Choose Love for Yourself and Others

Love is a force for good; being loving is a commitment. This powerful,

often misunderstood energy can change the world. Who and what
we love defines us. We become beautiful when we are loving and are
loved by others. We choose to be loving and lovable. We make
ourselves
worthy of love.
We have a giant capacity to love. What we need to do to increase
love’s
power and to spread more joy to others is to cultivate and maintain a
strong love of self. If we don’t deeply love our self, it is not possible to
be
genuinely loving to others. And when we don’t really like and love who
we are, it is harder for others to find us lovable. People will withdraw
their
love from us if our essential nature is unloving. The first, most
necessary,
and good choice is to go inside and examine your own conscience: do
you
operate from a loving consciousness?
When we are in a loving consciousness, we are full of sunshine and
light, we smile easily, and our joy spreads in all directions. We can
never
love too much when loving is genuine. The sage Lao Tzu taught us to
be empty and be full. The paradox is that in order to fill our hearts
with
sunshine and effervescent loving energy, we have to empty ourselves
of

anger, frustration, hatred, and any negative thoughts and judgments

that
stand in the way of our own light.
People who honor themselves respect the dignity of others. Many of
my readers challenge me when I emphasize the need to center
ourselves
first in order to be able to tenderly care for the needs of our loved
ones.
Self-love is not egotism; it is a commitment to let the loving light of
truth
radiate from the center of our being.
Love is the invisible force for good that is in our human heart. If
everyone loved himself more, there would be less need for hospitals;
there would be more peace around the world. If we cloud over our
true nature, we begin to die inside. Someone who truly loves himself
will not knowingly and deliberately try to harm another person. Our
responsibility as individuals on this planet is to seek and find greater
ways
to love ourselves, to love life more spaciously, and to love and serve
others
more compassionately. Understanding love is sometimes complex, but
it
is the most essential of all endeavors on the path toward the good life.
The spiritual philosopher Stephen Mitchell wrote: “The heart is like a
window.” Our love resides in our hearts. We must clean our windows
to
let the sunlight, air, view, stars, and moon inside. Think of your heart
as
infinite and boundless with billions and trillions of windows,
wondrously
spacious, exposing you to the most breathtakingly beautiful scenery
you
could possibly imagine. Everything pretty you’ve ever seen you still
see
in this luminous inner chamber of your open heart. Every wonderful
experience you’ve ever had lives inside you. Whenever we neglect our
self,
our windows become dirty, we can’t see out as clearly; we are
indirectly
being less loving to others because we haven’t done our inner work,
we
haven’t kept our windows clean.
Love is our vital force, our fuel, our energy, our power. The more we
love, the more we have to give. The supply is unlimited as long as we
fi ll
up our own well—our heart—every day. In order to keep your heart
pure,
full of radiant love, every morning when you awaken, commit yourself
to
choose to be more loving to yourself and others. Charles Schulz, the
creator
of Peanuts, came to the conclusion that “There’s nothing worse than
being

unloved.” I agree and add that there’s nothing worse than being
unloved
because it means we are being unloving. People are starved for
genuine
love. We’re attracted to it and we’re able to share this blessing.
I’m a fan of the romantic poet Robert Browning. The marriage
between him and his beloved wife Elizabeth Barrett is a love story that
has been well documented in their poems. Not all of us are poets, but
we
can strongly believe in the transforming power of love. Nothing is
more
wonderful or feels better than pure, unconditional love.
You should always be able to be yourself in a loving relationship.
The sociologist and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, the author of The Art
of Loving, wrote, “Love is union with somebody, or something, outside
oneself, under the condition of retaining the separateness and
integrity
of one’s own self.” The love we generate and increase will help us to
understand ourselves and others better. The depth of our wisdom is
measured by how openly and profoundly we love ourselves, our lives,
and
others. When we are loving, we give our best to everything we do
because
our hearts and souls are our truest guides.
Love heals us. The cancer doctor and author Bernie Siegel
understands:
“When you affirm your life, you give everyone who comes in contact
with
you a gift, and you fi nd your immortality in the love you leave
behind.”
Try to do everything in the spirit of love that will activate and bring out
all
the bright forces within you. We are made more beautiful, more
lovable,
when we smile. Every kind and tender thought we have will help our
heart to sing.
Choose to be more loving to yourself and others. This is the wisest
choice you can make because joy and happiness will be your spirit-
energy.
As I said in my book Living in Love, love is both sublime and divine.