Reg
11-24-2006, 09:46 AM
To Love Others You Must First Love Yourself
Each person is unique. If you know, accept & appreciate yourself and
your uniqueness you will permit others to do so. ... If you recognize
your need to be free to discover who you are, you will allow others
their freedom to do so also.
To love You Must Free Yourself of Labels
Love Involves Responsibility
The love of humanity is the natural outgrowth of love for a single
individual.
For only a deep relationship offers "the adventure of uncovering the
depth of love, the height of our humanity. It means risking ourselves
physically & emotionally; leaving old habit patterns and developing new
ones; _being able to express our desires fully, while sensitive to the
needs of others._"
Through loving a single person, Herbert Otto feels that one acquires
enough strength to assume the responsibility for the community of man.
This, it seems to me, is the essence of loving another, to assure them
that we are dedicated to their growth, to the actualization of their
limitless potential. ... For real love is dedicated to a
continuous learning.
I was amazed to find that when I did get the courage to form a
relationship, I actually became stronger. I acquired two minds instead
of one, four hands, four legs, and another's world. in joining forces
with someone, I got twice the strength to grow, with twice as many
alternatives. Now, it's easier for me to love others. I am stronger and
am less afraid.
On any day you can be taken on with energy, enthusiasm and a
determination to make it one of the best days of your life.
Love is communication.
Love in marriage or any close relationship is the process of growing
hand in hand, but separately. Separately, because it's impossible to
expect that two individuals, even in love, will grow at the same rate
and in the same direction.
Love is always changing and always learning. Love offers the greatest
flexibility.
It's a matter of accepting the person unconditionally for what he is at
the moment, realizing that what he is today is not what he will be
tomorrow. A lover is, then, constantly watching, listening, waiting,
feeling, adjusting, readjusting & changing. if two people grow apart in
love, it is usually due to the fact that one or the other refuses to
grow or change.
In fact, love only acquires meaning only when it's shared.
But love goes beyond hope. Hope is a beginning. Love is forever.
Love Recognizes Needs
Man's basic psychological needs are these. He requires to be seen,
recognized, appreciated, heard, fondled, sexually satisfied.
Each individual seems to be far too busy these days to stop and look at
or listen to anyone, even his own family.
If you love someone you will look at them carefully. Each day they are
changing through a beautiful, gradual process which you will surely
miss if you do not learn to watch.
Perhaps if we listened to another person, truly listened, we could hear
his joy or his cry. Love listens. Love hears. Love touches, fondles.
Physical love is necessary for happiness, growth & development. Man
needs to be touched.
Love is not sex, though sensual gratification in varying degrees is
always a part of love.
Love needs freedom. ... We cannot force others into our way; we can only
encourage them to find their own way.
He must be free to go his own way, in his chosen manner and at his
special rate. he must be free to make his own mistakes and learn from
them what he can. Our love is there to give him sustenance, the strength
to continue seeking securely, in joy, and offer him the day-to-day
encouragement he will require.
He has his path and love encourages him on his way, even if his path
does not intersect with our desired path. ... I am simply suggesting
that man must listen to his own "drummer" or he will be marched right
out of himself.
We are so involved in what must be done that we have no time to do what
we will to do. In other words, we are so busy doing the necessary things
in life we never seem to have enough time to do the important things.
Love Requires One To Be Strong
To live in love is life's greatest challenge. ... On the one hand, man
may know that only by being vulnerable can he truly offer and accept
love.
To be open to love, to trust and believe in love, to be hopeful in love
and live in love, _you need the greatest strength._
Society has little place for honesty, tenderness, goodness or concern.
It's as if they cannot handle perfection, as if it causes them to reflect
upon themselves, to move them to change, the though of which is
perhaps too uncomfortable and painful.
If he deals in the world of men he's more likely to come upon
selfishness, cruelty, deception, manipulation and like parasitic
actions. ... To cope with what he finds and to still love, he must have
great strength. ... He must dedicate himself to love, be resolute in his
love and unwavering in his love. ... he must see love as the greatest force.
To be a lover will require that you continually have the subtlety of the
very wise, the flexibility of the child, the sensitivity of the artist,
the understanding of the philosopher, the acceptance of the saint, the
tolerance of the dedicated, the knowledge of the scholar and the
fortitude of the certain. A tall order!
Love Offers No Apology
"...and we ourselves shall be loved for awhile and forgotten. But the
love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the
love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a
land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love, the
only survival, the only meaning." - Thornton Wilder
"Vulnerability is always at the heart of love."
