My dad told me this when I was in high school. It was in the middle of one of those, “I’m going to drop some knowledge on you, you ‘gon learn today” speeches parents give when their teenagers go into the “I KNOW Mom/Dad, you can’t tell me anything” stage of life.
This line has stuck with me over the years. It’s useful for setting the table whenever the conversation comes around to love & relationships. It’s one of those thoughts that just keeps on giving.
For many of us, Valentine’s Day is about the performance of our affections for the significant other(s) in our lives.
Love is something we find…like a new show on Netflix or a great clearance sale at your favorite shoe store.
Then Love becomes something we lose, like a left sock or the receipt for those clearance shoes that didn’t match your outfit.
Then we go looking for Love, like loose change…which often includes a stretch of time where we engage in the on or offline version of digging under the couch cushions…and coming up with lint.
But if we think about Love as something we must first have, in order to give… that shifts the discussion completely. When we start experiencing Love as something that flows authentically from within us…we can get away from the financially, emotionally, and psychologically expensive side effects that come with judging Love by how it is performed on us.
With love,
Day G.
Host, Class of Hope & Change