And the heart is hard to translate
It has a language of its own
It talks in tongues and quiet sighs,
And prayers and proclamations

– Florence and the Machine

This Friday is Valentine’s Day, and whether I love it, hate it, or are ambivalent to the holiday, I always have to admit that love is pretty mysterious and powerful.  I find that this song expresses my sentiments on love quite accurately, and I think I’d like to take this week to meditate on love and what it means to me and my universe.

I’ve been re-reading Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch, and near the beginning it talks about love and fear being the two emotions that control everything we do.  Every decision and every action is brought about through either love or fear.  Love is that which makes us become our higher and better selves, it helps us allows us to be free and have strength, it brings happiness and truth.  Fear holds us back from becoming who we should be, fear judges and closes us to possibilities, fear clings.  The book goes on to say that we always have a choice about how we respond to everything and to be conscious of what emotion is controlling us, and if we follow the loving path we will be happier and freer.

So this week, I’m choosing love as my main emotional choice.  I’ll choose to face everything with hope and optimism, even if I don’t feel up to it.  I’ll choose to forgive and bless those things which annoy me.  I’ll thank the universe for all my blessings, even those that don’t seem like blessings at the time.  And while I’m doing that, I’ll try to translate what this love inside me is trying to say.

photo credit: qthomasbower via photopin cc