The Healing Power of Love

The Healing Power of Love

You are wired to heal mentally and physically. Love is a vehicle for this healing. It is a gift you can give and receive.This gift is one of affection and one of action. Having affectionate toward others and knowing they care for us is heartwarming.  Philio, eros and storge make us feel safe and part of something.  These are important hardwired survival needs that help us live longer, happier lives. 

These types of love also inspire agape, although they are not required. Affection and being part of a group or tribe has healing powers in their own right. Agape takes it even deeper.

Agape 

Agape is love in its purest form. It is both an action word and a state of being. It is woven with the other types of love and just as easily stands on its own. When you help a stranger or refuse to buy inhumanely sourced animal products you exhibit agape love. It is the fountain from which all goodness and healing for yourself and the world flows.

This unconditional love feels good because it is good. Agape is an attribute of the divine inside each of us. It comes with no strings attached. It cannot be faked or manipulated or made good for one but not another. 

Some of us have been blessed enough to have been on the receiving end of agape from others. It is an equal, if not greater, blessing to give it.

Sometimes we are scared to open ourselves this way. We fear being taken advantage of or being unappreciated. (Yes, this can happen, especially if we give with expectation or conditions-which is not real love). We may also feel uncomfortable receiving agape, as it reveals all our feelings of unworthiness and lack and negativity toward others.

It may not appear so, but these fears and feelings are a gift that shows you where you need to heal. If you accept it, you will transform and become who you really are. Perhaps a more accurate word is uncover or reveal. In truth, you are not changing who you are. You are shedding what you are not. 

Keep in mind that agape is not weak. This love heals, transforms and inspires us because it is powerful beyond measure. You can be patient, or compassionate or forgiving without being misused. Sometimes it requires you to dig deep or to be tough. It may ask you to behave in a way you were taught to label as selfish.  (How dare you refuse to enable me or to rest when I want you to...).

For a while this may all seem to hard. Keep healing and heeding that still small voice of love. I promise you will come to treasure it. And remember, the biggest receiver of the gift you are giving is most often yourself. That is a good thing. Love heals giver and receiver both.