Love is a battlefield . . . or so it was said in a 70’s classic. But can that be true? Can love be painful, hurtful, deadly? Or is that a byproduct of a misconstrued love relationship gone bad? It is in the definition of love that holds the key. Love is sacred, love is kind, love is never boastful, love is all there is . . . is that the same love that can be seen as a battlefield? Love hurts, says another rock classic – we’ve all felt heartache: that is what songs are made of; that is what poetry and movies and legends are made of. Maybe love should be seen as an ingredient: when it is in your relationship with another it adds so much heartfelt joy, but then when there is the feeling of lack or the feeling of lost of that ingredient, we weep, we scream (sometimes hitting and punching), we beat ourselves up for our actions trying to understand how and when and why we lost that golden ingredient called love. But what if love was the action from you toward another: you toward your lover, your dog, your garden, yourself. What if love is the action of heart energy emanating from you to something or someone you care for in the form of loving kindness, loving understanding, loving forgiveness? Can you ever lose that ingredient? It is coming from you, so regardless of where the other is “feeling” in their “journey” of a “relationship” with you: you can always have love – for it is coming from you and you are love. Not feeling lovely today? Breathe in and out; look at the flowers radiant for you; feel the sun on your body warming you; let it seep down into your heart filling you up with golden light. Feel the earth beneath you. Take off your shoes and allow your feet to commune with the earth mother. Feel her love sustaining you. Hold your pet and put your hearts together; help a stranger and sincerely look them in the eye and touch their hand. The ingredient is in you. You are love, you are lovely, you are loving. The only battle is remembering that.
