Can't Help Falling in Love...

I do a lot of contemplating about desires, wants, satisfaction, peace of mind, happiness, and in the end...love. Because that is what it all boils down to in my book. I have spent most of my life either dreaming about "falling in love" or going through the process, only to oh-too-soon be moving through the painful process of having that "love" taken away, fall apart, or simply seem to vaporize.  


Earlier this week, as a legend in music's death hit the news, a friend sent me a link to the one song that Whitney Houston shared with the world that really hit us all over the head. In my dear friend's words, "I will remember her as bringing one of the most powerful, positive songs into the world. She was meant to sing this song. The words so beautifully describe falling in love with the Divine within- truly the greatest love of all." Of course she was referring to the song The Greatest Love of All. I remembered being a small girl in the back seat of my mom's station wagon listening to that song. I found the greatest, love of all, inside of me.


I decided to share some of those lyrics on my Facebook wall as way to commemorate the late singer, but also as a reminder to myself and others about self-love. It's a topic that seems to be gaining mainstream popularity with articles about people never finding love (and living to tell about it-haha) and TED Talks about what actually makes marriage work (and how 50% fail within a decade). As I read through Houston's song lyrics, I decided to post the following lines:


The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all


What our minds leap to most quickly on the topic of love, is more accurately, relationship.  Love, as will be explained a little further down, exists within everything. Or in other words, life IS love.  They cannot be separated. It is only our minds that make up a story about us either having or not-having love. And as a friend commented under my post on Facebook, "It's not so easy to achieve!" And she is right. Learning to love ourselves is difficult. We are so much better, so much more used to, and so much more "rewarded" for being self-critical. While no one wants to hear another bragging about how wonderful their life is, it seems to be completely normal to discuss how horrible, dreadful our jobs, bodies, families  are. Where did this come from? Why is it so bad to be appreciative of all we have? To be IN LOVE with our lives?


Today, on Valentine's Day, a day where we celebrate this "relationship love", I have been listening to the Ingrid Michaelson remake of Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling In Love. Aside from that I really like the artist's voice, I went into the listening with an open mind and heart. Where would my mind take me as I let it wander? I knew going into push play, that I might start to have those thoughts that say, "Why doesn't anyone ever fall in love with me?" and, "I wonder if I am lovable?" But I also knew that I was embracing the fact that I am where am in my life and relationships by choice. And knowing that I have an open heart...could I rise above those thoughts? I will "brag" here that I did :) As I listened to the words, I can't help, falling in love with you, I realized that the one person that I wanted to love more than anyone, and the one "person" I wanted to love "me"...more than anything, was me. 


I can remember being a little girl, perhaps around 5 years old. I was a goofy little thing. All smiles, laughter and mischief. She was aware of the love that she was full of. And then life happened and she started listening more and more to what the world outside of her said. She took those things and reflected back to herself that she wasn't "good enough" in so many ways. Today, I remember being her, being wonderful, and I accept that I am still her. And I love her.


I will close this post with the reminders I have posted here twice before, about love. These are the lessons of love I learned from my yoga teacher, Swami Sitaramananda:  


LOVE is:

1) Different than attachment. Attachment always brings along its friend fear. If we think it's possible to lose something, then we are attached. Attachment can indeed turn in to love-but only once fear is removed. 
2) Pure and Selfless. Love is to give and not to get.
3) Different than desire. Desire is insatiable. It can never truly be fulfilled. Desire implies something you don't already have (quite different from love which is in us all-at all times) and that you must look externally for it. This search leads to suffering.
4) Infinite. It is never damaged and it never dries up. Love has no beginning and no end. It is our natural state. It is our birthright.
5) Creative. It has the power to redeem, renew, transform. Once we open to love, anything and everything is possible.
6) Present in all conditions. It is the greatest wealth, the greatest peace, and it's yours NOW and forever.


I LOVE YOU!   OM tat sat.