How could you ever Love a stranger?
Well, every and any one you Love or have Loved has, at one point in time, been a stranger.
Sure, family aside, where you kinda “default” into loving someone because you’re supposed to, everyone else was a stranger once upon a time.
Your best friend, your partner, a mentor or a teacher; all these people were unknown to you. But, when they entered into your life, you found whatever it was that created that feeling. They went from a stranger to someone you probably couldn’t imagine being without.
And so, how could you ever Love a stranger?
Practice
Chances are, right now, you can list a few people that you Love. You know you Love them; you don’t even have to think about it. But, what would you think about if you did think about why you Love them? Do you know why, or do you just?
Often, we Love because we know we do. We usually tie it to any number of heartfelt emotions we experience – caring, compassion, sacrifice, “they get me”, etc. But, there’s an opportunity to recognize that Love can be more. There’s opportunity to Love wider.
I know, I know, Love is SUPPOSED to be all those mushy, deep internal type things – it’s serious business! And, it should be; that should, definitely, be the foundation. But, it can also be that and everything else. Loving wider is about acknowledging who someone is; it’s about recognizing what makes them tick for THEM and not just for YOU.
Love is can be all that serious, mushy stuff but, it’s also everything that makes you smile – like a goofy shirt your Dad wears or how your girlfriend sneezes like wildebeest.
Anything you want to be Love, can be Love. Recognizing a person’s identity, experiencing more about them, remembering who they are (if you’ve forgotten because you’ve been married for what seems like forever) is all a part of Loving wider. It’s just, more Love – whether it’s because they’ve always been there to pick up your pieces or because their favourite thing to eat is boiled hot dogs.
Loving wider not only creates a greater positive energy in your Heart for whoever it is that you hold close in your life, it trains your Heart to find that greater positive energy for everyone you encounter. When you become consistent in recognizing all these small, blink-of-eye, reasons of why you Love the people you know, you’ll begin to see them in the people you don’t know. The way the bus driver says, “good morning”, the guy at the gym who always looks at himself in the mirror, the lady who wears the funny hat to church.
Find the Love in a person’s identity. Just let yourself smile about that stranger. You don’t have to know someone to feel the Love in your Heart. And, who knows? They may be the next best thing that ever happens to you.
Be Love.
