What if LOVE went viral?

After deep reflection of the amazing Create Love Conference 2014, I am still in awe. I am still trying to soak in the love that we received and witnessed from the more than 125 women in attendance, at our second annual conference. It exceeded our expectations in so many ways. However the most pervasive questions left looming in my mind are as follows: How can we magnify the love felt in that room? Can LOVE really go viral?

I am a YouTube connoisseur. And if you are even slightly inclined to social media these days, you too have perused the plethora of videos on YouTube. You've seen the videos that go viral overnight: a talking cat, laughing babies, or God help us all--the well-sighted twerking mishaps. Well if that amusing ridiculousness can reach millions and millions across the world, why not a message of love? Is it such an incredulous idea to think that love could multiply, spread the globe and connect billions of people? Call me crazy, and it really is okay if you do, but I believe that it is possible! I definitely think it is necessary. One need not look very far to see how a "love deficiency" has reached pandemic proportions.

I once listened to an audio of self-improvement author, Louise Hay, in which she declared that people don't go hungry due to a lack of food, but rather a lack of love. That statement immediately resonated in my soul. There is so much suffering in the world that has nothing to do with the lack of resources to resolve it. I believe that when egos rise, love dies a slow and painful death; People suffer from a love deficiency. 

Evidence of a love deficiency in our society is glaring, baffling and cunning. It is cloaked in the haves and have-nots, the rich and the poor, race debates and social justice platforms. Yet at the end of the day, it all amounts to the ways in which we minimize the humanity of others to advance personal agendas--The ego rising. It is, in fact, a love deficiency. Below are the statistics that illuminate this deficit quite clearly:

Nationwide there are fewer than thirty safe homes for victims of sex trafficking to receive treatment and services. This severe shortage regularly causes their inappropriate placement in juvenile detention facilities. (Streetlight Tuscon, 2012)
http://nefariousdocumentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/human-trafficking-statistics-sheet.pdf  

Children below the age of 18 years represent between 40 to 50 percent of all forced labor victims. http://www.compassion.com/child-advocacy/find-your-voice/quick-facts/child-labor-quick-facts.htm  

As many as 2 million children are subjected to prostitution in the global commercial sex trade. (U.S. State Department, Trafficking in Persons Report, 2011)
http://nefariousdocumentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/human-trafficking-statistics-sheet.pdf  

After drug trafficking, trafficking in humans ties with the illegal arms industry as the second largest criminal industry in the world today. It is the fastest growing criminal industry. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011)
http://nefariousdocumentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/human-trafficking-statistics-sheet.pdf  

Women and girls make up 98% of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation
http://www.equalitynow.org/node/1010  

Preventable diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia take the lives of 2 million children a year who are too poor to afford proper treatment.
http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-global-poverty#  

270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7 children worldwide).
http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats#fact3  

An estimated 400 million children lack adequate access to clean drinking water.
http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-global-poverty# 

870 million people worldwide do not have enough food to eat.
http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-global-poverty# 

Nearly half of the world’s population (more than 3 billion people) live on less than $2.50 a day. More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty (less than $1.25 a day).
http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-global-poverty# 

Hunger is the number one cause of death in the world, killing more than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-global-poverty# 

Daunting, to say the least! If those statistics don't bring tears to your eyes, inspire you to action, or touch your heart deeply, then I implore you to read them again and check your pulse. This level of suffering should shake up our humanity regardless of religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or socio-economic location. It should arise above the barriers that separate us and meet our souls in a common place. If love were a vitamin, we would need high doses to restore the world to a place of stability. For those of us who believe in God (however you speak the name), we must wonder if that omnipotent force is in utter disbelief at the state of our humanity.

Now, I am an eternal optimist. I believe that as long as we have breath, we have opportunity. There is an opportunity to do something different. We have an opportunity to choose something different; We can choose to CREATE LOVE as a way of life. Simply put, love really can go viral! HERE IS MY CHALLENGE TO YOU - 5 Simple Steps to Magnify Love:

• Make a decision to believe in the power of love. It doesn't matter if it sounds like hocus-pocus, or metaphysical jargon. The truth of the matter is that belief is the foundation for manifesting any vision into reality. You must be willing to believe, with every fiber of your being, that it is possible.
• Write the word love on a piece of paper and hang it, tape it, or place it somewhere you can see it every day. This will anchor love into your subconsciousness, as well as your consciousness. We need to soak in the energy of love at every level of our being. In addition, it is the subconscious that dictates much of our behavior.
• Before you wake up in the morning and before you close your eyes at night, take a mere 3 minutes to meditate on the word love. Breathe consciously while you do so. Breathing always activates the life force, helping us bring thoughts into existence.
• Ask yourself, daily, how can I be love in the world today? It is not a matter of having more loving, but rather the art of being the love what to see in the world.

• Finally, share this article with someone else and offer them a random act of kindness. Share this message with someone else and ask them to do the same. Love is healing; Love is true power, Love is a dynamic, always full resource: Love is all there is: And love is for everyone!

It is my deepest hope that this message of love will go viral and touch the lives of many. Either way, only healing and positive shifts can come from our attempts. So let's make this a joint vision to change the course of humanity! I wish you great success as you embark on your journey to be love and to create more love in your life. Do you accept the challenge?

Nya Akoma! (Take Heart)
Imani Evans, MA
Create Love for Women Who Love Women
www.createloveforwomen.com
www.surviving2thriving.org