Dr. Judith Orloff MD

 http://www.healthy.net/Health/Essay/Positive_Energy_The_Second_Prescription/605

Imagine an unlimited supply of energy at your fingertips. A powerhouse that never wanes. It's an experience I want you to get used to having. A spiritual practice makes it real in an ingeniously simple way. How? You tap into love, the most irrepressible source of positive energy in the universe. Untainted by guilt, conditions, or fear it's pure power we can wield as individuals and collectively. Even the biggest baddest demons within or without ultimately shrivel in the face of it. Love is our destination. It is waiting just for you.

Many paths lead to the heart--the antithesis of extremist "spiritual" ideologies based on hate. A wise Sufi teacher once said, "Love is the religion, the universe is the book." The type of practice is a matter of choice. It can be traditionally religious: church, synagogue, or mosque. Or like me, you may be more private, prefer meditation or communing with nature. (One patient's Christmas mass is spent at midnight stretched in a God-lit meadow overlooking the Pacific.) For some it may be nameless, the silent place within. Mary Oliver, a poet who's a beacon for me, sanctifies the details of our humanness. In one poem she writes: