{"id":702,"date":"2011-12-10T18:42:13","date_gmt":"2011-12-10T23:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/?p=702"},"modified":"2011-12-10T18:42:13","modified_gmt":"2011-12-10T23:42:13","slug":"the-many-faces-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/2011\/12\/10\/the-many-faces-of-love\/","title":{"rendered":"The many faces of love"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love is a wonderful emotion that we all seek to experience.\u00a0 It comes in many forms; the love a parent has for a child, the love one feels for a romantic partner, or the love we have for friends and family.\u00a0 We have all said the words \u201cI love you\u201d, but have we really thought about what that means?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of love I\u2019d like to focus on is: a) unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1) the fatherly concern of God for human kind (2): brotherly concern for others b: a person\u2019s adoration for God.<\/em>\u00a0 To me, this captures the essence of what love truly is.\u00a0 God is love, and that love, in my opinion, goes beyond romance or the love of a good book or song.<\/span><\/p>\n

Love is a notion that many crave as badly as a drug.\u00a0 Like a drug, the desire to obtain and keep love makes people do some wild and crazy things.\u00a0 We endanger ourselves, we try to alter who we are and we use it as a means of control.\u00a0 How often have you heard or said yourself \u201cif you love me you would\/wouldn\u2019t…\u201d?\u00a0 Do we really believe that any an action by another that displeases us in an indication of a lack of love, or do we use it to make that person feel guilty for denying us our fix?<\/span><\/p>\n

We seem to spend a great deal of time searching for love or trying to prove our love.\u00a0 Parent lavish their children with gifts to show their love, children do and say what is expected of them to gain their parents\u2019 love and acceptance and lovers put their needs aside and prioritize their partners as a means to illustrate their love.\u00a0 But are any of these things good enough?\u00a0 It seems like no matter how many sacrifices are made in the name of love, we are still left wanting more!<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the reason why I chose the definition of love above, one which talks about the love of God.\u00a0 After reading A Course in Miracles, <\/em>I now understand that God\u2019s love is unconditional and that this love resides in all of us.\u00a0 The Course<\/em> also teaches that God is love and therefore, God resides in all of us as well.\u00a0 It is that understanding that has given me a whole new perspective on love and makes me wonder how many of us truly know what love is?<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While it may seem paradoxical for me to say that the love of God resides in all of us and then ask if we know what love is, I don\u2019t think it is.\u00a0 A Course in Miracles<\/em> teaches that we experience the opposite of love in our lives because we believe we are separate from God and each other.\u00a0 That notion, for me, has explained so much of my own experiences with love in the past.\u00a0 How could I say I loved anyone when I had no grasp of the idea of connecting with the love in me \u2013 I didn\u2019t even know it existed!\u00a0 If we can\u2019t love ourselves, how do we expect to find it in or with others?<\/span><\/p>\n

This brings me back to the concept of unconditional love, and another reason why I question whether most of us have truly experienced love.\u00a0 So much of the love that we give is based on conditions.\u00a0 If this wasn\u2019t the case there wouldn\u2019t be so many divorce battles or relationships with family and friends that can go sour at the turn of a hat.\u00a0 If we really loved the people in our lives, we would be able to let them go with love instead of resentment and bitterness.\u00a0 We have become so conditioned to making others responsible for our happiness that we get angry when they do things that we don\u2019t like.\u00a0 The reality is that no one is responsible for our happiness but us.\u00a0 If we really think about it, how many of us have never had a desire that didn\u2019t fit with the desires of friends or family or a romantic partner.\u00a0 Why does it have to be a choice between your happiness and theirs?\u00a0 If we truly loved each other, wouldn\u2019t we be supporting one another in finding our own happiness rather than giving that power to someone else?<\/span><\/p>\n

The fact that we have complicated the idea of love so much illustrates to me the power of the ego, as well as how insane it truly is.\u00a0 Even as I write this, I am embarrassed to think about how unhappy I have made myself in my search for love outside of me!\u00a0 How is it possible that we have made something so beautiful become something so hard to actualize?<\/span><\/p>\n

As we approach the start of a new year, I am making a pledge to myself to be more loving to myself and to those around me.\u00a0 No strings attached and no expectations.\u00a0 I want to experience what real love is, love without pain, fear or hurt \u2013 unconditional love, just as God intended. \u2665<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Love is a wonderful emotion that we all seek to experience.\u00a0 It comes in many forms; the love a parent has for a child, the love one feels for a romantic partner, or the love we have for friends and family.\u00a0 We have all said the words \u201cI love you\u201d, but have we really thought […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[352,164,353,354,355,356,357,358,359],"class_list":["post-702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughtoftheday","tag-adoration","tag-course-in-miracles","tag-definition-of-love","tag-friends-and-family","tag-god-is-love","tag-parents","tag-romance","tag-romantic-partner","tag-searching-for-love"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harbirzinc.com\/sandradawes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}