love does not diminish
How do you define love or the experience of it? What is it like to experience yourself on an intimate level? I don’t mean physically but emotionally and spiritually? Some associate love with romantic feelings of butterflies in the stomach. You could talk about the sensations you feel when thinking about your loved one. But is love experienced through the mind, the body, or both? Is loving a noun or a verb? How do we know if we have truly loved? What is the measure of having given ourselves fully to love? I do not consider myself an expert on love or a relationship coach. I am as curious as you. What I know is that love does not demand anything of us because it is an empty vessel that needs to be filled. This is the analogy of life itself, where love is never wasted but recirculated.
Is love unconditional for you? Or does it come with requirements? What happens when those requirements are not met, you deny your love for another? Is it possible to maintain the essence of what we are? How can we stop the flow of water in a river? You could say: build a dam. However, if the dam is not strong enough, the water pressure will find its way through or around it. You have no doubt seen tsunamis on television where entire towns are engulfed by the water. Water is a powerful metaphor for love because it can enrich a person’s life, but it can also be destructive if it comes with strings attached.
Do we need love in our lives? What does love offer us in return? Is it intimacy with ourselves or knowing others better? It was Saint Francis of Assisi who once said: “It is in giving that we receive.” He saw love as something that must circulate to permeate our lives and the lives of others. Love is like the Sun that gives of its energy and asks for nothing in return because it is self-sufficient. The more we give love, the more we have. It begs the question: what happens when love is unrequited or the other person stops identifying with love? If love is not returned, it does not diminish the other person’s ability to give or receive it. The sun sets every evening and there is darkness for twelve hours. However, with dawn, it re-emerges bringing energy to sustain life once more. It is a cycle sewn into the fabric of life and so it is with love.
Dare to express love fully
When another person stops loving us, it does not mean that we are not loved. Because you cannot stop the flow, it will naturally find expression in another form. Love is the antidote to fear, hate and anger. It is the one true constant in our lives that is given to us from conception. We are born in love and leave this life knowing that we will continue to love in the lives that follow. The question is: have you dared to fully express love in this life? Have you given love freely and unconditionally? We should be like a sponge filled with water, fully wrung out when our time comes. We must fill our hearts with love and not hold it back for fear that it will not be reciprocated. Because every time we engage in love, it is magnified within every cell of our body. The more we give of ourselves, the more love expands within our hearts.
Knowing this, I invite you to contemplate your relationship with love over the next few days. Where are you holding back love in your life? How is this serving you? Does it bring a sense of security, protection or comfort? Are you willing to break down the barriers that prevent the flow of love? Love does not have to be something expressed between two people, but can be revealed through our life purpose, our hobbies, and our attitude. If you are looking for more love in your life, let go of the barriers that prevent you from expressing it. See if you can find the place inside you full of love and direct it towards something or someone. Love is like a bank account that increases interest with each deposit made. Because if we really want to know what it means to love, we must first experience it wholeheartedly while we have the chance.