By Mark M Pierce
I have met many who say there is no purpose and meaning but everything in the universe is meaningful because everything can open the heart to a greater experience of loving. The shooting star, the fallen leaf, the impoverished and the wealthy-everything including the stones beneath our feet are opportunity to open our hearts wider to our potential of living a loving life. Our purpose is simply learning to love.
In this regard, I just read Norman O. Brown who comments on the poet's Rainer Maria Rilke's wisdom. He stated that, "The child, 'has no anxiety about losing things.' Everything a child has sensed passes through his love, and is illuminated by it: and whatever has been lit up in love remains an image, never more to be lost and that Image is possession. It is the reason why children are so rich."
I have concluded that much of our unhappiness is merely living in the absence of love-we human beings fall into the trappings of too many false realities: We are always waiting to be happy. When we make our fortunes... when we graduate... when we get the right job... when we are married... we will then be happy... we will begin living the good life. We simply fool ourselves in believing that happiness belongs to something outside ourselves...like acquiring great wealth. Obviously if money (and so lots of stuff) made us happy there would be no unhappy rich people so we ask, is there really a truly happy person?
Happiness begins with how much we permit ourselves to love ourselves. I am not talking about ego-attachment or any of its qualities like self-indulgence and//or self-aggrandizing but love in all its endowments-the gifts of tolerance, forgiveness, understanding, generosity and kindness. Until we can "gift" ourselves with these loving qualities we cannot truly give them to anyone else. What is important to grasp here is that we can only love the world to the extent that we love ourselves.
In light of the above, a major reason why a lot of people are never as happy as they would like to be is because they are not as loving as they would like to be. The problem is that they have, at least in metaphor, kept their hearts too cluttered with unloving realities. They hold on to old hurts, old angers, old regrets and so forth. While they may believe that they are abundant lovers of others they know secretly that they find it difficult to (really) love at all.
I realize what a strong statement I've just made is but I will remind you that we cannot give what we do not have.
To be able to love others is first to grant ourselves those gifts of love-to be tolerant of ourselves since, as the saying goes, no one is perfect... to be forgiving of ourselves since everyone has their story and have made their mistakes... to be understanding of the self as everyone has their faults and frailties... to be generous with the self and do what makes the self glad... and finally to be kind to the self because kindness heals all the wounds of the heart.
While we have all heard that we should treat others as we ourselves would be treated, we need to treat ourselves as we would treat others. It is only when we learn to love ourselves unconditionally that we will be able to truly love others and so to love the self.
The operative word in the above paragraph is "unconditionally" as love based on conditions is never actual love but rather is affection, admiration, amorous or some other attachment but not love in all its transcendence.
In view of all this learning to love ourselves liberates us to love the entire universe so to live a loving life. When we live a loving life unhappiness simply goes away.
Mark M. Pierce,
The Survival Station
http://www.TheSurvivalStation.com
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By Jax Dison
Without love, happiness is impossible. Sure that's a bold statement, but lets take a look at what it really means. Firstly, we're not talking only about intimate relationships with others here, we're discussing love for self and a realistic self-image. Happiness that is dependent on outside sources is only temporary at best and needs constant attention. That is why we find it so easy to purchase material things and spend more time partying then we do nurturing our relationship with self; it's much easier.
Looking outside of self for happiness means needing a constant re-supply of whatever it is that makes us happy. Money, sex, drugs, etc. whatever we need more and more of it to maintain our perceived happiness. Yet if we learn to start loving from within ourselves, we begin to see that everything we need to be happy is already inside of us. Think about a new born baby while in the womb, doesn't it already have everything it needs to survive? Didn't God give each and every one of us everything we possibly needed when we were conceived? So what makes us think that we need all this external stuff now to find happiness?
By experiencing true love for self, we learn to understand and being to empathize better with others. Our relationships become more real as we know what love is; as we've felt it from within. As we experience love for self, we're better able to give it away. After all, how can you give away something you don't have? As we give love away, we receive it back even more. It becomes a cycle that feeds and nurtures itself. This type of love brings happiness into our lives through relationships. With relationships comes gratitude and purpose which gives more meaning and substance to our lives. All of which in turn bring us greater happiness.
Bringing love and happiness into your life begins with learning how to build a healthy relationship with self. Learn how to bring love and peace into your heart and you will have no need for finding happiness, happiness will find you.
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By Amy Twain
Do you ever wonder who discovered the words love and happiness? Why is it when love is missing we can't attain happiness and when latter is missing we can't feel the former. Why should these two words be always be together to have a wonderful life? We know that happiness is a feeling of great pleasure, contentment and joy.
