“And whether we love, or close our hearts to love, is a mental choice we make, every moment of every day.” Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love
I Love You.
Three words.
Three powerful words.
Three powerful words that are sometimes very hard to speak out loud.
Three powerful words that are sometimes very hard to speak out loud AND words we all crave to receive AND all fear to hear.
Isn’t that interesting? How these three words can instill both terror and Joy at the same time?
Of course, the sweating nerves come from the meaning behind these three words, but nonetheless, we still put a lot of weight on these words. Whether it is something that you say to your lover, your mother, your father, your friend, your boss, when we speak these three words, we are instantly put into a vulnerable place.
Questions flood in -
Is this how I truly feel? Will the receiving person reciprocate the Love? After “I Love You” is spoken, what happens next? Will I die after I say these words, because I feel like I may die, and though I know that I won’t die, I still may die, right?
Let me take you back. Way back. Back to a time that you may not remember. I want to take you back to the point in time when you were born.
:Cue time travel music:
When you were born, you came into this world with one mission in mind : to Love.
We are born, and all we want is Love. Well, we want food, sleep, and someone to change our diapers as we confusingly feel something squishy, but other than that, we arrive on this earth with an open mind, a curious spirit, a dreamer’s imagination, and a heart full of Love to give and receive.
We give and take Love Freely. We don’t know any better - this is our mission.
And then...life happens.
We learn disappointment. We learn heartbreak. We start to create rules and ideas about Love. That to ask for it is too painful. To give it is too exhausting. To hold it for ourselves is too selfish.
We start to believe that our Love is vulnerable. And vulnerability is bad because it can give us physical sensations of pain which make us feel uncomfortable.
On the other side, we also know that saying “I Love You” can bring wonderful feelings of Joy, Happiness, Peace, and Unicorns running in fields of flowers, hearts, and gumdrops. But even then a feeling of fear is present underneath that, even if it’s slight, that the Love is still too precious and may be taken away.
So we put walls up. We hold our Love close, and guard it. We believe that we have a small, tiny, espresso cup amount of Love to give, and so we must be super careful not to use it up, because if we use it up then it’s gone forever. We decide to pick and choose how we are going to Love.
Interesting stuff. And extremely understandable.. But there is another way.
This is the Truth : when it comes to the capacity of Love, we are born with an infinite amount. Yes. An infinite amount of unconditional Love.
The only person that chooses not to give it to another, receive it, or channel it to ourselves is…you know...you guessed it - You!
We chose to make our Love vulnerable and breakable. But if we are born with an infinite amount of Love, there is no need to believe that the Love is vulnerable and breakable.
Is there room in your world to give your Love Freely?
What would it feel like if you did? Can you imagine it? To finally be able to say “f*** it!” and be our Loving selves, bursting from every pore?
I imagine that if we chose to Love the way we want to Love, as Freely and unconditionally as possible, we will be happier, stronger, braver, more in charge of our feelings, and more in touch with our natural being. Our world can change.
So, I dare you. I dare you to tell someone that you Love them. Love Freely starting today. Just go for it. Start it, with someone you know, and commit to showing your Love Freely. And then grow into Loving your neighbor, your grocery clerk, your bartender. Just try it. Make it a game. See how it feels.
The alternative is to continue holding back, and staying in a place of fear. I suppose that can work too.
Share your Declaration to Love Freely on Facebook here! Or comment below on how you choose to show that you Love Freely!
I Love You. Yes, I said it.