What is love?

​What is love? The most common definition of love is a ‘mutual romantic attraction between two individuals.’ However, I am interested in a discussing a higher concept of love, a concept that recognizes love as a positive vibrational frequency. Not the energy that exists between two hearts, but the energy that comes from one heart.

Have you ever met someone who radiates love? There is no denying that some people have an inner glow about them. If you stand a little closer to these people, you’ll find that this is not just a sparkle in their eyes but also a warm, peaceful energy that you can feel emanating from their being. In their presence, you feel both peaceful and uplifted- perhaps even inspired.

What is their secret? How can we reach a point where we begin to freely emanate this beautiful energy with as much effortless ease as the sun when it emanates light? The answer is not that simple. Attaining this state of being is the ultimate goal of any spiritual practice. It is not something spontaneous that happens to you by accident, rather it is the result of a daily process whereby you work diligently towards embodying this loving state of being.

Cultivating a loving presence involves the ability to still the mind and breathe into the heart center. It is important to recognize if your continual stream of mental activity is bringing you down or lifting you up. Being aware that there is a stream of thoughts running through your head at all times is the first step. Being able to separate yourself from this thought stream is the next step. While you can’t stop a river from flowing, you can step out of the river and sit on the bank, watching the water go by. This is the essence of meditation.

One thing you might notice is that many of your thoughts are fear based. We mostly worry about the future, or regret the past. We worry whether or not we will have enough time or enough money or enough energy to survive. In order to cultivate a radiant state of being, we have to release these fears. Know with all your heart that everything is ok and, more importantly, that everything is going to be ok. In order to cultivate a radiant state of being, we have to have to simply be present. Only in the present moment are we able to breathe deeply into our hearts while manifesting abundance and well being.

Speaking of your heart, there is a reason that Valentine’s Day features so many hearts. It makes sense because the heart is where the ‘love vibration’ radiates from. According to studies undertaken by the Heart Math Institute, “the heart generates a powerful electro-magnetic field.” They go on to explain that “The heart’s magnetic field, which is the strongest rhythmic field produced by the human body, not only envelops every cell of the body, but also extends out in all directions into the space around us. The heart’s magnetic field can be measured several feet away from the body.” Read more about the Heart Math Institute here.

Finally, there is one more thing you can do to cultivate love, which is to find the thing you are most passionate about, and then doing that thing- as much as you can. Whether it’s skiing, jogging, painting, dancing, singing, or reading- the point is to do what you love every day in order to get your internal positive vibrational frequency going. The truth is, we all have this love vibration inside of us right now. It’s not something outside of us that we need to channel in from a separate source. We are the source. By doing what we love, we encourage this energy to flow throughout our beings. Only by finding this love inside of ourselves and cultivating it on a daily basis can we expect to be able to share our love with others.