And fondness is a deep and tender feeling of affection for or attachment or devotion to a person or persons. So, it's obvious to say that it is the way to genuine happiness. Many people say that the way to be happy in life is to care and to be cared for by someone.
There are common forms of passion such as affection of a woman to a man, parents to children, care for their country, passion for their work and worship for our God. The most common maxim that we can hear from the young or old is that love is blind. Why is it that they think this saying is very common? When we say blind it doesn't mean that he is ugly or physically disabled.
It doesn't have boundaries in any degree, religious belief, age, and even gender. You can absolutely determine when a person is in love. It seems as if they are floating in the air and you can see all the joy and happiness in them. Without any doubt, if you see someone who is in seventh heaven, some positive situations happened.
For instance, they found their real partner in life, they got a promotion, their wife just give birth for a bouncing baby boy and their children got a scholarship. There are so many reason why people are happy and that's not because of material things but because of passion that they share together.
Because of tenderness we become strong to face all the obstacles in our life. It gets rid of the insecurities that humans feel and makes us accomplish our goal in life. It also eliminates the negative vibes around us and let us look at our life into positive views. Love and happiness can be attained in a simple way.
When you are surrounded by people who you care for and the other way around, everything is so smooth and easy for you. Problems seem so simple when someone you care for comforts and shows sympathy to you. The love and happiness that you can share to them is unconditional and it doesn't have any substitute.
Material things and power can be a substitute but that it will never be authentic. People who are experiencing this will keep on seeking for the true one. They didn't grow with full of passion in their surroundings. They let themselves be controlled by material things and they thought that it's authentic happiness.
When we are full of love, our life is full gladness because we know what we want, what is making us happy. When we give, love and share, we touch our inner soul and other peoples inner mind. We have to emphasize the real meaning of love and happiness, so that all people in the world can attain peace and have a wonderful life.
The author of this article, Amy Twain, is a Self Improvement Coach who has been successfully coaching and guiding clients for many years. Let Amy help you achieve job satisfaction through her new ebook. Alternatively click here for Amazon's Kindle Edition.
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By Francis K Githinji
To love and to be loved is the beauty of life. Many people yearn for peace, love and happiness myself included. Love brings happiness that is what we are made to think from very early stages in life. Must we make others happy for us to be happy too? These are some of the dangerous myths in life that can keep you standing on your way to happiness. It is a bad life where we try to please others through out our lives. If this fails people usually become bitter, resentful and in most cases hateful to people we fail to please. If we do not resist the planted seed of co-dependence we are doomed to live for others. Happiness just like love is energy and when it is shared it brings out the best results.
Try to think of a moment when you share out a joke with a friend. The laughter brings out bursts of laughter that makes you feel so good. The exchange of this energy we call happiness is what gives a good feeling. A happy person attracts a lot of love because it is easily reflected in out every activity. This creates a strong bond between love and happiness. For instance people will always return your charming smile even though they are strangers. That is the best reflection of self-happiness. On the other hand, if you are frowning and looking ugly and angry, people will helplessly scowl at you. There is a common adage that 'life is hard, and we have to struggle to be happy.'
I tend to differ and i attribute this to our expectations of struggles and problems. It is amazing that when things are moving so swiftly for us we subconsciously wait for the storm to come. Life was meant to be easy but pessimism interferes with the natural flow of happiness in our lives. What your mind expects is what you get so everyone should be careful of his/her expectations. When the romantic relationship is going as it should, lovers panic and wait for a thunderstorm. Fear is a great thing that stands on the way of love and happiness. Fear stops you from following your heart in matters of romantic relationships. You should know that fear, love and relationship cannot coexist in the human heart.
You choose to be happy and to worry less. Open your heart to happiness and you will experience a break through in love and happiness. There are times when you feel a lot of joy in your heart but i insist that the peace you feel within your own skin should not be an occasional feeling. You will have successful romantic relationships if you have a positive relationship with yourself. You and others around you will enjoy life while at the same time relaxing, being who you are without getting out of your way to impress others. There is a misconception that love and happiness is a goal to be attained in the future. Each passing day should bring a new and unique experience to you and your loved one. "We shall travel when we retire", "i will have time to take you to exotic places", "i am to busy to go for dinner" and so on should not be your phrases. Enjoy the bliss with no good reason.
Francis K. Githinji Is A Online Dating Expert. His Latest Project Love and happiness Shows How The Power Of Online Dating Can Be Harnessed Internationally and With Great Success,
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