To Love With All Your Heart

A beautiful image of two white swans on a still lake at sunset.

Love is friendship that has caught fire.

It is quiet understanding, confidence, sharing, and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses. Ann Landers

Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation. Rabindranath Tagore

It is love, not reason, that is stronger than death. Thomas Mann

No matter who they are, everyone secretly chases and needs to be loved! Every person everywhere deserves to be loved.

Genuine love is never-ending. In that, the more love you give away. The more love you have to give away. Isn’t this amazing?

In this age of problems that are increasingly out of our control. You may feel that there is little you can do. Little you can do to make a difference!

Unfortunately, now more than ever before it is essential to reach out. Reach out with all your heart’s love. Reach out and genuinely care. One person at a time, maybe.

You to touch, care, and love everyone. Only God the Father has the infinite, perfect, and unconditional love capable of this.

You can and do love those your life touches with all your heart. Your love can and will turn darkness into light. Your love can connect your heart to another.

There are no attachments to your genuine love. It is a gift offered authentically and without cost. Her happiness is your only motivation. Your goal is that she finds peace. Your pride is that she feels loved.

This may remind you of your total and ever-lasting love given to your child. This love has no bounds. There is absolutely nothing you would not do to keep your child safe.

Pause for a moment. What does true heart-felt/unconditional love mean for you? Does this love speak directly from your heart? Is this love gentle, patient, and compassionate? Listening and watching for the needs of the other?

Do you give a sense of trust and safety? Allowing the other person to share her troubles? Share her joy.

There is no replacement for this deep, heartfelt, unconditional love. Your primary concern is the needs of the other person.

You demonstrate all these qualities calmly and soothingly. Patiently reaching out with hands of love. The other person feels comfortable, safe, and reassured. Embraced and covered with selfless and unconditional love.

What oh! So many people are lacking today. Is true respect for who they really are.

I am proud of being different and unique. But, sadly was not the case as a young child in primary school. I was a migrant from England. I faced discrimination on a daily basis.

I still remember and feel the hurt. The taunting laughter and words of discrimination. The children thought it was a game and a joke. They never saw my tears.

No one should have to face such hatred. Simply because others view them as different.

After all, we are different and unique from each other.

You are above those hateful games. You use your words to comfort and love. To respect others and value their differences. You see diversity as a means of enrichment in our world. Where different cultures add to the quality of each nation and society.

Just a stroll along any city street and you will find an assortment of different nation’s restaurants. Which will you choose tonight? Life would be much duller without this mixture of cultures and nations.

Respect is an essential element of your nature. Handed out abundantly to all you touch. It makes life more colorful. As people feel welcome and comfortable in your company.

Maybe, while taking your evening commute home on the train. Your fellow passenger is from a completely different country. Still, you quietly and tentatively ask how she is. Not speaking too much English. She is shy at first. As the trip passes. Her fascinating story unravels. You learn so much about her country. Her culture. And so much more.

Her whole being shines. She may be used to a different type of greeting. One which she has grown accustomed to. Your loving sign of respect shined on her day.

You have learned that each person you touch deserves to be loved.

Even those who do things you may not approve of. You try to love the person, sometimes, not the things they do.

In loving the people you meet empathy is an important part of who you are. You feel somehow you understand the emotions of the person you are with.

It takes me a little while sometimes to experience true emotional empathy with people I meet for the first time. I try to make the effort.

I love to hear people’s stories. The emotions behind these stories add drama and humor. So, I take all the time that is needed. I listen, truly listen with an open heart.

I have heard such wondrous and funny tales. Tales of countries far and wide. Stories of the Second World War, only the funny side, thank goodness. I have had times when stories led to friendship.

Have you experienced times when you almost sensed what the other person was feeling? Did this emotional connection forge a bond, that strengthened with time?

Empathy combined with heartfelt love can heal wounds like nothing else.

You never judge others, that is simply not part of your nature.

I have experienced the negative effects of being judged by others.

So, judging people I meet for the first time is not part of me either.

I hope this is why new friends love to share their stories. I try to understand each person and who they really are.

When you next meet somebody for the first time. Is sincere and emotional empathy part of your repertoire? Are you able to truly understand who they really are?

Perhaps, you have heard of the saying: “Walk a mile in his shoes.”

You can at times and to some degree experience the feelings for yourself of a loved one. Through the power of your mind’s imagination. Almost as if you had swapped places.

If we all were just a little more empathetic. Actions would be taken to help those in need.

To love with all your heart is an ambition we share. A part of who we are.

You try to love without question each person you meet.

To love with love as deep as that which you give your child. Unconditional, selfless, and without cost. Without limits.

You aim to give your love without exception. All are loved as equals.

Emotional empathy is used to understand and walk alongside each person you meet.

This article is also published in Medium.

https://medium.com/@dianemarkey920/to-love-with-all-your-heart-42def502954f