What’s Love Got to Do with It?
What’s love got to do with it? Everything, as it turns out.
The act of loving has been much on my mind this week. Love as a verb, not an emotion or a feeling. It’s such a powerful force for good. And I find it endlessly ironic that I hang on to frustration, resentment, judgement so easily. These are on the exact opposite side of the wheel of life from love.
Why do I do that?
Why do any of us do that?
Who knows. I only know that we can choose differently but it takes real effort.
Maybe love has been on my mind because spring is such a time of transformation and new beginnings.
That could be, but I think love is on my mind because when I am regularly spending time in my place of sanctuary, my mind quiets enough to step on to the Divine Ground within me, where I can access that inner citadel of sacredness and wisdom that we all have. I use my outer sanctuary to reach my inner one, and so much love and inspiration comes through.
Also, it's entirely possible that I"m just tired of being annoyed at people.
(I’m laughing as I write this, thinking of Weezer in the movie Steel Magnolias “being in a bad mood for 40 years”).
Popular culture presents love as an emotion. It’s in songs, in film, it’s on Instagram. But I really have come to believe that love is much different than that. It’s a choice. It’s an action. Heck, you could even call it a universal energy.
I don’t know how to break it to you, but loving other people isn’t always easy — in fact sometimes it’s downright difficult. Shocking, right?
I think of the millions of times in my own life when I have experienced negative reactions to the behavior and words of another person. But in this moment of sanctuary here with you today, I suddenly see clearly that the people in our lives that rub us the wrong way, that act against us and trigger us are actually gifts.
Gifts? Are you sure?
Yes.
They bring with them the opportunity for us to level up, to choose love instead of hate or resentment. They push us to work for that loving posture. They push us to make the effort to find what is good so that we can stay in a place of loving action.
We don’t have to love their actions, their words or what they did to us last week. We don’t have to love their political views or the way they cut us off in traffic or the terrible music they put on. We don’t even have to love the way they chew or discipline their dog or leave a mess in the kitchen (my husband is now convinced this is about him—he's not entirely wrong).
But it strikes me that when we understand that part of our job as humans on this earth is to love each other, we can indeed love them on a soul level. We can choose love instead of anger. Love instead of giving in to that hot head of ours building up a head of steam.
And choosing love guides what we do next.
I heard Michelle Obama in an interview say that when her girls are hurt or angry at other people and at injustice, she advises them, “They go low, we go high.” Brilliant.
That’s it.
They go low, we go high.
Regardless of what happens to us, we get to choose our response.
And that’s our opportunity today (and every other day for the rest of our lives). We get to choose love. We get to act in love. We get to pause and breathe and decide to love. It feels so much better than the alternative.
What are you choosing to love right now? Share with me in a message or in the comments below. Hearing from you is one of my most favorite parts of my week!
With buckets of love and gratitude,
Lisa