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*Dear elephant reader: if you’re single & looking for mindful dating or conscious love, try out our lovely partner, MeetMindful.

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“We are not held back by the love we didn’t receive in the past, but by the love we’re not extending in the present.” ~ Marianne Williamson

The word love is probably one of the most loaded words in the English language. We seem to have all types of rules for when we are allowed to use it.

Never tell someone you love them on a first date.

Always tell your mom you love her.

Make sure your children hear that you love them enough.

This kind of hoarding of love keeps us small. It keeps our sphere of what love is and where love is allowed to be directed, limited and caged.

We have all had the experience of feeling like we are surrounded by love through our whole beings.

We have all stood on mountain tops, surfed a wave, held a newborn baby or just been so thrilled by the world that we just knew everything was going to be okay, somehow.

I think it is very important to generate this feeling of abundance on a regular basis because when we learn to sit in this state of love, which is really just the true reality of being, we see that love is about way more then an individual.

Love is more then spooning someone in bed at night.

Love is more then having a biological family that we feel safe with.

Love is more then having a group of friends who always have our backs.

Love is a universal state of being that is available to anyone, anytime, anywhere, if we just turn and face it.

And why is it so important that I mention this today?

Because from a place of individualistic love we feel like we have so much to protect and defend. We feel like there is a limited circle of people we are supposed to love and care for and we forget about the whole universe of beings that are part of the same love state we are.

We feel lonely.

We feel lost.

We feel like we are supposed to care for some people more and sometimes we just don’t.

We don’t need one individual who is the most special person in the world to us to have love in our lives.

But we do need to be brave.

We do need to open our heart center a little wider and let more of the world in.

That means more raw grief, more reality of suffering and more knowledge that our own love force is powerful, more powerful than we can imagine, and through the most simplest of intention setting practices we can send this love force out into the world for a great ripple effect.

So, yes, I am advocating that we shift a little away from only telling a few individuals in our lives that we love them and instead we move in the direction of experiencing love as an every moment experience accessible at any time, that can be directed at anyone anywhere.

Anyone going to try this with me?

Relephant Favorite:

Understanding Unconditional Love.

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Author: Ruth Lera

Editor: Travis May

Photos: Gene Tobia/Flickr