What is Love?
Love is difficult to explain with words for many of us. I have always pondered the questions...
What does Love mean? What does it look like? How can we access it?
It can be a deeply emotional experience, an esoteric and otherworldly experience, or something completely different. There are many ways to express Love. It is important to understand how we express Love in our lives.
Have you heard of the Love Languages? According to author, Gary Chapman, there are five languages of Love. They are: words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service and physical touch. These are said to be the different ways that we, as humans express Love with one another.
Looking around the world, there are many different versions of what people call Love. It is the one desire we humans share in common, to know and experience Love. What often gets in the way of this is most of us spend our time and energy trying to GET and HAVE Love from others. Love is not an energy for receiving. It is an energy that is meant for giving. With the Love within our souls, we are meant to give Love to ourselves and give Love to others. When we fall into expectancy of another person to Love us back because we Love them, we have now placed a condition on that Love. Once a condition is placed on our Love, it is no longer Love, it is now fear. Placing conditions on our Love is a form of control. It is something many of us are doing completely unconsciously.
How often has someone tried to explain Love to you and you felt more confused afterwards?
Most of us have forgotten that we innately know what Love is because it is the source of our existence. Love is literally the essence our souls are made of. That means we ARE Love. If we ARE Love, then we always have Love available to us. There is no Love outside of us to get from others. There is only Love to GIVE ourselves and others.
Imagine for a moment...
What would it be like to live in a world where we only focus on GIVING Love and not worrying about RECEIVING Love. The journey of getting Love from others comes from a space of emptiness within ourselves. It comes from the fear of our ego. It is the space where wounds of separation and unworthiness live. When we go about life trying to "get" Love, we carry all of our wounds and pain into the experience. This is because we are going against the natural flow of energy, also called resistance. Allow yourself to flow with Love.
We often sacrifice our authentic self to get Love. We bargain with ourselves which mask to wear with which people. We spend too much time trying to find safety in our emptiness, that we forget safety exists in the fullness. The fullness is the product of giving Love.
How badly do you want to feel FULL?
Giving Love to others and not ourselves does not work either. Do not get fooled by the trickster and its illusions in your mind. If you identify as a giver, there is no need to stop giving to others. But, for your well-being, you must maintain balance. To do so, you must give as much to yourself as you do others. Please, do not forget you. You are important, too. The life you desire matters. What needs to shift in you, in order to balance your Love?
The real mastery of Love is BEING unconditional Love.
What does Loving unconditionally look like? It means Loving ourselves and others as they are without needing to change them. It will benefit us all to remember the words of author, Patricia Hayes, "Just because I Love you, doesn't mean I have to take you with me." Loving someone unconditionally does not have to mean they are a part of your life. But it does mean you have Love for them in your heart. It means when you find yourself judging, wronging and shaming them that you remind yourself in that moment, "I AM LOVE" and let Love flow from your heart to that person. Withholding our Love, hurts us far more than it hurts them. Denying your true essence will leave you feeling disconnected in your life. Connect to Love. Connect to you.
The beauty of Love and the soul is that it is eternal and can always be reborn with FORGIVENESS. Forgiveness is an expression of Love. It is an alchemical process for healing. It is vital for our well-being.