Open to Love
Receiving love Love can be displayed by loved ones in various forms, whether through an action, open communication, or through quality time, receiving love is vital for community. Many of us have experienced distinctions of love in various forms: there’s quality time, gift giving, communication, etc. We’re taught that love tends to be how we express it for others but essentially it’s also how we feel comfortable receiving it. As radical as it would seem, I understand my feelings about love and all it’s benefits for our communities, it could appear as wishful thinking for a cynic. I get it, but if we can’t transform the world, let’s start with the relationships around us. Those you truly care about, and those you may be on the street passing by
What Love can be
Love to me can be defined as sacrifice, it’s a transformative experience that can be clarified as a noun, adjective, verb, it’s powerful. As an English major words carry much weight, so love having all these properties in the English language is so important. My grandmother was the second (besides my mother) to express to me such love. It’s all its variations love shines through her like a beacon that all could see in her eyes. Her love stands with me now even after her passing and I can see how we truly carry those we love in memories and in our hearts. I’ve heard that grief is a form of love, but it has no where to go. So we cry, and we remember. When was the last time you could say you’ve shown your love? In any form, and when have you experienced love around you? If you said you haven’t, I may have a remedy for that. The love we both experience and offer can be transformative for both our public and private lives. Movies belittle love, it makes it something that seems all too unobtainable.
Memories and the Community
There are various ways we can practice showing love to one another, with close friends, relationships, or yourself. What is important is to understand your love language. Time to time, we have interpreted love languages to be susonamous with what we would love others to do for us. But in reality, it is the way we show our love for others. There are five different love languages. According to Very Well Mind, it is:
Love languages are the foundation of how we can have our needs met within the relationships that are edifying and can be a common ground for safety and authentic connection. Love languages brings people together, and establishes a neutral connection through boundaries. We all express and receive love differently. Not only will doing this improve your relationships but create vulnerability. Love languages promotes empathy, selflessness, and intimacy. According to Very Well Mind, "When you are committed to learning someone else's love language, you are focused on their needs rather than your own. This is the central premise of Chapman's theory. Couples should make an effort to learn and respond to their partner's love language rather than trying to convince their partner to change to their own." We should thrive to understand our needs, so when someone enters our lives, we are open to the way they express love, and they are open to our love language as well.
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