I began writing the original manuscript for In Quest of Love eight years ago. I wrote it as a personal manifesto for change. At that time, I was very unhappy and I was questioning my life choices. I believed, like many, I needed a relationship to feel loved and fulfilled.  Within six weeks of writing the manuscript I left my job and moved to another country. While I experienced feelings of fear and moments of terrible anxiety, the feeling of freedom was incredible. I felt like I had been given a new opportunity to live the life I wanted to live, rather than a life set out for me through my early conditioning and societal beliefs.

Once I set my intention for healing and growth, I noticed subtle changes within me. I felt love emanating from the core of my being as a radiant energy, whereas before it was a romantic idea. The bliss of simply being expanded love within me. I realised I had found love when there was no need for someone to complete me. The need for something or someone to make me complete was the root of my unhappiness.

The misperception I held about love was I needed someone to give it to me. Through writing this book, and then putting it into practise, I discovered that love is expressed in relating, but the source of love was not a relationship. The source of love is within me.

Love takes me to the places I want to go, whereas fear kept me imprisoned in dull routine. I am now living in India, in the foothills of the Himalayas. I came on a visit two years ago and found I had much more to learn from the people, philosophy and religions. The new edition of In Quest of Love stems from new perspectives derived from living in a culture that contrasts my own. It has challenged any lingering preconceptions I had, while giving me new insights into relationship with others and with the universal field of awareness. 

Writing this book eight years ago, set me on an odyssey of inner transformation. By setting this personal manifesto, it was then up to me to live it. My life became a canvas to experiment with the truth.

The best way to find out who I am, and who I am not, is through my relationships with others. I am deeply grateful to all the wonderful people I have met on this journey of self-discovery for being my guides and teachers.

 Collette O’Mahony (May 2017)

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Future projection can be mentally and physically exhausting. A constant pull to achieve more, leaves you feeling as if there are not enough hours in the day. This is particularly the case if you are bombarded with messages and status symbols from the world around you. These messages give advice on how to look good, what you should wear, how to spend your money and what you need to achieve happiness.

 When a person is unsure about their choices, they are heavily influenced by the world they inhabit to provide answers. Personal choices such as relationships must live up to a list of criteria. A relationship is acceptable if it lives up to the expectation of society. A feeling of discontent arises when a relationship breaks down and blame is directed at the other person for not conforming to the ideal that society dictates.

 If you are not sure what brings joy and contentment, you can be easily led into other people’s perception of happiness. This leaves you dependent on outside influences to answer any questions about relationships and other matters in your life. If you are out of touch with who you really are, it is difficult to have a fulfilling life.

To tune into your true requirements for a happy fulfilling life experience, be still and ask for the truth to be revealed from higher self. We are all unique and we have diverse ways to express feelings of joy. What works for one person may not work for another. You may feel exhilaration when sky diving, but to someone who doesn’t like heights, it would be a scary experience.

 Allow each person to be as they are, to act in a manner they wish, and to see the world with their own eyes. Life experience teaches you what you enjoy and what you don’t enjoy. Focus on the feeling an experience gives you. If it makes you scared or upset, leave it alone, if it makes you joyful, stay with it. Feeling determines the quality of your experiences. You may participate in an activity because it is recommended by a friend or magazine article, but you find it unfulfilling. Trust your feeling body, it is your feedback mechanism from the universal field. Sometimes we focus on an upcoming event and how wonderful it will be. When the time arrives, the feeling is an anti-climax. Trying to project feeling unto a future event uses vast amounts of energy so that the event can never live up to the promise. 

How you feel now is crucial to what you are attracting into your life. Focus on the feeling within, let go of stories and dramas playing out over and over in your mind. Feel the feeling behind them. Feel the pain, grief or fear that continually attracts unwanted experiences. Feelings of fear focus on creating unhappy experiences. Feelings of joy attracts joyful experiences.

Extract from ‘In Quest of Love’ by Collette OMahony

Available on Amazon, Lulu, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and iBookstore.

 

The fairy bride picked the lock

And tiptoed through the summer wood

She gave no mind to life behind

Or shadows thrown by bad or good

 

She gave no mind to wrong or right

Or screeching call of owls at night

She listened for the haunting cries

That called her from her blushing bud

 

Ferns unfurl a tickled fronds

Laughing at her slightest brush

Dewdrops glisten with green eyes

Meadows sway with lightest hush

 

A captive note arrests her breath

Dreamers weave intricate maze

Lithe and quick she shines the light

Illuminating shadow glades

 

She gives no mind to life and limb

Or captor’s hiss from deep within

Her purity will seize the thread

Dangling loose from dreamer’s web

 

She spins a silver spool of light

To catch the rays of stars at night

Now innocence can spread its wings

Making haste for freedom flight

 

She gives no mind to where they fly

Or how tall grasses lift her high

She clicks the lock and in she glides

All nature hails the fairy bride

 

Collette O’Mahony

Emotional maturity is necessary if you are to be part of a loving relationship based on mutuality rather than dependency. If the feelings are mutual, the input is equal. The initial step towards emotional maturity is honesty. Do you love like a child needing attention, praise and reassurance? Do you have a desperate need to hold onto the other person for your emotional security? Do you constantly end relationships because you find faults with the other person? Do you crave the excitement of a new relationship?

Connect with the universal field of awareness to know the truth. The truth helps you move forward. Accept your tendencies in a relationship without judgement or blame. Ask for truth to be revealed in a loving, compassionate way.

If you are easily manipulated in a relationship, or if you tend to be the one who is in control, take time out to develop emotional maturity. Remember, the source of love is within you, not in the relationship. Love comes from you and is expressed in relation to others.

Emotional immaturity is searching for love outside you.

Emotional maturity comes from realising you are the source of love.

If you are at the end of a relationship, or in a separation period, use the space wisely. Time out from being part of a couple allows you to focus on meeting your own needs. Set your intention to connect to your true source of power. Keep repeating your intention every day until you begin to open to the extraordinary power of higher self.

Concentrate on your breathing patterns. Watch the breath as it moves in and out. Breathing happens, you don’t need to force it. It is natural to breathe. Also, it is natural to love. You don’t need to force it or strive for it. Focus on your heart. Feel a warm glow igniting your heart centre. Allow it to expand throughout your whole body and energy field. Practising this on a regular basis lifts your energy vibration and connects you to people and situations that are in harmony with love.

The habitual pattern to look for love on the outside takes time to change. You may find you alternate between sourcing love within yourself, to needing validation and praise from others. Allow whatever frequency you are on to be as it is. Accept what you are feeling now and keep your intention strong for self-acceptance.

When you are accustomed to needing another person for love, whether this is a partner, a parent or a friend, it is magnificent to feel love’s pure energy arising within. It is then you realise the truth, you are love. You are not dependent on others to feel love. Open to this powerful energy that is your life force and allow it to permeate every part of you. Let the overflow expand into the hearts of those around you.

Be the love you wish to receive.

 

Extract from ‘In Quest of Love’ by Collette O’Mahony

Available on Amazon, Lulu, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, iBookstore.