I Wish You Love

On my way to work this morning I ran into one of my neighbors, a young man in his mid thirties. He said he was moving and as neighbors do, I asked him where he was moving and he said to a smaller place. He then indicated that his place was too big for one person and that he’d had all these roommates but they kept falling in love and moving out. So I said, "Well that could happen to you too." But he gave me one of those “Been there, done that, never gonna do that again.” answers. So I said, "Come on, you can do that too, fall in love.” and as I walked away I waved and said “I wish you love.” And then I began to softly hum the tune to that old standard - a song that has been recorded by every crooner from Sinatra to Buble. It’s about breaking up but the sentiment is that no matter what, we all need love and even though this relationship didn’t work out the idea is to stay open to love and the next one will.

So that’s my wish for you today. I wish you love whether you are single like my young friend or in a relationship – let the love come in and find you because love is everywhere. It’s in the beautiful Fall day we are having today, the majestic mountains we can see every single day for those of us living here in Colorado, it’s in the smile of a child, it’s that friend that called you the other day just to chat, it’s in that delicious dinner you had last night, it’s in the smooth, clean sheets you put on your bed this morning, it’s in the greeting of a neighbor, even the fact that you have a nice, cozy home to go to tonight after work and it’s in the fact that you have a job or that there are jobs out there if you don’t and it’s only a matter of time until you get one because we live in one of the most prosperous and yes, love filled nation on the planet.

Now these things are not romantic love, but once we open ourselves up to loving who we are, where we live, what we have in our life in terms of material things and who is in our life as friends, family and neighbors we become loving individuals and once this becomes a habit then we attract romantic love to us, I guarantee it.

As for those of you who are saying a silent, yes, but, let me say this, "Just do it!" An old friend once told me, “Fake it till you make it,” and this is good advice for a lot of things, especially love. It’s like a channel opens up the minute you start looking around you for all the things you love. Once you have that channel - I call it the love channel - then love in all its forms begins to flow into it and this of course includes romantic love.

I would also like to remind you to love yourself first and foremost but not in an egotistical or narcissistic way but in a reverent way – we were given life by a force beyond our own doing whether we believe this happened via a religious or spiritual source or not. It didn't happen by our own personal design so having gratitude for it is to have reverence for it, regardless of how it happened. To love ourselves is to love what we’ve been given by that force and to not love ourselves is to denigrate the source of our being.

By the way, if saying you love yourself sounds too grandiose or too egotistical for you or it just feels too prideful then take an inventory of your strengths and view these as your gifts. For most people, valuing and respecting one's gifts is not too difficult. Then if you use these gifts for the betterment of others then love will simply flow toward you – this too I guarantee.

If, on the other hand, you find that none of this makes sense or you feel that you have no gifts or that you are in some way unlovable, then this is the time to seek out some help from a caring professional whether a minister or a therapist. The bottom line in all this is that a loving heart begins with the self and moves outward toward others and if you don’t love yourself it will be difficult, if not impossible to believe that someone else can love you – so begin today to love, respect and value the life you have been given and see what happens. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Again, I wish you love,

Blessings, Lorraine