This Thing Called Love

Have you ever noticed the slippery slope this love thing can be? How when we don’t have that special someone to love, we tend to believe that’s what we need to be happy? And how about when we are in that love relationship, do we then believe that it’s going to give us what we need to live “happily ever after”?

It’s true that the beginning of a love relationship can give us a high like no other–and who doesn’t love that feeling! But is what we think of as “love” the real thing–or could it be just a masterful disguise?

When we feel loved by another, all does seem right in our world. Romantic love is so potent, in fact, that it can turn even a hardened heart into “mush” or drive a sane person into doing some pretty wild things. Love is indeed our universal language; it’s something we all speak and is the “glue” that binds us to one another.

Love is, unequivocally, the most powerful force in the Universe!

• “Love alone can unite living beings so as to complete and fulfill them . . . for it alone joins them by what is deepest in themselves. All we need is to imagine our love developing until it embraces the totality of men and of the earth.” Teilhard de Chardin

How much of your life have you been searching for someone to love you? If you’re feeling the absence of love, then you’re simply not looking in the “right” place. You’ve bought into the belief that love comes from the outside and that you need it from another to complete you.

The craving for love can lead us to artificial substitutes such as food, drugs, alcohol, sex–or just about anything that brings us similar feelings. These may work in the short-term, but any temporary fix can leave us feeling worse about ourselves and may even lead to an addictive cycle.

We’ve all heard it said that you can’t love another until you first love yourself. How can you give away something that you feel is missing within you? If you don’t believe you’re lovable, if you self-reject, you won’t be able to give–or receive–real love: you can’t dip from an empty bucket! When we do feel the love within, when we’re tuned into our naturally loving Self, we then know the Truth about what it really is to love.

There aren’t really different kinds of love, no matter how it may appear. The love we feel for our parents, family, children, friends and lovers are only variations of the same theme. If there are conditions placed on love, if it’s withdrawn unless we meet certain criteria, then we’re dealing with the ego–an imposter–not love.

So, what’s the secret to finding True Love? 

“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”  Oscar Wilde

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!   ♥