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In this article I want to give you a key into a life filled with love. It is really quite simple, like most things. It is about taking the chances people give you to love them. But, how do we know they just gave us a chance to love them?
I believe that every time someone shares their excitement with you, they’re giving you an invitation to share a moment of love. Lets say you’re at the office with someone, and they say, “Wow, look at that bird”. How do you react? This is a moment where you can love. You can let go of what you are doing; let go of your initial judgment of why the bird is probably not that interesting; let go of whatever thought that hinders you from walking over to your coworker. Then you go stand beside that someone, and share their excitement. You can look at the bird and feel what the other is feeling. You can look into their eyes for two seconds of magic and then go back to whatever you were doing. Everything is magic if you let it.
Kids often reach out for love more often than adults. They give us chances to love them again and again. For many it is difficult to let go of the judgments and see the excitement kids have. You might think that their excitement is childish. It’s not about what it is they’re excited about, however. It’s about love. They might show you a drawing they made that at best looks like a sheep, but they’re so excited about it. You could say, “nice”, without ever taking your gaze off the TV, or you can turn off the volume, go over and sit beside them and say, “Wow, I love the colors you used here. So vibrant and beautiful.”
You see love is something we do. We’ve been misguided into thinking that love is a feeling. Sure, there are a lot of feelings that come from love, but they are results of love. They are not love. Love is a verb. You do it. Love is an absence of judgment. It is pure openness to another person. When your wife comes home to tell you about the fun thing that happened at the coffee machine, do you put away whatever you are doing and enjoy the story? Do you enjoy the excited twinkle in her eyes when she thinks back on how James spilled coffee on his pants?
Excitement is how we reach out to other people. Excitement is what makes us feel alive, and we want to feel alive together with others. We all get excited about different things however, but you can let yourself get excited about anything. You can step into that other person’s space for a few moments. You can have their excitement. You’ll find it in their eyes.
Every time you say no to their excitement you say no to love. You step a little step away from them. Every time you get excited with them, you love, and you take a step closer. Say yes to the present moment together with others. Say yes to love.
Love,
G
