The Inner Peace of Loving
Love is one of the strongest emotions we can experience in our lives. It can be an overwhelming feeling of peace and love that sweep over us and leave us smiling and having a good time. To experience love is to live it fully – to feel being loved, accepted, cared for, and simply being happy. Love is also the source of motivation and self-worth in most humans.
What does love feel like? Love involves a wide range of positive and negative emotional and physical states, from the deepest interpersonal bond, the highest personal ethic, the simplest recreational pleasure, to the highest spiritual aspiration. People who love to experience a wide range of responses to their love, ranging from appreciation to complete overwhelming and from grudging acceptance to total worship.
How do you love? By definition, love is the bonding of two beings for the purpose of happiness and fulfillment of each other’s potential. The love between a husband and wife is a union of two souls who become one flesh. A mother loves her children because she wants them to grow up to be exactly what they are. An employer loves his employee because the worker provides him with a productive and dedicated person. Love is a very special bond, not only between individuals but within entire groups or communities as well.
If we want to understand love more fully, it helps to examine our own motives for loving. Most of us love people because they fulfill our emotional and psychological needs. This is a natural and even beneficial response to forming a close bond with another human being.
Some people experience love as a reaction to being mistreated by others. They experience love when someone tells them how great they are or when they receive an award for their exceptional work. Other people experience love when they have a pet that gives them company and protection. Still others experience love when they are lavished with gifts or when they are given time or space. The experience of love varies greatly from person to person and from life to life.
The most important aspect of loving is the ability to love yourself. Loving yourself means accepting yourself as you are now. It also means loving your relationships as they are and finding joy, beauty, and happiness in the people involved. When you embrace all of this, you will find an inner peace that enables you to live a happy and fulfilled life.