Love

What if we think of love as an ability rather than just a feeling fixed to someone? I sometimes think about how I feel on a morning when I wake up thankful in my whole being. It’s not something that’s coming at me; rather it’s from me, radiating outward. I smile, no, I beam! 

I’m ready for the day, open to anything. Love, looked at like this, is not a yearning, or a feeling of loss, or a desperate clinging. It’s not a commodity I fear I will lose, because it’s mine and I use it as though I have an endless supply. 

I believe love is how I move through my life. When I give it freely, I just want it to wrap me in itself. Giving love is selfless; I don’t expect payback. But I revel in a response that is like looking in a mirror. What a delightful surprise when I find a kindred. Now we can dance and laugh and cavort and discover together. That’s how it works, but I can still hold it carefully in wait by myself.

Love, for me, is like sitting on my doorstep, smiling at passersby, wishing everyone could see the world as I do. An echoed “hello” can be all I need. I constantly defy my father’s caution not to talk to strangers, beckoning them always to come, sit by me here. What makes you happy today? And there lies love.

Love requires …

• curiosity

• trust

• openness

• sharing

• compassion

• understanding

• letting go

• attention 

Once felt, once given, it wants more, always more. It’s a good kind of consumption; there’s always room for more.