„Loving can hurt, loving can hurt sometimes (…)
It is the only thing that makes us feel alive “
I guess we all know the song by Ed Sheeran to which these lyrics belong to. In the beginning, I just sang along, not really thinking about the meaning of the words I just uttered. But lately, I stumbled across them more and more often and realized how accurate Ed Sheeran summarized so many things there are to say about love in just one sentence. Cause in the end, love, in any respect of life, is the one thing that makes us feel alive.
You get home after a long day at work, but you successfully finished off a new project you have been working on for a while. Feel good?
You lost somebody which meant the world to you. You see no way to go on nor do you have the strength to. Feel empty? Ineffable sad and devastated?
Walking through fields of green grass, feel the wind in your hair and the morning dew beneath your feet. You take a deep breath in and out. You’re home. At ease?
It’s here in you’re arms, you’re baby, you’re gift. All the pain of the last hours has vanished at once, now that you look into the eyes of this little creature. Can you find words to describe how you feel?
Sweat is dripping off your face. You pool all the forces you can mobilize to take those last steps till you make it to the finish line. You did it. Exhausted?
You feel…
Well yes, how do you feel? Can’t describe how, cause those situations seem too different to give one feeling that suits them all? Now matter in which way, negative or positive, happy or sad, high or low, you feel.. alive.
You feel something, proudness, dejection, happiness, thankfulness .. You feel it with all of you’re heart, cause you put your heart into it. You put your time, your strength, your thoughts into it, cause you know what? You LOVE what you do.
You love your profession, it fills you up with confidence.
You loved the person you lost, it almost seems unbearable to go on with your life.
You love your home, it’s where your childhood memories were established, where you feel free from worry, secure.
You love your child. It’s a piece of you in a new existence. It gives you new hope and gives you a million reasons to carry on.
You love your hobby, you love sports, you love experiencing what your body is capable of and what it can achieve if your mind is only strong enough.
So, it’s love that makes us feel alive. But what values does/ should love hold, to be able to trigger feelings in us, that nothing else on earth can?
Loyalty and trust
Theres nothing like being able to count on someone one hundred percent, in every respect of life. It doesen’t mean that this someone has to make you promises, make you gifts, make you compliments or tell you how amazing you are all the time. It’s not at all about that.Those things only make you feel good for a short time, just like a coffee or sweets. It’s temporary. What really counts and grows over time, is the deep belief in somebody, that he/she will not ever act behind your back, not ever betray you but instead tell you about any mistakes he/she made, cause he/she knows how much more value there is to sincerity than to the temporary status.
It’s one of the hardest things to find in our fast developing world full of millions of possibilities and ways to go.Life can be overwhelming sometimes, and the more you realize that, the more you search for a safe anchor to hold on to.
Heartfelt sympathy
It feels like you just got your college degree, seeing your sister getting hers?
Seems like you are lying on the beach sunbathing, listening to your best friend telling you about his/her amazing holidays?
Feel tears coming up in your eyes standing by the side of your boyfriend/girlfriend saying farewell to a loved family member?
Forgetting about how much effort you made or money you spent on that one present for your loved one seeing him/her being surprised and markedly happy about it?
Yes, that is the difference between „being in love“ and truly „loving“.
To me, there is nothing on earth which is comparable to true love. There’s nothing like the feelings you get from true love. No feeling is more intense than a feeling which is based on love. Of course you make yourself vulnerable and assailable by putting all of your strength and heart into something. You can fall down as low as you could have never imagined before. But you can also fly as high as you wouldn’t even have dreamed of in your wildest dreams.
I don’t want to rationalize my feelings. I want to live intense, full of energy, love what I do with every action I take. Make people feel good, give every second a meaning, celebrate the life we’re given. You always get back what you send off. Don’t be afraid to love with all of your heart, it’s gonna be worth it. It’s okay to cry your heart out sometimes, remember it makes you feel alive. As long as you always find your way back to laughing relieved and dearly, you only get stronger and more capable of sowing kindness in the world.
Onto a new year 2018!
xoxo
Helena
