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By “love,” I mean a wide range, including compassion, support, friendliness, encouragement, appreciation, and cherishing. It can be expressed in simple or subtle ways, such as a call to a friend, more patience with a partner, saying what you liked about a co-worker’s idea, or seeing the being behind the eyes of a stranger passing on the sidewalk.
And if love is not expressed, it’s still real, and it matters. For example, when things happen at any scale that is or could be awful for others – from your daughter’s friends turning against her to a turn for the worse in a country to the planet overheating and species dying – it’s natural to feel a sense of moral outrage on behalf of other beings. This is a kind of love, even if there is no place to put it. Or you might sense the weariness in the person sitting across from you in the subway and feel some compassion and goodwill. Perhaps you think about a friend with an appreciation or smile to yourself at what a goofball he is.
It’s all love.
It’s been very important to me personally to claim inner freedom to love. I’ve had frustrating struggles trying to get others to love me or to receive my love. But no one can stop us from finding and feeling love inside ourselves.
Love feeds us as it flows out of us. Soothing, calming, centering, and strengthening.
Slow it down. Listen longer. Make room for the heart.
Who else could you love?
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