Living Life With Love: Approaching Our Lives With Love

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We often take for granted the things we have around us. Our possessions, abilities, people around us, and sometimes even our lives. We forget to see the beauty of life and love that is often depicted in The Landscape of Life by Quattlebaum. But who can blame us? We go through many hardships during our life and experience challenges that make us question if it is indeed possible to live a happy life full of love from others. 

However, we should remember that living a life filled with love is our choice. We yield the power to direct ourselves towards a happy and loving lifestyle. It is our will that allows us to opt for this happy lifestyle, despite the adversities we face.

Ways for Living Life With Love

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Presence of Mind

Having the presence of mind does not just mean being present. It is not enough to just show up to life. The presence of mind means paying attention to what is happening around you and the people who are there to support you. This means we learn to live in the now and experience everything around us fully.

Appreciate the Beauty of Life through Gratefulness

Often, we are so focused on the things we’ve lost or do not have when we compare ourselves to others. If we are always caught up in this mindset, we not only set ourselves up for sadness and negativity, but we also put ourselves in competition with others, making us unable to give love to them and receive their love.

Living a life with love means that we learn to be grateful for what we have and are more aware of what we are lucky for.  We also learn to be grateful for others – their presence, their contributions to our lives, or even just their mere existence. It is only by being grateful through others and showing them appreciation that we can express our love for them, and in turn, they can give back the love and appreciation that we feel.

Appreciate Ourselves and Practice Self-Love

The power of self-love is often made fun of and ridiculed because of a lack of understanding.  We don’t always understand that self-love means being more in touch with yourself and learning to be kind to yourself.  Sometimes,  we bully ourselves too hard for our mistakes, or we put ourselves down before even being able to start. However, learning to treat ourselves with respect and understanding our strengths and weaknesses helps us appreciate what we have and who we are more.

Only when we love ourselves can we truly embody the love of others. How can we spread love if we cannot even love ourselves? That is why self-love is crucial; it gives us a clearer picture of what love truly is and what it can be.

Learn to be Empathetic

Empathy does not simply mean listening to what other people are going through but putting ourselves in their shoes. Often, when we hear of the hardships of others, we don’t know how to respond, but being empathetic is the best way to show them that we are there for them and love them. Learning to be empathetic is the embodiment of living life with love because we show our love to others.

Learning to Forgive

Being forgiving to others plays a significant role, not only in helping others admonish their guilt or heal better. Forgiving others means relieving ourselves of the burden of hating other people. This is one of the greatest difficulties in living life with love because if we cannot forgive, we can never truly love others, and we can never get over everything we have gone through in the past. This means that we cannot let go, and we cannot actively choose to be happy.

Approach Life From A Different Perspective

Many people approach life with so much negativity, feeling that they are always in a hurry to do something, or are frustrated with having to complete a task, or going to work continuously.  However, learning to approach life from a positive point of view and perspective can help us view challenges or obstacles as opportunities for growth. 

This means that we can be somewhat more aware of the beauty of life as we face the hardships that it brings because we inevitably understand that challenges will always be there. However,  it is our perspective that helps us get through it. Remember that living life with love is not always easy, but we can become inspired to be happier and approach life this way, especially when reading the happier perspectives of others. Interested in poetry depicting living life with love? Read The Landscape of Life by Quattlebaum.