What's it all about?

The more I live, the more I learn and the less I worry.
Worry is the work of the ego. It is never constructive and often creates drama where there should be calm contemplation. I am learning every day about what it is to be human and to live amongst the world.

Someone who knows me said they loved me today, just at random as I passed by. I have to admit, it was a shock, not because I thought it was out of place, inappropriate or even untrue, but simply because people don't say it, at least not often. Love has become relegated to rosy words on cardboard which we send once a year. Love has a bad press, we say it hurts, it never runs smooth, it takes work. It's almost as if we have elevated it to such a status that we all feel unworthy of it and are suspicious of people who claim to feel it or understand it.

I think the problem is not love, but our definition of what love is that is the problem.

The word love tends to be only applied to romantic relationships, and in the context of a relationship with one person. I believe that by doing this we not only restrict our ideas about love, but we shackle it and miss its true majesty. What others call love I would call 'specialness'. Our egos thrive on specialness, on exclusion. In other words we feel better about ourselves, and it numbs the pain we feel if we can believe, even for a moment, that someone out there is raising us up above other people because we are somehow more special to them. But the act of doing so, by definition, puts others down. The love I believe in would never do that. We are substituting this singling out for the true feeling of love because it seems to be the only way to assuage our insecurities. Worse still, this idea of love leaves us open to fear - fear that it isn't real, fear that we will lose it somehow, fear that we are not worthy of it, fear that we will end up alone, and without love. We seem to relish in the self-deprecation which this idea perpetuates, and our egos feed off it. The problem with that is that as our ego grows, our true self loses focus and our perception of it is increasingly diminished.

So let's start again with our definition of love.
Let's reclaim the word and redefine what true love is.

Love:
- never favours any one person over another, it is INclusive rather than EXclusive
- is forgetful of the mistakes of others and it gives us the power to truly forgive
- is freedom, it never restricts but blesses what it sees
- is for everyone, in every situation, everywhere
- sees through the ego, cuts through fear and sees only the true self
- is the ultimate healer of our pain

If we are to heal ourselves, our nations, our world, we must start with our own hearts.
We must shift the focus. Instead of seeking perpetually to 'get' or be given love, we must learn to give it, at all times and in all circumstances. Only then will we start to truly understand our place in this world, and the love we give will be returned to us, multiplied beyond our wildest imaginings.

Think about it. What does love mean to you?