Love is a Many-Splendored Thing
Love is everything and everywhere… inside our hearts and outside our souls. The pure essence of love is a beginning with no ending. It is simple and complex, and describes a wide range of emotions. You can define love as an expression of emotions and behaviors characterized by intimacy, passion, commitment, care, closeness, protectiveness, attraction, affection, and trust.
Yet, it is difficult to definitively describe love. That’s because it is magical and mystical. Looking through a kaleidoscope, you will see that love is many things: beauty, joy, wisdom, laughter, and hope. A wonderful combination that feeds the rhythm of your soul.
That kiss of Life
Love is the kiss of life breathed into you at birth. It is endless in abundance and limitless in how you express and experience love. It’s a pulsating force that ignites your heart and inspires your spirit.
When I gave birth to my two daughters I was overcome with the deepest feelings of love unfamiliar in that moment, but undeniable. I held my tiny baby girls and it felt sacred, spiritual, and transformational. I kissed their cheeks and my heart overflowed with forever, transcendental love that comes from bringing a new life into the world. With the beauty of a butterfly, I transformed during my journey into motherhood. My baby girls are adults now, and that lava of love that overflowed when they were born has magnified and is ever present.
Love is Everywhere
Love is family. You are born into a family who is your instant connection to the universal feelings of love. Everyone’s family experiences are different, but love is the common denominator. Cherish relationships with your mother, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers — the women who nurture and sustain you. Feel the warmth of love from your father, brothers, uncles, and grandfathers.
Love is romantic. It is the theme of countless songs, books, and movies. It is that blissful, unexplainable, and delicious feeling that invades your being and inspires you in magical ways.
Love is friendship. True sister friendships are rooted in love and bonded by commitment. We laugh and cry, share secrets, fears, and dreams, encourage and strengthen each other, and have outrageous fun. We treasure our sister friends.
Love is community. We are not only connected to our neighborhoods and communities, but to individuals around the world. We help and respect each other with love, support, and inspiration.
The presence of Love
The power and beauty of love allows you to make someone else a priority. Love will motivate you to sacrifice your needs to focus on the needs of another person.
Love fuels Hope
Hope is the beginning of everything — from small accomplishments to monumental achievements — and the power to believe begins with love.
It is the voice within that inspires you to believe and achieve. It is your sister, girlfriend, mother, aunt, or grandmother’s voice saying: You are smart. You are beautiful. You can be anything. Go for your dreams. Jump to the sun. Hope is moment to moment — the thought of possibility becoming reality. It is ‘I will be... one day.’ Even if ‘one day’ is a ‘million days’ away, hope keeps you going. It is the cry in the night that transforms into courage in the morning. You reboot, recharge, and restart with hope as your accelerator.
Hope gives you the audacity to expect the best from yourself. It is the fire burning in your belly that you cannot ignore — no matter what anyone says. Hope is sister to faith — believing what you don’t yet see. Hope drums from your soul to guide you through: from mind-blowing tests to a college degree, from relationship struggles to a happy anniversary, from a disappointing job layoff to an exciting new position, from setbacks to comebacks. It is resilience and persistence that takes you to hope’s rainbow.
Love inspires Wisdom
Love comes with the gift of wisdom. It’s a genetic gift, given in different doses. It’s the quiet inner voice that is your power of love. It’s the uncanny ability to understand things beyond your experiences and comprehension. Think of a young singer who sings with passion about romantic love, yet only 9-years-old. Think of the young children you know who make perceptive comments way beyond their years. Think of the moments when you knew or understood something, but you didn’t know how or why. You just knew. Your internal wisdom clock was ticking and you heard it. So, sometimes when seeking answers, you only have to search within. The challenge is learning to trust the essence of love within yourself.
Living in the heartbeat of Love
Love and its multi-faceted splendor are forces within that sustain and guide our interactions and actions. We love ourselves, love our family and friends, rejoice with romantic love, and embrace community love. We look in the mirror to see our own beauty — not anyone else’s definition. We stir up our souls with joy and fill up a room with the glee of laughter. We seek wisdom from others and tap into our inner voice for direction. We let hope guide us to reach for our dreams — and feel the wonderful beauty of love.
Yes, we feel the splendors of love, beauty, joy, wisdom laughter, and hope. This wonderful combination of love dynamics is the rhythm of your heart and soul. Songs about love have a common denominator that is real: love is everything we need.
Robin Allen is a multi-published author of women’s fiction, romance, and YA novels: It Starts With A Promise: A Novel; It’s Complicated: A Novel; The Best Thing Yet; If I Were Your Woman; Breeze and The Starters: Unexpected. As a freelance writer, she has written 40+ articles for national publications, including Hope, Digital Flourish, Essence, Today’s Black Woman, Atlanta Woman, Black Elegance, and Diversity Careers. Robin has worked as a senior-level manager in marketing, communications, and public relations for Fortune 500 and technology companies.