Thoughts
I like to see love as an inclusionary concept. I want to sweep in all the people, places, and things I’ve said I love. That ranges from loving sweet potatoes, Simon Birch, reading, the beach, desert, mountains, other beautiful places in nature, my dancing, hiking, writing and storytelling friends, my friends of history, loving memories of people who have died, my family, to my life partner. I’m connected to all of them in some way, with varying degrees of emotions.
Other Folks’ Thoughts on Love
- Everybody loves something, even if it’s just tortillas. ~ Trungpa Rinpoche
- I love you not only for what you are but for what I am when I am with you…I love you for the part of me that you bring out… I love you for ignoring the possibilities of the fool and weakling in me, and for laying firm hold of the possibilities of good in me… You have done it all by being yourself. ~ Ray Croft
- Zing went the strings of my heart. ~ James Hanley. 1934 song
- It was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together… and I knew it. ~ Tom Hanks, Sleepless In Seattle
- Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future. ~ Gail Lumet Buckley
Tough to Love
Then there’s those I disagree with, get irritated with, people whose actions alarm or scare me. It’s hard to love them. The love towards them is often a seed, a wish for peace which requires nourishing very regularly, to realize an attachment because we are part of this great mass of sometimes sweet, sometimes messy humanity. Reading about compassion, listening to people, being curious helps to grow the seed. I hold this close to me: that everyone desires to belong and be safe.
And then there are all those friends I haven’t met yet. Maybe one of them is that person who yesterday scared me because of something that stopped me from seeing them as that friend I hadn’t met yet.
Love is, of all passions, the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart, and the senses. ~ Lao Tzu
Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made like bread, remade all the time and made new. ~ Ursula LeGuin
Too much of a good thing is wonderful. ~ Mae West
Ethel Lee-Miller blogs regularly about people, the power of words, and the writing life. She’s retired from professional writing gigs after 30 years of teaching, coaching, editing, and gathering writers to publicly share their work. She is the author of Thinking of Miller Place, and Seedlings, Stories of Relationships. In retirement she writes to inspire, to connect with folks, and for the pure enjoyment of it. Ethel enjoys sharing stories at Odyssey Storytelling, Zoom gatherings, and anywhere there’s a mic.
