Finding-Ourselves - inspirational writings, thoughts, poems, and quotes by Greg Campisi

The Fight for Love / The Cost of Peace / Human Nature? / Love Day / A Look Back and a Vision Ahead
Writing '09 / Writing '08 / Writing '07 and before

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8/10
The Fight for Love

Life is about love. It's about giving and receiving love. Too often, however, we feel that we don't get enough. We spend our entire lives fighting for attention, affection, and approval... all of which are about fighting for love.

Every day we look for love. When we don't feel it from others, we're left feeling angry, rejected, and alone. When we are loved, we feel special. When we think of love we often think of the grandiose romantic love, but love comes in many subtle ways. Being loved and loving others is also about accepting them for who they are, appreciating them, and acknowledging them. It's about respecting others enough to allow them space to find their own inner truth. Even if we share different beliefs, if we honor each other's choices, we are allowing them their special place in the world, and we are offering them love.

We live as if there is a limited amount of love, and it's about to run out. Love exists in abundance right from the source. We are all loved by the same infinite, eternal love. That love is already here, waiting for us. When we accept ourselves as the loving beings we already are, we'll finally feel worthy enough to accept the unconditional love God has waiting for us.

One day we will truly connect with God's love. That will be the day we stop fighting to earn it from everyone else, and unconditional love will fill every heart on Earth.

5/10
The Cost of Peace

They say that everything has a price. We hear it all the time. You have to pay the piper, the cost of doing business, you can't have something for nothing. Look at what war costs us, at what hate costs us. Look at what jealousy, envy, greed, guilt, and fear costs us. It has cost us our blood, sweat, tears. It has cost us our hearts, our lives, and our humanity. And we are on the verge of also losing our home; our mother Earth. But what about the good things? Sometimes even love feels like it costs us, and to some, there is even a price for peace. So is anything good free?

Personally, the more I thought about it, the more I thought peace, real peace, must be free. If we feel like we sacrificed anything to achieve peace, are we really at peace? Peace has to flow both ways. If bringing peace to one, harms another, either physically or emotionally regardless of the peace of mind it brings, it isn't really peace. For there to truly be peace, every word, every action, and every thought must bring peace of mind, body, and soul to the giver and also to the receiver. True peace is in understanding, accepting, and loving unconditionally. So aren't these all free?

Yes, but I realized something else. I realized peace does in fact ask something from us. It asks us to give up things we've held on to our whole lives, things we protect and defend, and things we don't want to let go of.

So what will it cost to achieve peace? The cost is not in dollars, not in euros, and not in blood. To achieve it, we will have to give up part of ourselves and our way of life, but the part we are giving up is exactly the thing that is preventing our peace. Peace asks us to give up our anger, our hate, our worry, and our guilt. It asks us to release fear of things that are different or unknown, and to give up our fear of being wrong, of being rejected, unwanted and unloved. This is the cost of peace, giving up that part of ourselves which causes distress, tears, and pain, and in it's place accepting love and understanding.

This is a price I will gladly pay, and one we can all afford.

There is a Peace for Everyone.

3/10
Human Nature?

Kermit the Frog sang, "It's not easy being Green." I'm sure all of us have experienced times when "it's not easy being human." We complain about life being difficult, or unfair, and when things go wrong, it's being human that is the scapegoat. "We're only human," we say, as if that means we're bound to make mistakes, and being human somehow makes it OK. Maybe it's being human that's precisely the issue.

We all try so hard to be "human." So often it's an excuse to be alive in a human body, rather than a miracle. When we make mistakes... "we're only human." When we hurt another, or ourselves... "it's human nature." What does it really mean? We look at animals, at our pets, and say "he's an animal, he doesn't know any better." Well if an animal doesn't know any better, (although I'd very much disagree, but that's another story) why aren't we more loving to each other if we DO know better?

I don't want being human to be an excuse for being stuck, for not moving forward, or for doing something wrong. I believe being human, is simply a shell for who we really are. The shell protects the nut from the world around it. The fruit conceals it's real purpose, to spread the seed. The cocoon protects the butterfly while it's transforming. The "human condition" simply protects, conceals, and helps transform what we really are. A divine soul. The pure seed of the Creator. Pure love.

If all we are is love, then why isn't life easier? I believe it is indeed our humanity that contains, and too often protects and conceals that love at any cost. We allow what the world has taught us to hide our real love. We're afraid of getting hurt if we really were to unleash that love to everyone, everyday. What would happen if we were always vulnerable and always completely honest about our feelings, motives, and intents? What would happen if we were forgiven for everything? Maybe it's time to find out. Maybe if we all forgave each other, there would be nothing to be afraid of. There would no longer be rejection, no more guilt, and no more hate. Maybe it's actually our humanity that also contains those traits, to protect our core, to protect love. Maybe it's time for a new way of living.

