Love Is Action

Love is action.

In this very unsophisticated post, we will discuss the principle that love is action, action inspires feeling, and feeling inspires action. In a perfect world, people act lovingly toward one another. The loving act of an individual produces a feeling of love for that individual and a feeling of being loved for the recipient. Elation and euphoria result, at which moment the loving actions are delivered liberally, back and forth, as the feeling of love inspires. This perpetuates the cycle from which the happiest moments all relationships transpire.

Understandingly, we are not in a perfect world. So, let us discuss what could possibly go wrong.

Each loving action produces a feeling of love that perpetuates the next. Like any natural process, love flourishes on the premise of give and take. This is comparable to how a plant takes carbon dioxide and gives oxygen. A person who acts in a loving way feels love. A person who receives loving actions feels loved.  We prove ignorant of the natural process when we expect to feel love without acting in a loving way. Also, the same is true when we expect to feel loved, without receiving any.

We like to remain addicted to the feeling of love, but force ourselves to abstain from that feeling by refusing to act in a loving way. There are a myriad of reasons for this that transcend the purposes of this post.

For now, consider the ineffective paradigm that has been deeply scripted into our minds for many years:

I feel love when the circumstances are right.

To blame society for our callousness to the feeling of love seems overly simplistic. However, the concept of gaining something without paying the price for that thing is a societal norm. And it is not uncommon for a large part of a population to adopt a societal norm. That is exactly what we have done.

Like using credit, we desire to satiate the addiction of our desires instantaneously, without paying the price now. It does work, in a sense, in the consumer marketplace. BUT, does it really work, or are the costs must greater in the end?

Regardless of what happens in the marketplace, buy now pay later DOES NOT work in any natural system. You cannot harvest a farm, without planting a crop. Furthermore, you cannot make it grow overnight. You must pay the price, and follow the natural laws that have been set forth.

When we expect love to fill our heart and roll off of our tongues, without acting in a loving way, we circumvent the natural process. We reach for the dirt, where no crop has grown. When we see that there is a problem, we find someone to blame. This person is often the person who means the most to us. Consider re-scripting to a better paradigm.

I feel love when I love.

Notice the contentment of doing things how they were intended to be done. The natural law is much less frustrating than the societal norm. You love and you feel love. When you do not feel love, you need only to act in a loving way to regain this wonderful feeling. In this we experience something that is potentially life changing: our feelings serve us. Again, our feelings serve us. A callous feeling towards someone literally speaks to us and tells us that we are not acting lovingly enough toward that person.

Just try it. Act in a way that is loving toward someone. Be honest and wholehearted. What happens? You literally cannot help but to feel love for that person. After all, why would you invest loving action into someone that you do not love? The implications are astounding. Fixed marriages, improved fatherhood and motherhood, improved professional relationships, all result from taking the steps of active loving.

In closing, I would like to relate a story to you about someone I once hated, but came to love. I could not stand this person. I harbored anger and ill will toward this person for several weeks after our first meeting. Subsequently, I began to vocalize this negative sentiment to others, and eventually directly to that person on a consistent basis. This person responded openly with equally unpleasant feelings. For a while, we were content to be discontent with one another. Honest discussion of our discontent for one another was our only solace from it.

At one point, this person asked a favor of me. I regretfully complied with the request and went on about my day. After a few days passed, I noticed that this person required the same favor, but did not ask for it. I went ahead completed this favor, in the same manner as before, without being asked. In fact, I left no evidence that it was me who did it… wanting no gratitude from the person I hated the most.

After a few more days, I noticed that this person was suffering without my favor. So, I willingly and wholeheartedly committed to providing this favor on a daily basis, without being asked, and without seeking notice. What happened was tremendous.

In a few short weeks, all of the ill will had vanished. I had a new respect and deep love of this person. My words of discontent subsided. I even begin defending the person’s controversial actions to others. A deep bond of sacred love had formed out of nowhere.

This is what I hope for each reader. There was so much NOT covered in this brief post, so many questions left unanswered. Let’s discover those answers another time.

Over the next three weeks of this series we will discuss:

Love is understanding.

Love is unconditional.

Love is mutual.

In this way, we will seek to strengthen our most important relationships.

See you next week!

-Strength of GIF

Post questions and comments liberally, Thanks!