According to Wikipedia, unconditional love is a term that means to love someone regardless of one's actions or beliefs. We consider it as a given when we think of our children and certain family members. I love my dog unconditionally. But what about the subject of each other, generally I mean. Friends, partners, lovers, work colleagues, people in your street…. Is that even possible? Surely, this is a type of love that’s saved for holy people and God. Is it possible that us mere mortals, with all our hangs up and issues, could love each other unconditionally?
I believe we can but I also believe it takes effort. We were born with the ability to give and receive love unconditionally but for most of us we have been conditioned, through experience, observation and guidance, to be cautious and hold back. All love starts with self love but we have experienced criticism and so doubt our own worthiness, our lovability and capacity for love. So, we need to take steps to get ourselves back to place of giving and receiving unconditional love, and that takes effort.
Most of us have expectations about what love is and how it should be demonstrated, however these expectations limit our ability to truly experience it. Unconditional love seeks to understand, embracing the differences in how others express love. When we focus on looking for the way in which people show their love it can surprise us just how much there is out there for us.
Unconditional love is a habit that can be developed. It’s something that I have had the opportunity to develop as a coach. When you work so closely with people, you begin to understand that every action has a positive intention, that every behaviour makes perfect sense based on what was going on in that persons world at the time. When you reach this level of understanding, of compassion, its hard not to feel that you unconditionally love your clients.
Loving unconditionally does not mean compromising your standards. You can feel compassion, understand, but still decide not to have that person in your life. It’s your choice and you decide your standards.
To increase the amount of love you experience there are several methods that I highly recommend:
1. Forgive – let go, release the past and move forward. Forgiveness sets you free to experience love. Be sure to remember to forgive yourself.
2. Visualisation – focus your attention on your heart and imagine it as a glowing light of love. Imagine that light growing and getting warmer as it expands through your body. Imagine that light extending outside of you and growing until it encompasses as far as you want to take it. Intend to send love out to everyone you touch with the light. Practice daily.
3. Look in the mirror, smile at yourself and say, “I love you unconditionally.” Practice daily.
4. Hug someone. Practice daily. J
"Love is considered the most basic emotion that human awareness can feel; therefore, it is the closest to the source of life. The burst of well-being you feel when you fall in love is due to the fact that you unconsciously open the channels of awareness that allow more Prana [Life Force] to flow." ~ Deepak Chopra
Happy Valentines,
Tracey x
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