We all agree that Love is the most magnificent and powerful force in the Universe. When the Beatles sang “All We Need is Love” we all sang along. We agree that Love is pure and kind and unconditional. In fact, few are the weddings I have been to, which didn’t mention that “love is patient and love is kind…” and all of the other traits found in first Corinthians 13:4.
So how can it be that this force, which is perfect and good, is also the source of tremendous pain and despair. How can we agree that all we need is Love, when so many have gone as far as ending their lives ‘because’ of a love gone wrong. The problem is not Love itself, the problem is our miss-understanding of what Love is.
We are told that Love is a two-way street, that it is a 50-50% proposition, that it takes two to tango. We hear descriptions about what love ‘does’ and what it ‘looks’ like and how to ‘know’ if someone loves you…I particularly enjoy that one…. All the while never remembering that Love simply ‘is’.
We have been so conditioned to find the signs that let us know someone loves us, that we miss the very feeling we seek because it can only be felt when expressed by us and not when expressed for us. In other words, the feeling of Love is in the giving and never in the receiving.
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Here is evidence. I am sure I am not the only person who had an unwelcomed admirer during their High School years. Of course, when I say admirer, I mean someone who was just IN LOOOVE with you and whom, in turn, you did not want AT ALL. For me, this poor soul was Manuel.
Manuel was nice guy, not bad looking, and a friend. Manuel had a severe crush on me which he never bothered to hide from anyone, which of course, gave my friends a reason to tease me mercilessly. He would wait for me in the mornings, and at the last bell. He looked for me during lunch and though I wouldn’t sit with him he would always be near.
The thing is, even as the Love Manuel felt for me was so palpable to everyone including myself…I never ‘felt’ his love. He was the only one who could ‘feel’ it because he was the one expressing it… at nauseum. The only way I could have felt his love would have been if I felt love for him, and then expressed it. This is the way Love is felt by ALL of us. If we are willing to be honest and only look within we will not be able to argue with this.
So going around looking for proof that someone loves us is a foolish thing. For even if we find the evidence we will not feel the love until it is us demonstrating it.
Not a give and take, nor a two-way street, neither a 50-50%. Love is only give, and only 100%, and Love is indeed a One way Street…. And you are the only one on it…
So, what are you waiting for… express your love right now… a little message… a note that says “Thank you…”, a tender look… a sweet caress… last time I checked, these things were all free.
Shayla Rivera – #AwarenessBeginsChange
P.S. I would like to say here that I was not the gorgeous beast in high school that I am today, so I couldn’t understand the infatuation he had for me. I am sure Manuel is a now a serious rich hottie who jet sets around the world and cannot remember the name of the girl he used to like. To my credit, I was never mean to him.