The time of protecting is over. It is time to release our shell. It is time for the fruit to bear the seed. It is time for the cocoon to break away and release the miracle. It's time for love to lead the way. If we make a mistake, it's not just "ok" because we're human, it's OK because we're love, and being loving toward ourselves and each other is our real nature. If we make a mistake, if we hurt someone, if we are too hard on ourselves... it's OK. It's OK because loving is about forgiving. It's about knowing that all things are healed in time, and knowing that all things separated can be reunited. Being "only human" for me isn't an excuse, although knowing that I am the pure love of God isn't an excuse either. It's a way of living, of being. It's a way of peace and harmony with all living things. It's our divine nature.

Next time something goes "wrong," ask yourself is it OK because it's our nature to do things wrong, or is it OK because it's our nature to forgive? Remember, we're not "only human," we are the infinite creative power of love. So ask yourself, does that sound like an excuse, or a pathway to miracles?

2/10
Love Day

As Valentine's Day approaches, I see ads, commercials, websites, and movies everywhere selling love, or even more specific, selling products. For me, when I was a little kid, Valentine's Day was fun and was about getting candy from my parents and writing goofy little cards with Garfield or Snoopy on them to all my friends in school. As I grew older, Valentine's Day was more about honoring my Mom. When I started dating, it meant getting my girlfriend flowers and candy, and taking her out to a nice dinner. Of course the years I was single, Valentine's Day served simply as a reminder to me and my single friends of just that... we were single; no girlfriends and no one to love. Often for me, the love around Valentine's Day seemed to only be about significant others, mothers, or kids... and what to buy them.

I had this concept in my head about Valentine's Day, but I paused and decided to redefine it for myself. I want to make it simply about love... for everyone. I heard about the Starbucks Love Project, and was amazed at all the people around the world who came together to sing about love. My heart was beaming with joy witnessing this phenomenon, and I was reminded, as I often am, that love is universal. So this year as Valentine's Day approaches, I'm not only thinking about one special night with one special woman, I'm also taking the time to think about all the love that blesses my life. I'm thinking about, and being grateful for, all the people in my life who love and support me, and whom I love and support. I am wishing love and blessings not only for my girlfriend, but for my parents, for my brother and his family, for my friends, even for my clients who are more than just clients to me. This February I celebrate the love of all the people who have been a part of my life, and for all the people whose hearts have touched mine... in every way, big and small.

This Valentine's Day... Share Love, for everyone.

1/10
A Look Back and a Vision Ahead

As a new year approached, I was reminded that we're not just witnessing another year gone by, but we are entering a whole new decade. Thinking about where my life is now, and how I've changed not just over the past decade, but over the past 20 years, several things flooded my mind, and opened my heart...

I am now 35 years old, and a lot happened between the ages of 15 to 25. It was an amazing time on my journey of this experience called life. I learned to drive, got my first car, graduated high school, started college and decided on a major and a path that would mold my life and define my career at the same time. I also lived on my own for the first time, turned 21, and learned a lot about freedom, enjoying life, and all the beauty and turmoil that can come with both. I graduated college and turned my major into a job, and that job into a career. It was a time of many changes for me, especially from the outside looking in. Ten years, a decade of my life, had gone by and it was an amazing, fun, exciting time on my road to adulthood. It came with an enormous amount of changes and experiences, and in defining a career, in a sense, I was defining myself. I wasn't just a talented kid who was good at art, I was now a professional graphic designer.

As I drove along, I then thought about the last 10 years that sailed by. From ages 25 to 35, I had a few new residences, a few new jobs, a few new friends, and a few new loves. Sounds like a lot of change going on, but looking at how much life changed before now, it seemed like a lot of the same lifestyle, with a little change of scenery along the way. It seems like we spend the first quarter of our lives going through such life altering changes, physically and emotionally, learning to live in the world, but as we get older, do we stop changing? For me, from the outside, it felt that way, especially over the last 4 or 5 years... no new car, no wife, no kids, no house, and no white picket fence. I had a twinge of regret and remorse wondering if I've squandered the last ten years, but I quickly realized something did change over the past decade, especially in just the past few years... something more important.

Someone entered my life who helped me see things from a new perspective, and my life began to change in a different direction. The changes I've made in the last couple of years were changes not outside of me, but inside myself. I thanked God for the time and opportunity to finally pause and open my eyes not to the outside world and all its distractions, but to a better world. I opened my eyes to the life inside, the life I share with God and in return, the more I look, the more I see the life He shares with me; the life I ignored for so long. I looked back and found something. I found gratitude for the life I've lived, for the people who have loved and supported me, for the people who have touched my life, and for the people whose lives I've touched.

From ages 15 to 25, I created a foundation for my life, a way of supporting myself, and paved a path out into the physical world. Over the last ten, however, I was moving away emotionally from my parents, my brother, my girlfriend, and in some ways, the world. I'm now on a path back into myself, and into a better relationship with the people close to my heart. Over the last few years I have had the opportunity to create a new foundation. I am paving a new road that leads inside to grace, to peace, to love, and to God. The past few years have been both fun and trying at times, but I've taken big strides to change my life, set myself free of old patterns, and forge a new way of living life for the next decade, and for the rest of my life.