What is Love? ("Baby don't hurt me")

 Love is strange word. It means different concepts to different people.  Other languages have captured the concept of "love" to a much deeper extent than American English.  Greek and Latin, for example, both have over 5 different words to explain the feelings associated with "love."  

American English uses one word: LOVE.  

I LOVE tacos, my grandmother, my fiancé, my dog, and the sunshine. Perhaps in American English the concept of "love" has been simplified into meaning: something that gives our heart warmth and pleasure?  "So," my friend asks, "what does it mean to fall in love then, in this world where "love" seems so fickle?" 

I am not an expert at this.


Friend: "So, how do you fall in love?"

Wise Human Nearby: "Oh, deary, you CHOOSE to love someone. You just let yourself trust them completely with you.  You choose to jump in."

Friend: "...uh...that sounds super scary!"

Wise Human Nearby:  "Oh my, yes. Love is super scary AND worth every risk."

Other Wise Human Nearby:  "Vulnerability is the doorway to deep connection." 


Pleased to be the observer in an unexpected conversation with sweet, wise strangers, I reflected on their thoughts for a moment, adding to them ideas shared by others over time. I am still not 100% sure how to put love into words, in my head it is a wispy combination of gentle reds and purple hues, gracefully dancing, with little white fireworks of color blended in to brighten the views.  

In words:

It seems that love grows when we let it grow.  We feel attraction and are pleased with someone's company and then we let those feelings overtake us, and we approach everything about that person with more grace and patience...focusing on the positives.  We choose to be thankful for the other.  Sometimes it is a surprise because thankfulness and attraction have grown over time.  Other times we are more aware of our choice, and there is a point in which we decide to love the other.  Either way, it seems that TRUE love grows. It is an ever-blooming process not a simple hit-and-run destination.  

Care to add words to this canvas of thought?  Please do! 


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