Of LOVE and LIFE
“They say a good love is one that sits you down, gives you a drink of water, and pats you on top of the head. But I say a good love is one that casts you into the wind, sets you ablaze, makes you burn through the skies and ignite the night like a phoenix; the kind that cuts you loose like a wildfire and you can't stop running simply because you keep on burning everything that you touch! I say that's a good love; one that burns and flies, and you run with it!” ― C. JoyBell C.
Yes, LOVE is COMPLICATED! And so, I heard the words spoken by another… ”Love is complicated, it is no wonder I stopped watching love stories long ago.” Processing these words in my mind almost made me choke in disbelief. How one dimensional could you possibly be?! If I were to attach an analogy to that, I would say that every child should just give up learning to ride a bicycle or surf, the first time they fail at it... Does that not just sound completely ridiculous?! – Well, it may not to you… but it definitely does to me!
“Love is not an equation, it is not a contract, and it is not a happy ending. Love is the slate under the chalk, the ground that buildings rise, and the oxygen in the air. It is the place you come back to, no matter where your headed” ― Jodi Picoult
Anything in life which is TRULY worth having is seldom going to be handed to you on a golden platter… LEAST of all LOVE! Love requires an elevated level of trust, dedication and selflessness. It requires PASSION... and YES, both the positive and negative aspects of such. So many people seem to have this distorted “rose tinted glasses” view of what true love is and they could not be more WRONG!!!
Yes, love is beautiful and is the TRUE essence of ALL life. It is grand beyond all other emotions, but TRUE love, is not about flowers and perfect pictures!! Real love is about standing the test of time... and riding the waves alongside one another. It is about facing differences; it is about overcoming challenges of personality, opinion and all the rest of that meaningless egotistical stuff. It is about standing together no matter what, It is about finding the center of one another, acknowledging the noise and then being able to put all of that to one side, still being able to see one another in the same light… appreciating the beauty, value and uniqueness of the other and holding the gratitude for that blessing in your life.
It is about understanding and acceptance. It is about forgiveness and compassion. Love is eternal. It does not switch on and off like lust or infatuation. It is a constant. Never wavering! It will be tried and tested again and again and it will still come out of the storm standing. THAT, is true love…
Ask any couple that has been together for any length of time what TRUE love and dedication is, and you will be delivered the truth – and to be clear, by a “long time together” I am not referring to this 21st century relationship crap of 5 years together. I am talking about people that have been together for 40+ years. Speak to those people. THEY know what real love is! They know how many mountains and valleys they have travelled together and know WELL the trials that came along with those journeys… but at the end of the day, they came out of it all… not only together, but with a far greater love and understanding of one another than they had when they first set out on their journey.
They held a respect for their fundamental emotion and affinity for one another close to their hearts and they did NOT allow the chaos of the world, its materialistic and egotistical matters to come between them – and it is THIS which makes what they hold between them so GREATLY POWERFUL!
What I am saying here is not in any way limited to intimate relationships. It is applicable when it comes to family and friends too! Don't talk to me about how you have been hurt... That is NO excuse for closing your heart and taking love for granted. I have had my heart squashed in fists, beaten and spat out more times than I care to remember, and if I am honest, I love more now than I ever did back then... because I have a MUCH healthier respect for its value now
But, we live in a generation of instant gratification. Things need to be perfect “instantly” and if they aren’t, well… there must be an app which can fix that… right?! People just don’t have any staying power anymore! If it looks like too much work, they are so much quicker to just throw up their hands and surrender….
LOVE is not about scoring points or leveling up. People’s hearts, emotions and lives are not a video game. It is not about gifs and emoticons, because no we are not all chubby little yellow body-less heads. It is not about one liners and voice messages, because life involves actual paragraphs!
Love is not about getting everything you want all the time. Love is not about breaking the other person down so that you can feel better about yourself. Love is not about always being right. Love is not about dictation and demand. Love is not about control. Love is NOT selfish!
