Many people think of love as an emotion that comes and goes. At times we can feel the most intense love, while at other times we don’t feel it at all. We may then become consumed by doubts about our relationships: Am I with the right partner? Am I being true to myself? Is my soul mate still out there? Or we get caught up in an anxious search for love, striving to attract someone who will finally give us the love and approval we've longed for.
At the root of all our pain, doubt, and anxiety is a misunderstanding of love – and of our own essential nature. Love isn’t a capricious emotion but is a state of being. It is an experience of unity with all creation. In spirit we are pure love. We don’t have to search outside ourselves for love, because love is our essence.
Once you know that you are inherently lovable, any fears of being abandoned, rejected, or hurt evaporate. You let go of the anxious feeling that love is never going to arrive, that you’re not attractive enough, or that you don’t deserve love. In the words of the great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, “Love’s gift cannot be given, it waits to be accepted.”
