For a Healthy, Vibrant Life, Love Is the Main Ingredient

Love has inspired us to create amazing art, music and poetry. This month we celebrate Valentine’s Day with gifts, kisses and chocolate. No doubt, being in love is an experience we all hope for. However, romantic love is only one piece of the pie. The list is long and includes God, affection, friendship, hobbies, professions, animals and so forth. Let’s take this month as an opportunity to increase love into all areas of our life. For a healthy, vibrant life, love is the main ingredient.

Love is the answer to our protests, anger, dissatisfaction, as well as, our need for happiness, belonging and inspiration. Love is the most powerful and effective act, gift, emotion and tactic we could hope for.

So why do we have such a hard time giving and receiving love?

Many of us carry wounds of betrayal, grief, sadness and heartbreak. When we don’t completely release these emotions, the pain builds up, we put up walls and eventually prevent love from coming in or out. By doing this we all suffer. We must heal these wounds. Surely, we have to love ourselves before we can really love others. Meditation, therapy, sound healing and many other modalities can help. In the meantime, we can be aware and choose love over hate.

We must let our hearts lead. Our ego isn’t interested in being kind or loving. We’re taught that brute force wins out and nice guys finish last. That’s the problem. Life isn’t a race or a contest to be won at the expense of others. We are all connected. What we do to others we do to ourselves. Of course, we have to set boundaries and speak our truth. We must feel our feelings, then let them go. Rather than seeking revenge, we’re better off working on forgiveness. Revenge and hate fuel more of the same.

When we experience romantic love or commit acts of kindness, we feel good. Our dopamine levels increase. We’re more focused and creative. Hugs decrease cortisol levels and relieve stress . Love distracts us from our pain and we feel energized. Research shows that lack of affection is just as detrimental to humans and animals as the lack of food water and sleep.

As a sound healer, I’ve learned that a blocked heart shows up as sadness, grief and loss. It often means emotional care-taking of others, while neglecting ourselves. Physical conditions can manifest as asthma, heart disease, issues with breasts, lymphatic system and pain in the upper back, shoulder, arm and wrist. When we are closed or blocked we have a tendency to be jealous, suffocating to others, feel lonely, abandoned, angry or bitter.

Our hearts are our healing center. When our hearts are open we can experience love, compassion, gratitude, joy and healing. We feel more connected to our intuition, we trust more and are in sync with the flow of life. When we look from our open hearts, we’ll see great things

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. - Martin Luther King Jr.