“We have to allow ourselves to be loved by the people who really love us, the people who really matter. Too much of the time, we are blinded by our own pursuits of people to love us, people that don't even matter, while all that time we waste and the people who do love us have to stand on the sidewalk and watch us beg in the streets! It's time to put an end to this. It's time for us to let ourselves be loved.” ― C. JoyBell C.
❤❤❤
Until next time...
Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx
Jaynielea
FOUNDER OF THE POWERHOUSE CREATIVES & STEEM SOUTH AFRICA
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hahahaha!!! and PHC loves you too sweetie pie!!!!!
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life should not be so complicated, many times people make it so complicated, we make so many mistakes and other times we do nothing to make no mistake.
Feel love for the family, for the couple, for the children, even for that little friend called puppy that accompanies you to walk. @jaynie
Your words are very real, there should be no selfishness in an act as beautiful as giving love, maybe one day man will learn to be more grateful and more generous with his way of love. Cooking is a way of giving love and it is very nice.
la vida no deberia ser tan complicada, muchas veces las personas la vuelven tan complicada, cometemos tantos errores y otras veces no hacemos nada para no equivocarnos.
Sentir amor por la familia, por la pareja, por los hijos, hasta por ese pequeño amigo llamado perrito que te acompaña a caminar.
Tus palabras son muy reales, no deberia haber egoismo en un acto tan hermoso como dar amor, tal vez algun dia el hombre aprenda a ser más agradecido y más generoso con su forma de amar. Cocinar es una forma de dar amor y es muy agradable.
So true! And yes, us humans are highly skilled at complicating things that are anything but!
It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love, or how you love, it matters only that you love. This saying is attributed to the famous musician John Lennon of the Beatles... They also said: love is all there is... Who could say more..
It is now going to sound cliche for me to say that I absolutely LOVE that quote!
Love is most complicated but love life and complicated gets easier
Too true!
Love this @jaynie 💕
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Thank you xxxxxx
I personally feel "love" is hard to define and not everyone can understand meaning of love. We say the sentence I love you so easily without knowing the actually meaning, depth of that feeling. And true love!! now a days its hard to find. Love is unconditional, teach us the taste of pain and sacrifice and understanding.. Hmm it's beyond of my imaginations....
But ya I really wanna taste the feeling of true love...
Beautiful post...
Thank you sweetie and very well said. I completely agree that the expression of "I love you" is used way too flippantly these days.
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Each person will afford you different answers on both love or marriage long term. Long winding road @jaynie
Your perspective on so many things is very often spot on. This past October, @farm-mom have known each other for 50 years and this past August we have been married for 45 years.
This one line, " It will be tried and tested again and again and it will still come out of the storm standing. THAT, is true love… " speaks so profoundly of what true love really is.
It took many years to get to the point in our relationship to where we are now.
Throwing in the towel when things were tough would have ended a relationship that grows more precious by the day.
As a parent we want our children to be happy and healthy. Farm-mom and I have said many times that we wish all of our children can experience what we have shared for so many years, and that is love that has no bounds, love that grows every day, and a respect for individuality that allows each other to remain an independent thinker.
Have a wonderful day @jaynie
How beautifully said @thebigsweed! And I think it is wonderful that you have approached your children's upbringing with such a positive attitude towards something that can yes, be very challenging at times. I wish this was the case for more of the youth today but that inherent "staying power" for pretty much all things in life, seems to be few and far between these days.
A number of years ago I was chatting with the old custodian who cared for the building I used to work in. I liked him. He was always good for a joke or just to sit and listen. He was the type of person I wish was my grandfather.
Anyway, he was gave his definition of "love" to me. Love, he said, is sacrifice. To him it was that simple, and I wonder if perhaps it is that simple. We, as humans, philosophise; we wonder; we contemplate; we think (and therefor we are, of course); and in the course of all that, we have a tendency to over-complicate. Maybe love is simply the willingness to sacrifice for someone elses benefit, and to be happy to do so.
I quite like that perspective @wwwiebe... in a nutshell - selfless