A person’s most beautiful asset is their heart full of love

What is love? As it’s coming up to Mother’s Day, I was reflecting about my mum when out walking, writes Bríd Kennedy.

One memory that came to mind was her daily reading of Curly Wee and Gussie Goose.

Usually beside it was a caption titled Love is….and every day Love is had a different message so say yesterday Love is….saying thank you.

Today Love is …smiling at a person.

Reflecting on this beautiful practice by the Irish Independent in a time when the word ‘love’ was rarely used, it made me wonder what this most precious word in any language means.

Many people tell at least one person daily that they ‘love’ them.

Millions of euros are spent on expressions of love through giving bouquets of flowers and chocolates on days such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

But what do we mean by ‘love’? Is love a feeling, an action?

It’s hard to articulate.

According to Rumi, all religions have love but love has no religion.

In the Christian tradition, St. Paul says love is kind, love is gentle.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, says love is a state of being – love is deep within us.

We can never lose it and it cannot leave us.

Love like the sun is not selective or exclusive. Everybody is love.

Rumi, a Sufi mystic, says love is not an emotion, it’s your very existence.

According to Teilhard de Chardin, love is the most powerful and still the most unknown energy of the world.

Love is our essence….Love begins within.

It is the acceptance of who I am.

Love is the acceptance of others as they are.

A person’s most beautiful asset is their heart full of love.

Love is a basic human need.

Without it from the moment we are born, we will not survive.

There is evidence to show when babies are not loved, they die.

As we grow up into adulthood, we become anxious when we are not loved and seek love.

It’s amazing what goodness flows into our lives when we love ourselves.

We are accepting ourselves as we are – we are good enough.

However our ego gets in the way of love, we can experience the lack of love expressed as low self-worth, intolerance and hatred of self and others.

When we dislike or hate ourselves, we are hurting ourselves and so in turn we are hurting others and Mother Earth.

So how do I learn to love myself? How can I deepen my love for myself?

Our thoughts are our creative experience and only we have the power to change our thoughts.

As adults, most of us have to unlearn beliefs and habits developed over time that are hurting us even to the point of making us ill.

These thoughts can be as simple as always referring to ourselves in a negative way such as I am useless at this or that.

Our first step is to be kind and compassionate towards ourselves and forgive ourselves for being hard on ourselves.

Practice observing your thoughts, and your emotions and notice what you are creating in your life.

Once you have awareness of your patterns then you can begin to change them to being kind and compassionate towards yourself.

Keep doing this practice without judgment and only with love.

It may take days, weeks or months to change deep-rooted negative patterns to positive healthy ones.

The discipline of doing so is an act of self-care.

Once you have this practice established, observe your thoughts and what you write negatively about others.

Ask yourself before you say or write negatively of others is this true, is it coming from my heart and what difference will my words make?

Then reflect on whether to speak or write about others.

Through this awareness, you are being kind and loving to yourself and others.

Taking care of ourselves is an act of love.

Let us plant seeds of love with kindness and compassion and nurture them.

Whatever you do, be it with love.

Self-care is giving the world the best of ourselves instead of what’s left of us.

By being mindful of our words and thoughts and the seeds that we can sow, we can develop this wonderful source of energy and nurture unconditional love which expects nothing in return.

As the singer John Lennon said it matters only that you love.

The secret of life is to love.

We have a choice and a responsibility to love ourselves, others and Mother Earth.

When we destructively refer to others, in person or on social media – often without a basis for our commentary, we are acting from a place of no love for ourselves so we have no love to give to others.

Without love, anger and violence can evolve in relationships.

According to Socrates, love frees us of all the weight and pain in life.

When we organise our life around love, we remove the chaos and disorder in our lives, our families, our friends, humanity and the environment.

As Martin Luther King said when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.

As we extend our messages of love on Sunday to all mothers, let us remember that love is our true essence and the more we radiate our love, the more joyful and peaceful we and all around us will be.

Extending our love allows those we love to be perfectly themselves without trying to twist them to fit our image or expectations of them.

Everyone is worthy of love.

For love to be true, it must be filled with kindness, compassion and non-discrimination.

One loving word and or action can reduce a person’s suffering and bring them joy.

Tell people you love, that you love them, especially if they are going through a tough time – it is too late when they die.

Let’s radiate out our love to all of humanity.

Bríd Kennedy is a personal and business coach, with over 30 years management experience with Concern Worldwide in poverty, and natural man-made disaster contexts.

Visit Brid’s website HERE.