mardi, décembre 23, 2003
Love
When you open this book here, it is a wonderful opportunity to discover the real nature of love and to welcome it into your life.
Love is talked about, written about and sung about endlessly. We hear about romantic love, love at first sight, flowers and proposals. We hear about the excitment, the thrill and the joy of love, or the pain, hurt and sadness when it goes wrong. And we come to expect that if we are feeling these emotions we are experiencing love.
But none of these images and descriptions explains the true meaning of love, and because of this we look for love without any idea of what it is and what it will really mean for us either to give or to receive it. Are you searching for an idealised version of love? Do you feel you love someone without knowing who they are? Do you say you love someone you don't like or trust? Then it is time to look at what you really know and understand about love. Remember that love develops over time. It's not appropriate to open your inner self to someone you have just met, no matter how attracted to them you are. For real love to develop both partners must be willing to enter into the relaitonship and grow and learn together. Love isn't chasing after someone who is running away from you; it isn't letting yourself be smothered, hurt or put down and it isn't going along with what someone else wants. Love is best taken slowly, so give yourself time to get to know the other person and to judge whether they are worthy of the love you have to give. Are you both ready to commit to the challenge of nurturing and sharing a growing love?
Loving another person means going behind the public shop window you present, where you display what you feel is acceptable about yourself and instead you share the fears, doubts, dreams and hopes you keep locked away. It involves being brave, honest and open and letting another person get to know the parts of you which you are feel are the least loveable and acceptable. It means opening up your most vulnerable inner self and learning to trust someone enough to let them come close and then even closer.
Being in a loving relationship with another person involves taking responsibility for yourself and accepting your responsibility towards the one you love. It means accepting that their feelings, beliefs and wishes are different from yours but just as valid, and letting go of trying to change them.
Above all love is knowing and being known for who you truly are with complete acceptance. To know another and to let yourself be known in this way is the most rewarding, joyous and nourishing experience life has to offer.
---- "Love Wisdom" by Carolyn Temsi & Caro Handley
shweet dreams;
2:57 PM
