Love

This four letter word is more demanding of our thoughts than the strongest of all gale winds, wetter than the wettest of all storms, deeper than all rivers, and thicker than all trees. It follows us on every path, every road, greets us at every waking, and usually sends us to sleep every night. No matter at work, play, home, or away, love follows us.

Wherever you go, there you are ~Confucius

Love often sways our mood greatly. Those of us that get effected by sadness, love is usually a large player in that game. Happiness is usually associated with the freedom to love. Sometimes woes with our family comes from wanting to send with love some wisdom, and having our love insulted when the other doesn’t jump up and thank us for that same wisdom from the heart.

It is a weird bird, this love. Is it pesky? Is it warranted? Is it necessary? Are we being told to love, and therefor wanting to love?

My Feelings

I have many thoughts on this thing we call love. I have loved deeply, I have been loved deeply, I have broken hearts, I have lost love, and I have had my heart broken. But as I understand more about life, the more I learn that my quest for peace, comes hand in hand with my quest to love.

In our youth we endlessly fall head over heels. Sometimes we even gather up the courage to act on that love, sometimes it lingers for so long it becomes part of our essence. Sometimes it’s just a fleeting desire, where we confuse lust for love. But what causes us to love? Is it an instinct thing? Do we have love, companionship, and lust ingrained so deeply in our DNA that we have no choice in the matter of falling in love?

I think about what we are influenced by. We have movies, books, advertisements, photographs, wedding parties… all with love splashed all over them endlessly. In traditional circumstances, love wouldn’t have been possible without the joining of love: a marriage. Do these external events, things, have impact on our own choices in matters of love?

I think any discussion about love necessarily warrants some thought on how culturally acceptable it is to feel love and seek love out. For after all, what good movie, new or old, doesn’t have a spicy love plot? What book doesn’t have a love plot? I was recently watching a biography on Hitler, and even that had a love story intertwined in there. Our parents encourage us to love to bring them grandchildren. We encourage love for mother earth, to show her love and respect in our daily activities. We love animals, and feel emotions similar to love when we get new things. All schools encourage a popular conception of love with valentines day hearts. We mark our calendars to show dates recognizing loved ones birthdays, anniversaries, mothers day, fathers day…

I think that love has become a catch-all phrase for every action we should hope to cultivate when engaging with our world. I love the earth, I love the blue skies and the defined clouds that sometimes float by, I love my vegetable garden, I love my parents and my brothers and my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmother! I love one moment, and my thoughts can move to another that I love just as easily in the next. But what does love mean in all these situations, and where has it spawned from?

I believe…

I believe in peace. I believe in the natural harmony of the ways of the world. Without this belief, I feel that I would be left not comprehending anything that occurs. I believe in emotions. I believe in the power of exercise and how it can allow my thoughts to become clearer by de-stressing the situation and allowing me to see with new eyes. I believe in instincts, and omens that help lead me forth. I believe in practice, and repetition that helps ensure memory retention.

I believe in you 🙂 .

Believing in all of these things, all of these very natural things that occur to most all humans, good or bad, how can I question the callings of love? Truth is, I don’t question whether or not love exists. What I am curious about is where it comes from, and how it’s influenced.

Capacity

What I understand is that there is good and bad in everything. This is our balance. Our qi. Our yin/yang. What I understand is that we must accept to be loved, and we must share our love with the world. I understand that though this exchange may start off as a daunting task, with each new capacity to love that we let into our hearts, our love strengthens and grows and learns.

So, what I conclude is that love is in us. Obvious I guess – queue pounding heart. Whether it’s been programmed in us over centuries really becomes irrelevant when we allow ourselves to acknowledge what we have inside. Choose to be aware of the existence of energy flow, observing it coming to us and how we give it back, from where it came from and what it was influenced by all really becomes secondary to the fact that it exists. I understand how much more welcome love is than hate, and this is observably relevant to everything.

I believe we all have the capacity to love. I believe that once we accept love into our lives, once we focus on loving the rest of our lives, we are able to better understand our own love. Like with all things, the more we love, the more we practice this effort, the more capable we are of love itself.

Do you love?