Lighten Your Loneliness With Love

Do you feel lonely? If you are like the majority, your answer would be yes. Even though we are at the center of a crowd, we feel hollow in our hearts, like something is missing. Sometimes life seems meaningless and hence we feel despair.

This emotional isolation and hopelessness is excruciating. I recently had a thought that all these feelings come from our want of love. Why else would we be dissatisfied despite the facilities and pleasures of the modern world?

The only factor lacking is love.

The language of the universe

Believe it or not, love is the basic nature of all beings. Haven’t you watched videos of wild and untameable animals acting like cute puppies to those who raised and cared for them? Even animals have that innate urge. Those who appear rude, rough, and utterly stoic, also crave love.

However, here we are not talking about romantic attachment. Of course, it is one of the most passionate and obvious forms of love. However, the peaks of passion also bring with them the valleys of desperation.

“Love is a spiritual experience – nothing to do with sexes and nothing to do with bodies, but something to do with the innermost being.” Osho

Here we are advocating platonic love: a close bond without carnal intimacies. You would have felt that form of love from a parent, sibling, friend, or teacher. We should aspire for this unconditional affection.

But there is a caveat: To receive love, we should give love.

Start giving

There are some things we can do to make ourselves more loving.

1..Prioritize love

We give primary importance to money, time, career, and so on. But they only lead us to desperation. Instead, try giving more importance to love. Take a day off and visit that ailing relative, spend time with family and friends, and play with your children.

2. Show your love

Make sure your close ones know that you love them. Remember that they are also craving affection. Through actions and words show that you care for them.

3..Don’t draw border lines

Do not let your love be confined to your friends and family. Show kindness and love to someone you do not know. Because they also want to be loved.

4..Do not expect anything in return

Love is not like money in the bank to give you returns periodically. Shed that notion. Most do not know how to love you back. Forgive their ignorance.

5..Love thy enemies

Strike a conversation with someone with a different political ideology and religious affiliation. Try to know them. Help them in their need. Do not try to act like a nice person. Be a loving person, genuinely.

The best antidote

Unlike anything, the more we give love, the more we have love to give. It is an inexhaustible energy. But the reverse is also true: the less you love, the less love you have.

Moreover, only a loving person is receptive to love. We have to open our hearts to let in the love that blankets us. Once we realize that we are closely knit with the invisible threads of love, we will not feel lonely or desperate.

Thank you for reading. Please let me know your thoughts in the comment box below.