Practical Love

You can explore the universe looking for somebody who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and you will not find that person anywhere. Buddha You can try to practice love and loving your neighbor and those who wrong you, but if you cannot love yourself, you are going to struggle. Love is like a seed. It is planted inside of you and you need to water and feed it. The environment is very important. But how do we improve the environment? How do we virtually water this symbolic seed? What if you look in the mirror and fear that you are a fat, aging, unloveable person? What if that mirror shows you all your flaws? What if you are afraid that everyone else can see them too. What if you constantly remind yourself that you have not lived to your potential; you haven't contributed to the world; and your dreams have passed without a chance? What then? What if you believe that you have bad thoughts, bad ideas and must be a bad person? What if you look ...

Everything I needed to know about love, I learned in kindergarten. Well I hope not. But at least in kindergarten they teach about how to play nice with the other kids. And in kindergarten, they make you practice it everyday. Even at home, you were never forced to be nice everyday. Being nice goes against our selfish nature. When you are a kid, the world revolves around you. I'm hungry. I'm tired. I'm cold. It's not fair. But, before kindergarten, when you were first born, the world has to revolve around you. You can do nothing for yourself. Feeding, cleaning and swaddling comes from your parents. You learn quickly how to get everything you need. Those who provide for you, love you. Your love for your parents comes out of getting what you need from them. Your selfishness combine naturally with their unselfish actions toward you.