is it love or just like?
I love what this drawing reminds me of…that there’s a significant difference between liking and loving.
Every relationship we have with another person in our life is like a flowering plant. If the relationship is strong, the plant grows strong and offers lots of flowers to both of us.
And I believe that love is a choice, because feelings can (and do) come and go. It’s so much more than romantic behavior. It’s caring behavior; it’s watering the plant.
Have you ever been aware of a relationship being out of balance? Perhaps the other person is coming across as needy and you’re feeling used? Or perhaps you’re having twinges of guilt over asking for too much?
We can usually tell the value of a relationship by the reciprocity of time, love, and energy. Sometimes we need a helping hand and sometimes we are capable of giving a helping hand. When we care about one another, we step up for each other, taking and giving from each other thus making each of us strong.
When we don’t value someone, the relationship changes. It centers more on what we can get out of it. We take and take (plucking the flowers), and the relationship is weakened.
And as hard as it may seem, loving means saying goodbye to expectations and may even mean letting go.
It’s not a giving up, but the desire to create a balance between maintaining an emotional connection with them and allowing them the freedom to be independent.
Letting go means you want them to thrive and grow. And that means giving them the space to do just that.
Life is too short to not choose what will feed your soul!
3 Comments
Much here to ponder. Thx, Pat
And sometimes it can be hard to know just what the other needs-watering, an ear, encouragement. Letting go and giving them all the space they need may mean not ever knowing if they’re okay or not. I’m with Meg: much here to ponder.
I never seem to get this correct. I’m constantly searching for that daily connection. The “child touching the knee” effect, I guess. Whatever it is, it’s always “too much” for the “flower”.