In 1994, among some other life-changing decisions, I made a conscious, deliberate decision to become “a lover”–one who loves, no matter what. That decision has guided my life ever since. I choose to be one who loves, regardless of what another does or doesn’t do. That decision gives me permission to life my life based on my choosing to love, not in response to what another does or doesn’t do relative to me.

By consciously making this decision, I became a source of love, not one looking for love. All of my life, up to that point, had been focused on trying to win the love and approval of others. I didn’t know who I was, because who I was depended on what I thought I needed to be to win someone else’s approval. Not any more.

Choosing to be “a lover”, whether or not I “have a lover”, frees me up and blesses me, for I’ve learned that I only need to give love in order to have love flowing through me. It means that I can let everybody else “off the hook”. I don’t have to try to manipulate anyone into loving me. They don’t have to “love me” in order for me to feel loved. If I want to feel more love, all I need do is feel more love flowing through me.

I know that I can bless the world simply by focusing love to flow through me. I feel it coursing through me, blessing and uplifting me, on its way wherever, to whomever. I learned long ago that when water flows through a pipe, the pipe gets wet, too! And so it is with love flowing through us.

The inspirational movie below summarizes some of what I feel. Enjoy.

Charles David Heineke