What Love Makes Possible
“How do we use love as a tool for peace and joint humanity? It is a powerful restitution.”
When Maggie Doyne was 18 she saw a young girl breaking stones to sell in a dried riverbed in Nepal. She was taking a gap year until Hima stopped her in her tracks.
Hima enthusiastically said: “Namaste, didi!” (“Hello, big sister!”) Still, all Maggie could think was:“What am I supposed to do? In this moment, in this life? What are we, as a human family, supposed to do and be?”
Maggie’s initial calling to send Hima to school was the seed of a mission that soon became the BlinkNow Foundation, which now encompasses a thriving children's home, school, women's center, and more. It’s also the place where she became a mother to over 50 children and supports the flourishing of hundreds more.
I was curious how the last 16 years shaped her answer to that question…
“What can we be? We can be there for each other. We can be a loving force in this world. We can show up in kindness. We can leverage our power, privilege, voice, freedom, and education.
We have a responsibility to break the barriers that we draw around ourselves; To expand our definition of family, what we care about, and how we exist on this planet together.”
She devotes herself to this calling through love —“not in a rose colored glasses kind of way. In a way of: How do we use love as a tool for peace and joint humanity? It is a powerful restitution.”
It’s also an invitation.
“Love is a foundation to build upon…People are asking us: What are your metrics for success now? Some of these things are so hard to quantify.
How do you measure kids dancing and singing, joyful memories, and a happy childhood? It's so hard. But, I know it works.”
Maggie’s description of childhood left me wondering…
What if love was the metric?
How might our lives change if we measured our days by how much we loved rather than achieved?
Perhaps, more importantly, how might we change?
We gain a glimpse into what love makes possible in our conversation about Maggie’s stunning memoir, Between the Mountain and the Sky. She also leaves us with an exercise to experience it ourselves.
Today, consider stepping back in an interaction and asking yourself: “What is the most loving action I can take?” Then, see what happens.
With gratitude,
Jenna