Love

I’m deliberately repeating the intro quote here because I want to make sure you read it. :)

Isn’t it kind of BIZARRE that we easily spend years and tens of thousands of dollars on our educations and often don’t spend a minute or a dollar studying what is arguably the most important subject of our lives: LOVE?!?

I think so, too.

Thankfully, we’ve got Buscaglia to help us out!

Go buy your books on Love and take some workshops! Become a master!

As Leo says: “I would not want to form a partnership with an architect who has only a little knowledge of building or a broker who has a limited knowledge of the stock market. Still, we form what we hope to be permanent relationships in love with people who have hardly any knowledge of what love is.”

And, remember: “It’s never too late to learn anything for which you have a potential. If you want to learn to love, then you must start the process of finding out what it is, what qualities make up a loving person and see how these are developed. Each person has the potential for love. But potential is never realized without work. This does not mean pain. Love, especially, is learned best in wonder, in joy, in peace, in living.”

…

(Where to start? Well, if you’re feelin’ it, DEFINITELY start by picking up this book, read it, mark it all up. Start practicing what you’re learning. And, I *highly* recommend Gay & Katie Hendricks’ work on Conscious Living & Loving. I’ve spent 5 days in their workshops with my love and the experience was absolutely transformative. Read the Note I wrote on their work, learn more about what they’re up at hendricks.com and check out their book Conscious Living!)

Let’s start with Rule #1: You must…

That’s a very powerful rule: We can only give to others what we have ourselves.

Reminds me of Ayn Rand’s comment (see Notes on The Fountainhead): “To say ‘I love you,’ one must first be able to say the ‘I.’”

More Buscaglia on this them: “To the extent to which you know yourself, and we are all more alike than different, you can know others. When you love yourself, you will love others. And to the depth and extent to which you can love yourself, only to that depth and extent will you be able to love others.”

And: “To love oneself is to struggle to rediscover and maintain your uniqueness.”

OK.

You’ve climbed up the (precarious!) stairs on your way up to the high dive.

You’ve walked to the edge.

You peer over.

* voice in head *

“OMG!! That’s far down there!! Gaaahhhhhh!”

Now…

Jump!

Immerse yourself in life!! :)

And, remember Joseph Campbell’s wisdom: “A bit of advice given to a young Native American at the time of his initiation: ‘As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm. Jump. It’s not as wide as you think.’”

…

The easiest way to practice jumping in?

Another one of my favorite teachers, Wayne Dyer, talks about the power of “YES!” in his must-read book The Power of Intention (see Notes).

He says: “One of the most effective means for transcending ordinary and moving into the realm of extraordinary is saying yes more frequently and eliminating no almost completely. I call it saying yes to life. Say yes to yourself, to your family, your children, your coworkers, and your business.”

Dyer continues by urging his readers to adopt the attitude of the Sufi poet and mystic, Hafez:

“I rarely let the word No escape
From my mouth
Because it is so plain to my soul
That God has shouted, Yes! Yes! Yes!
To every luminous movement in Existence
Say ‘Yes!’”

…

And, from another Sufi poet, Rumi:

“You were born with potential.
You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams.
You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling, so don’t.
You have wings.
Learn to use them and fly.”

…

So, say “YES!!” and remember to:

How about you?

Are you falling “in” and “out” of love?

Or are you growing in love?

Powerful.

Do you fight change?

Think of ways that you may cling to how things are…

Can you see how this is an obstacle to fully opening to love?

Life is change. We need to learn to open to the experience of the natural unfolding of life and flow with rule #1: Things change. :)

Let’s appreciate others today.

Today’s questions: Who do you love and who loves you?

I love:______________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

I’m blessed to be loved by:________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Wow.

Isn’t it amazing how much energy we expend trying to be someone we think others want us to be?

You might have noticed that that’s incredibly hard work. :)

How about this: Just be yourself for a day. All of you! See how that feels.

And, remember: “You can only be ‘real’ on your path. The hardest thing in the world is to be something you’re not.”

And, check this out from Carlos Castaneda (see Notes on The Wheel of Time). It’s one of the most powerful passages I’ve ever read. In fact, I’ve read it dozens of times and have found guidance from it during some of the most important decision-making moments in my life: “Each path is only one of a million paths. Therefore, you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path. If you feel that you must not follow it, you need not stay with it under any circumstances. Any path is only a path. There is no affront to yourself or others in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. I warn you: look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself and yourself alone one question: ‘Does this path have a heart?’ All paths are the same. They lead nowhere. They are paths going through the brush or into the brush or under the brush. Does this path have a heart is the only question. If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn’t, it’s of no use.”

Be you.

Choose the path with heart.

That’s definitely worth a re-read.

I love to envision love as the dynamic between two independent, creative individuals consciously choosing to support one another in the process of their own actualization. THAT is the ideal to which the relationship is committed. NOT primarily to the other individual “no matter what.”

For true love we need to maintain our commitment to continual becoming—NOT to the attachment we may feel to the other.

Fun!

And, in the process, we:

Pssstttt…

Just a friendly reminder:

We’re not going to live forever!

This isn’t a dress rehearsal!

Wake up!!!

Live. Love. Be. Dance. Smile. Laugh. Hug. Create.

(And all that good stuff! :)

Wow. Who do you know that could use a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment or the smallest act of caring?

Yourself? Some friends and loved ones?

Let’s not underestimate the power of love and remember to:

So…

What’re you living for?!!?