The Energy of Love

“You may not feel outstandingly robust, but if you are an average-sized adult you will contain within your modest frame no less than 7 x 1018 joules of potential energy—enough to explode with the force of thirty very large hydrogen bombs, assuming you knew how to liberate it and really wished to make a point.” — Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything.

 What if we used our energy for loving?

Instead of conserving the energy of love, we make the decision to propel more of it into the world?

Think about your own personal energy. You already know much about it.

You can feel someone’s energy when they disapprove of you. Their energy comes across in a palpable way.

You can walk into a room where hostility exists and feel it physically. I haS A tendency to make us want to bolt.

Conversely, you are warmed by those who welcome you and make you feel that you belong even if you are completely new.

We spend an inordinate amount of our time worrying about things we perceive to be true that may or may not be. And, our eyes may deceive us. What looks like a lack of love may, in fact, be a fear that translates into a holding back of any expression of love for fear of some kind of judgment.

I used to have a friend who was famous for saying: “the opposite of love is not hate, it’s fear.”

Fear is a stop sign for expression. It is life-limiting.

All that anxiety takes up a tremendous amount of our space and energy and diminishes our ability to access the very thing that is so much more life-giving – the energy of love.

Think of the most loving people you have encountered in your life.

Take a few minutes and roll back in your memory to your earliest memories.

Think of the babysitter who always took you to the movies, the first-grade teacher who held your hand when you were so afraid of going to school, the friend of your brother’s who told you you were ok, the Sunday School teacher who noticed your leadership, the coach who took a stand for the award that others wanted to give to someone else, knowing you deserved it more – you get the idea.

Do this exercise – it will give you some joy in simply remembering all the people in your life who have shared their love with you.

It’s a big thing.

If you don’t believe me think of all of those who never say anything nice, who never respond to an email, who never bother to include others, who find every flaw, and who never bother to acknowledge or appreciate the service you offered.

Love is an energy that needs no conservation. When you use it, instead of being depleted, it expands. When shared, it creates more.

Encouragement is one of the ways to share your love.

It includes the skills of observation, awareness, courage, sharing your thoughts, just to name a few.

Getting started is a decision.

Take observation, for instance.

Start by observing those who appear to be loving to you or others.

Notice what they do, share, say. How do they make others welcome, how do they communicate?

Next, choose one of these things to put into practice.

Choose only one, but stick with it and take a few minutes at the end of the day to notice anything that changed in you or others.

Think of how you might do it more creatively or do more. Then, notice what the outcomes are.

Become aware of your own energy as you do this, and you will hopefully realize how powerful you really are.