To Love and be loved…

Few days back, I was royally bored at work and asked Anand (my husband) to send me something to read. He keeps sending me great stuff to read from time to time when I am at work and I do not feel like working (which is pretty often!!!). One such article he sent a while ago had a philosophical tone and something in there caught my imagination and I have been craving to expand the summary of that article in my own terms. It spoke about our inner strengths and weaknesses. It spoke about how every incident taking place in our life is something that we have attracted to ourselves whether it is desirable or otherwise. It spoke about how we could win the world by listening to the true messages our heart gives us. And most importantly, it spoke about getting everything we want by learning to understand the most important element of life, namely LOVE.

The summary of that article or what I thought to be the most important point in it was “Throughout the day, every word we hear and every action we witness is either an expression of love or a cry for love. This love is the essence of happiness. Besides food, shelter and clothing, it is the greatest need of all human beings. So, remember to respond to the calls for love with love.” The simple narration of such a profound concept just bowled me over. It’s a simple thought but one of the most neglected and less practiced virtue as well.

How often do we respond to the calls of love by ignorance or the pretence of ignorance or just because we do not want to respond with love? Most of the times our ego comes in between or the beliefs and prejudices we have nurtured growing up, stands in between us and our expressions of love. Our thinking creates our consciousness and how we can help control it. We observe things around, let our minds get affected by the happenings, whether good or bad, and mostly the unpleasant happenings become absorbed in negativity which affects our disposition. And that in turn makes us react to situations or people with anger, frustration, or at times with envy. One simple way to avoid getting affected this way is to carry our own aura, our own atmosphere with us. In other words, keep our loving presence intact. If we can practice being unaffected by negative emotions like anger, hatred, jealousy, competition etc., whether it is directed at us or someone else, we can take a big step towards creating our own tranquil state of existence. And attaining that state would in turn make it easier to practice the science of love. People strive to attain harmony and love in everything they do, than why not give to the world what we seek most in our existence, and receive what the same in turn. In my opinion, happiness can be a state of mind or a particular outlook towards it. But the happiness that comes to us when we can love without any strings attached and see the person or situation respond to it with that special glow, which comes out naturally upon being loved so much, is what many of us seek all along the journey of life. There could never be any reason or cause just enough for us to stop loving and giving, and in turn be loved, cherished and feel being in a state of supreme happiness. Love can really make the world go around; win hearts, heal wounds, and of course make every moment a special one. To love and be loved is to be able to celebrate life everyday…over and over again…!!!