Common sense of love

"Love has the power to enlarge the spirit; to bring out the best in us, to encourage a greater openness to others and to inspire us to perform acts of kindness. Love comforts us, reassures us and boosts our confidence in ourselves...

The desire for love is the deepest of all our desires because love is our richest source of emotional security, personal serenity and confidence. When freely given, love is also our most enduring contribution to a better world."
What Makes us Tick, Hugh Mackay

These are the opening and closing words of a chapter from Hugh Mackay's book What Makes us Tick, in which he explores the variety and flexibility of the way we experience love in our culture, and however we label the emotions that come with love, they are overwhelmingly positive. Loving your friends, dog, partner, children, job, hobby, home, favourite beach, and even yourself seems to bring peace, goodwill and access to a deep resource that means that we can give and receive more freely.

So, If everyone seems to function better when there's a feeling of love present, why would we not nurture and cultivate it?

Yet in times of turmoil instead of looking for love, we look at what's missing...