I’m going to talk about the Power of Love today. The emotions that arise when we feel loved are strong. The words to express what we feel are many times hard to articulate, but we know what it is when we feel it. Love does not start with a feeling---no that’s lust. Love is an action word that can only be ignited when something is set in motion. It is my belief that love is the most powerful word and the most powerful emotion that we can express. Hate is powerful too, but love always wins in the end. Let’s look at the five steps to love and what that means, looks like and feels like:
Step 1: Believe in Love Love is one of the hardest things to explain, but something that is felt by everyone at some time. I read recently that when you say, "I love my work," or "I love my partner," you are expressing belief and showing faith in something “outside of yourself.” As good as that is, even better is to have faith in love as “part of yourself.” Belief in love is showing that you have the faith to accept and partner with something or someone outside of yourself, but it does begin with you. First, you have to believe that you are loveable. You are worthy of being love, of finding love and showing love.
Step 2: Don't Limit Love to a Few People and Deny It to Others “Love your neighbor as yourself” Matthew 22:39. It’s easy to say that we have to love everyone, but sometimes it’s hard to “feel” love for everyone. Still, we must because everyone is worthy of being loved. They may not know how to accept it or show it. To find love, we have to extend it to others. To leave others out of your love is the same as inviting them to leave you out too.
Step 3: Make the Search for Love an Inward Search There’s an old saying “Charity begins at home.” We have to work daily to invest in ourselves, to show love and care for ourselves. In doing so, we show others that we are worth the effort. If you feel good about yourself, it’s hard for others not to feel good about you too. Once you find love for yourself inwardly, it’s a cinch allowing yourself to love others.
Step 4: Seek Other People Who Value Love As Much As You Do (in the way that you do) Look around your family and your community at those who show love to others and ask them how they are able to do that. Their stories will encourage you to let the walls down to love. When you make the “choice,” and believe me love is a choice, to allow love in your life, you seek out the person who sees and reacts to love in the same way that you do. Relationship experts call that compatibility. If you know you are a hugger, seek out another hugger, otherwise you will feel shunned when they don’t return the affection and they will feel smothered by your attention.
Step 5: Believe in Love As a Powerful Form
The first four steps depend on this one, believing that love has its own power. This is a power to transform. It's a power that cuts through doubt, suspicion, distrust, and even hatred. Unless love has its own power, there are too many reasons to act from a place void of love.
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