WHAT IS REAL LOVE?

I never truly understood what love really is. 

I had an idea from what we’ve been taught. That your parents are supposed to love you. Then you find a partner that is supposed to love you. It should feel comforting, supportive, exciting, romantic. But, even when we have people in our lives that are all of these things, somehow it still didn’t penetrate. It felt empty inside.

After what felt like more than a lifetime of pain and watching the mind torture me every day with worry and defeat, I dove deep into myself to find the answer to, “What is real love?”

I would hear people use the terminology to “love yourself”. That always felt like a foreign concept. What does this mean? How do you love yourself? Do you just hug yourself? Look in the mirror and say affirmation after affirmation? Why doesn’t it feel like love?

It took much trial and error and emotional processing to get to a point where the answer feels more clear now.

As a child, I could feel that any adult I would be around, I could feel that they weren’t truly happy. They felt bored, frustrated, lifeless, kind of checked out. My mind looked at the equation and could tell I didn’t want to participate in that same life. It seemed like a wasted opportunity. The input - go to school, wake up to an alarm, go to a job, run through fast food, go to activities, then go to bed to wake up and do it all again the next day - these things weren’t producing an output that felt good. This program, this lifestyle is what everyone does. It’s what your parents do, it’s what your neighbors do, it’s what you're told to do and it’s what you're shown to do in all of the media we consume.

I knew something had to change in order to have a different experience.

To awaken to a whole new world, you have to be willing to let go of what we thought was reality. 

After this realization, you start to feel and know that you have control over your experience. 

What you put in, is what you get out. 

If you have a shitty attitude, you get shit.

But, if you show up to life like this is your playground and you get to decide how this looks, you feel excited to play and explore - mountains will start moving for you to have a beautiful experience here.

To move with life, to not have resistance, is to tap into your true self, to Source. 

That is real love. 

The unconditional, non-reactionary nature of the real world. The tree never complains to the ax and the flowers never complain to the wind. 

True love is to remind yourself everyday that we are beautiful, complex beings that are here on Earth, at this time, in this space, creating our own reality.

As we move through the vast spectrum of emotions and experiences, sometimes we lose ourselves. We feel victim to our circumstances.

To love yourself - is to say it’s okay.

To love yourself - is to really feel the emotions.

To love yourself - is to take time, to speak what you feel, to do what you need in order to feel relaxed and get back to your core knowing.

From this place, you can truly live. You can truly love. There is nothing beyond this. You can stop racing, you can stop searching. You know that nothing is out there to hurt you. You know there is more than enough abundance for you and for everyone. 

This is peace. This is real love.