thoughts from Tina Thrussell and Leo Buscaglia
I closed my eyes and pulled a book off our bookshelf yesterday. It turned out to be Leo Buscaglia’s* book, “Born for Love”. I randomly flipped to page 214. The title read, “Love can only be understood in action.”
I thought, “How different the world would be if everyone had a Mama like Leo!”
Leo writes,
“It never occurred to my Mama to define love. She would have laughed at the idea. Everything she did was a kind of loving act. She gave love in our home a tangible feeling. Her love for her children and husband was plainly evident. She was forever looking at us fondly, hugging us, (over our false protestations), or sharing in our laughter or tears. She never saw my Papa as a saint, but she treated him as a very likely candidate. You could feel her high level of spiritual love; her every act, thought and deed was an affirmation of the presence of God.
Love, for Mama, was not something she thought or talked about it. It was something she lived in action. She showed us, as Mother Teresa has, that love n found in sweeping a floor, cleaning a sing, caring for someone ill, or offering a comforting embrace.
Mama, without trying, taught us the greatest, most enduring lesson of our lives: that love is far more than a feeling. It is something to be lived and acted upon, day in and day out.”
I smiled as I read this. “love is far more than a feeling. It is something to be lived and acted upon, day in and day out.”
Not everyone – as a matter of fact, probably very few people – had a role model like Leo Buscaglia’s mama when growing up, but we all have imagination.
Imagine – what would it be like to have a Mama like Leo’s?
More importantly, what would it be like to BE like Leo’s Mama?
What would it be like to do everything as an act of love? To smile at people with love. To clean the kitchen with love. To shovel the driveway with love. To dress yourself with love. To bring a partner a cup of coffee with love. To open a door for a stranger with love…
I suspect the world be a kinder, gentler place.
Dare I suggest that you take things a step farther? Once you’ve imagined what it would be like to BE love in action, then start by simply BEing love.
Declare, “I choose to be love.”
It may help to stop several times each day and place your hand on your heart. Be conscious of the fact that the heart beating below your hand not only pumps blood through your veins but love through your entire system. Feel your heart soften as you think of something that brings you joy. Imagine breathing love into your heart as you hold that happy memory. Release stress, strain, worry, doubt, and fear on the exhale and breathe in that love into your heart to replace it all.
Stop and feel the love.
Then make another simple choice – choose to be love in action. Declare, “I do everything with love.”
I’ve been doing that now and then over the last several weeks, and I’m finding that life seems much gentler when I do.
Stop and feel the love, then let it flow into your actions. You won’t be successful with everything you do, but any one thing you do with love is a huge win – for yourself and for the world!
*Leo Buscaglia is a professor and international speaker who teaches that loving is a choice that offers alternatives to frustration, loneliness and fear. He encourages us to think, feel and move toward actions that will bring about growth in love. He believes Love is learned and must be continually practised.
The Shin Dao – the Way of the Heart is one way to practise! This philosophy of living with love, kindness and compassion, complete with principles and tenets for living the way of the heart, is an invaluable guide for living as love and with love.
We are in the midst of producing a valuable Shin Dao handbook with concepts and actual practices to support you… Stay tuned for news of its release!
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