*Love is a circle, and both sides must be honored
for you to truly experience the liberating power of love.
When discussing love, we often focus on the ability to give with very little emphasis on the ability to receive. The old saying, “it is better to give than to receive,” is drilled into most of us at an early age. While giving is certainly an important component to living a loving fulfilled life, I feel it is only a half-truth. We must also be able to receive to experience the full force of love. So why are we so afraid to practice receiving? Perhaps we think practicing receiving will make us selfish. Maybe we fear that people will see us as self-centered if we receive. Or we think receiving is a sign of weakness or neediness, or perhaps the dirty little secret that we don’t deserve keeps us from receiving. Whatever the case, we must change our views on the powerful energy of receiving if we want to truly experience love in all its wonder.
There is something else to consider when talking about receiving. Can you authentically give what you are unable or refuse to receive for yourself? I don’t think you can. I believe you can’t offer to another what you don’t offer to yourself first. Receiving must start with self! Do you receive love from yourself to yourself? Do you receive compassion and forgiveness from yourself to yourself? Are you generous with yourself? For some, the answer will be no to all of the above. So I ask you, what is the energy behind the giving you do when you are unable to receive? To give out of a sense of duty, or to keep the peace, or to prove our worth or superiority, are all motivations of the ego and ways to temporarily feel better about ourselves. However, that temporary lift will dissipate very quickly forcing us to look for another way to fill that void.
If you want to feel loved and give from a place of that love, you must be willing to receive love, and the best place to start is with yourself. Practice the art of receiving on yourself each and every day. Compliment yourself when you do something well. Offer forgiveness to yourself when you feel you have done something wrong or bad. Congratulate yourself when you take a risk (no matter how it turned out). Have compassion for yourself when you have acted out of pain or fear. Afford yourself the understanding that you are doing the best with what you know and that you are still learning.
As you grow in your self-love, you will discover that giving and receiving are inseparable energies. As your love for yourself grows larger and deeper, your ability to offer that same love to others grows larger and deeper. Give to yourself that which you want to receive. It is truly a self-fulfilling prophecy of the best kind.
*Receiving is just as important to love as is giving.
To be whole, you must know how to receive.
Let me know what keeps you from receiving or how you practice the art of receiving on yourself.
* Quotes from How Learning to Say Goodbye Taught Me How to Live, Chapter, 21
Until next time, be the light the world needs, and stay in love for all.