly toxic and divisive the last few months and years frankly.

The balance I’ve been able to strike that works for me is part of what I consider to be my daily spiritual practice. My spiritual practice is about bringing more awareness to everything I do - from my thoughts, words and actions - and for me that boils down to my intention and my attention. It is my intention to be informed because I care about the earth and its inhabitants and want to be able to direct my attention towards creating more peace, justice, health and wellbeing for all. The tricky part is engaging in this work and not getting righteous, judgmental and focused on what’s wrong which leads me to overwhelm and blame. Through training, what I’ve learned to do to be engaged with the intent to live and act in a way that does not perpetuate the illusion of separation. This is really challenging for me, but so important! What I know to be true deep down is that we are all one and that our essential nature is love. If I think, speak or act in a way that is contrary to that knowing, I am not being true to myself. If I am not being true to myself, I am not really living at all; I am just part of the noise, the illusion. That is not the way I intend to spend my precious life.

Do you have an inner truth that you know to be true? If so, what is it? Are you able to use that truth as a filter to run through your thoughts and words and act accordingly? I know the truth and when I engage in the illusion I feel mentally, physically and energetically unwell. I feel stress, tension, againstness, constriction. I get to choose how much I indulge in that ego based thinking. Sometimes it’s just too alluring to avoid and I indulge myself. When I do I might get a temporary “hit” of righteousness that feels mighty fine, but the residual of that way of thinking and being frankly starts to feel pretty yucky and it has these energetic tentacles that are difficult to get rid of.

I am committed to avoiding the yuck as much as possible. Life is short and there are opportunities for joy if we orient our inner compass to point towards that vs what is wrong and bad. What you focus on grows. This is one of the life lessons I need to constantly remind myself of. What aspect of myself am I feeding and tending? Where am I placing my attention? Is it the part addicted to stress and guilt and fear or the part of me that is wise, wonderfully present and content knowing I am a child of God and that my true nature and essence is love? Tending to the wise one who knows helps that aspect of myself grow and that to me is a very worthwhile pursuit!

At Lead with Love we strive to offer opportunities to engage from a place of love through our Love in Action program. I love this program and always feel so inspired and connected after our live Zoom calls. We are tackling big issues like climate change, hunger, justice and equality from a place of loving presence and service. It gets me out of my head to think about others and what I can do tangibly to help build the type of world that is more aligned with my beliefs. It sure feels better to me than bitching about what isn’t working to people who agree with me. 

Erica Ford, Founder of Life Camp

Another area that brings me joy is partnering and supporting others who are out there walking the talk and making positive change. We have done this throughout our time as a non-profit featuring amazing presenters at our events who we are inspired by and helped get other people inspired as well. I have countless stories of people who joined The University of Santa Monica (news flash - USM programs are now on line and accessible to everyone!) after meeting Dr.’s Ron and Mary Hulnick at a Lead with Love Summit, or others who have been on trips to the Amazon to help protect the rainforest after meeting Lynne Twist. We featured The Urban Yogis two years in a row and have been actively engaging with LifeCamp and their founder, the amazing Erica Ford, ever since to help reduce gun violence. We support their weekly wellness programming by the amazing @kheperah that serve people who desperately need it.

We have recently partnered with an amazing non-profit in Carbondale called Stepping Stones that offers wellbeing programming and a wellness center for at-risk youth. We can’t wait for this actual physical space to open in our valley. More on that to come soon.

Changa Bell, Black Male Yoga Initiative

This month we invested in another incredible hero walking the talk to make the world a better place. Changa Bell is the founder of The Black Male Yoga Initiative based in Maryland. We are so inspired by his work to train 1000 teachers to commit to their own wellness and to share that with others within their community. We know that the wellness industry has been white and wealthy for way too long and places like LifeCamp and BMYI are making the changes to empower more people of color to become a bigger part of this movement. 

We encourage you to look into these amazing organizations and people and look around in your own communities to help shift culture from fear to love by giving your time, energy, money or just by shifting your thinking as much as you can from what’s wrong to where can I help make things right? Your intention and attention are two powerful tools to live more true to your highest self. We thank Changa, Erica, Kheperah, Dr.’s Ron and Mary Hulnick, Lynne Twist and so many others on this path for helping to light the way.

With Love,

Gina Murdock

Founder and Director