Each person is unique. If you know, accept & appreciate yourself and
your uniqueness you will permit others to do so. ... If you recognize
your need to be free to discover who you are, you will allow others
their freedom to do so also.
To love You Must Free Yourself of Labels
Love Involves Responsibility
The love of humanity is the natural outgrowth of love for a single
individual.
For only a deep relationship offers "the adventure of uncovering the
depth of love, the height of our humanity. It means risking ourselves
physically & emotionally; leaving old habit patterns and developing new
ones; _being able to express our desires fully, while sensitive to the
needs of others._"
Through loving a single person, Herbert Otto feels that one acquires
enough strength to assume the responsibility for the community of man.
This, it seems to me, is the essence of loving another, to assure them
that we are dedicated to their growth, to the actualization of their
limitless potential. ... For real love is dedicated to a
continuous learning.
I was amazed to find that when I did get the courage to form a
relationship, I actually became stronger. I acquired two minds instead
of one, four hands, four legs, and another's world. in joining forces
with someone, I got twice the strength to grow, with twice as many
alternatives. Now, it's easier for me to love others. I am stronger and
am less afraid.
On any day you can be taken on with energy, enthusiasm and a
determination to make it one of the best days of your life.
Love is communication.
Love in marriage or any close relationship is the process of growing
hand in hand, but separately. Separately, because it's impossible to
expect that two individuals, even in love, will grow at the same rate
and in the same direction.
Love is always changing and always learning. Love offers the greatest
flexibility.
It's a matter of accepting the person unconditionally for what he is at
the moment, realizing that what he is today is not what he will be
tomorrow. A lover is, then, constantly watching, listening, waiting,
feeling, adjusting, readjusting & changing. if two people grow apart in
love, it is usually due to the fact that one or the other refuses to
grow or change.
In fact, love only acquires meaning only when it's shared.
But love goes beyond hope. Hope is a beginning. Love is forever.
Love Recognizes Needs
Man's basic psychological needs are these. He requires to be seen,
recognized, appreciated, heard, fondled, sexually satisfied.
Each individual seems to be far too busy these days to stop and look at
or listen to anyone, even his own family.
If you love someone you will look at them carefully. Each day they are
changing through a beautiful, gradual process which you will surely
miss if you do not learn to watch.
Perhaps if we listened to another person, truly listened, we could hear
his joy or his cry. Love listens. Love hears. Love touches, fondles.
Physical love is necessary for happiness, growth & development. Man
needs to be touched.
Love is not sex, though sensual gratification in varying degrees is
always a part of love.
Love needs freedom. ... We cannot force others into our way; we can only
encourage them to find their own way.
He must be free to go his own way, in his chosen manner and at his
special rate. he must be free to make his own mistakes and learn from
them what he can. Our love is there to give him sustenance, the strength
to continue seeking securely, in joy, and offer him the day-to-day
encouragement he will require.
He has his path and love encourages him on his way, even if his path
does not intersect with our desired path. ... I am simply suggesting
that man must listen to his own "drummer" or he will be marched right
out of himself.
We are so involved in what must be done that we have no time to do what
we will to do. In other words, we are so busy doing the necessary things
in life we never seem to have enough time to do the important things.
Love Requires One To Be Strong
To live in love is life's greatest challenge. ... On the one hand, man
may know that only by being vulnerable can he truly offer and accept
love.
To be open to love, to trust and believe in love, to be hopeful in love
and live in love, _you need the greatest strength._
Society has little place for honesty, tenderness, goodness or concern.
It's as if they cannot handle perfection, as if it causes them to reflect
upon themselves, to move them to change, the though of which is
perhaps too uncomfortable and painful.
If he deals in the world of men he's more likely to come upon
selfishness, cruelty, deception, manipulation and like parasitic
actions. ... To cope with what he finds and to still love, he must have
great strength. ... He must dedicate himself to love, be resolute in his
love and unwavering in his love. ... he must see love as the greatest force.
To be a lover will require that you continually have the subtlety of the
very wise, the flexibility of the child, the sensitivity of the artist,
the understanding of the philosopher, the acceptance of the saint, the
tolerance of the dedicated, the knowledge of the scholar and the
fortitude of the certain. A tall order!
Love Offers No Apology
"...and we ourselves shall be loved for awhile and forgotten. But the
love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the
love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a
land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love, the
only survival, the only meaning." - Thornton Wilder
"Vulnerability is always at the heart of love."