Increase Love in Your Life and Experience More Peace

How do you increase love in your life? Well, if you believe, as I do, that love is an actiona and a choice, then you can choose to have more love. Now I will reaffirm my belief that you cannot receive love if you don't already have it within you. So the first element is to realize that you can coose to love yourself. Provide yourself with love. How do you do this? Change your thinking. Thoughts are a choice. Emotions are based on our thoughts. Because some thoughts have been repeated so often in our minds, we tend to believe that some thoughts are automatic. This is simply not true. Yes, it may take effort to change your thoughts, however, with conviction, your thoughts can be a choice.

How do you choose loving thoughts about yourself? Start with the fact that scripture says that God is in each one of us. Think about loving yourself because God dwells within you. When you are tempted to criticize yourself, stop, and think first of addressing the God that is within you. It will be much harder to criticize yourself after addressing the God within you, knowing that he created all things perfectly. To criticize or judge yourself will feel like you are attacking the work of God. This belief and the constant acknowledgement of it, will enable you to love yourself and act in more loving ways toward yourself.

With this change in thinking about how to love yourself, comes acting as if you love yourself. Even while your are practicing loving the God in you, and then thinking lovingly of yourself, you can be showing love to yourself (because love is an action,) by things that you do. Give yourself the luxury of 8 hours of sleep; turn your phone off to spend 30 minutes or an hour of uninterrupted time to do exactly what you want; buy yourself flowers or send yourself a nice card in the mail; make time or money for keeping you healthy (whatever makes you feel like you are loving yourself, whether it be for a gym membership, a manicure, healthful foods, fixing poor eyesight, or getting surgery on a bad knee, having a checkup, etc.). Think about a person you love and how you would show them you love them or what you would say to let them know you love them. Then do this for yourself. The more you treat yourself with love, the easier it will be to really see that you are worthy of love.

When you believe that you are worthy of love and give love to yourself through thoughts and actions, then you will be able to give away love and in return, receive love back. The more love you have and give in your life, the closer to peace you will move.

As we all know, some people are easier to show love to than others. So how do we love those who are harder to love? First, use the same principle you used to change you thoughts about loving yourself, which is to address the God that dwells within others first. When you look at a complaining customer, God is dwelling in that pesrson and so you foucs on and acknowledge God first. Then, it will be easier to show love to the person.

Again, following this first step, act as if you love the person by your actions. Even if you are still not "feeling" love towards the person, act as though you do. The very act of "pretending" to love that person will open the door for you to be able to love that person. You can say to yourself or through prayer, that you forgive this person for his actions or works, or you can send them a note or card of a loving, well-wishing nature, or you can say what you appreciate about him or her. When you perform these actions of love you are giving out a certain energy. It is much harder for that person to respond with negative enery because like attracts like (and love is a higher energy and will overcome the lower energies you are wishing to negate). Even if you don't get a loving response back at the moment, you have raised the other person's energy and minimized the affects of their very low energy and emotions.

Do you feel as though you still need more tools to enable you to show, become, or remain loving in a challenging situation? One thing to remember is that 'people do the best they can at the moment, with what they have learned and they would do better if they could'. This is a principle I learned through various readings although I cannot place the author, but the principle has stuck with me. We all grow up in different environments, with different values and importance placed on different things. We can't possibly know why someone yells at us on the highway because we go the speed limit. They may have been taught that 10 mph over the speed limit is okay and more acceptable than driving the speed limit. They may have seen in their family, how yelling and anger got results, whereas, calm communication produced nothing. Yes, when we become adults, we alone are responsible for our belief system and our acceptance or rejection of all the beliefs that encompasses. So, why don't we learn what is "normal" or "right"? Because most things in this world are subjective and who is to be the authority on what is normal? However, we can change our response to our beliefs when they are not functioning for us any longer. Rather than getting upset at other "slow" drivers, our example can choose to recognize and appreciate that others have different values and beliefs.

The plethora of faulty belief systems out there means that most people have numerous erroneaous beliefs to overcome. You and I don't know where they are in their self-development. But just believe that they are doing the best they can at the moment, with what they've learned. Be a tool to help them see a different (loving) response by acting as if you loved that person.

When the urge to respond to anger, hate, irritation, jeolousy, etc. is to give the same, stop yourself, and make a choice not to accept their "lower energy gift" as it has been described in teachings on peace and personal development. You are not required to accept another's 'gift' (in this case, a not very desirable one). Let them keep their lower energy emotions, and choose not to accept it. Choose to maintain your higher energy of calmness, love, respect, etc.

Finally, many people behave in negative ways out of fear: fear of losing what they have, fear of losing or being out of control, fear of losing social status, etc. If you can keep this in mind when dealing with someone in a negative emotional state, it will help you to empathize with them because you will see the fear behind the action, and will more easily be able to act in a loving way towards them.

With practice and conviction, you will expereince an abundance of love, even from people you never expected. And when love increases, peace also increases.