We get so busy in our day-to-day that we forget to stop and express love. Pure love. Unconditional Love. Giving Love. 

It is so easy to say we are loving, but if we were to examine ourselves we would see that for the most part we set Life up to receive love, not give it. This is our primary goal: GETTING LOVE. 

Notice yourself in a conversation with friends: how much do you listen, and how much do you speak? When you do speak, how much of it is ego-driven, full of self-bolstering speech, opinions, dogmas, judgments? Are we truly able to engage with another from a place of non-taking and true openness towards another? Is it possible to interact with another and leave them in light and fullness, taking not one thing away from their radiance? Can we truly GIVE the other, be it our attention, presence, validation, patience, empathy, compassion, or tolerance? 

GIVING LOVE is something that we are not primed for. Yes, we may be loving, but this is very different from knowing how to GIVE LOVE.

GIVING LOVE is a specific skill set, filled with the intention to leave the other fuller than before you engaged with them. It is designed with consciousness and filled with the mindful understanding that we are all in the grime of Life together, each needing the other to evolve and realize the inner potential.

Unfortunately, many of us grow up with inner coffers that are horrifically empty. Not only are they empty, they are filled with exactly the antithesis of loving kindness. So, with this inner framework, it is no wonder that we are unable to GIVE. How can we possibly GIVE when the inner terrain is parched and poisoned? In these cases, even our love is toxic, suffocating the other with control that has the many faces of anger, resentment, bitterness, judgment and other highly inflammable materials.

Such emptiness quite naturally drains the other - without meaning to, of course. Because it drains the other, the other too finds itself with little love to give back. Sadly, the self-prophecy continues: lack begets more lack. The one who was seeking to receive love, through the draining, actually ends up alone and love-less again. The more love-less one feels, the goal gets reinforced again: How to GET love. This endless quest for acquiring love takes one further and further away from it. 

The truth is this and only this: One can only GET love when one embodies lovingness towards others. It is a simple adage, old as the mountains, yet it is a concept that is elusive to us in our daily life. 

As with everything mindful, it needs to be cultivated. Let us begin with simple questions for ourselves:

 How can I GIVE LOVE today?

Can I see another and shed light on their beauty instead of on their shadows?

Can I hear another's story and instead of shutting down in criticism and judgment, open up in receptivity and possibility?

Can I look at another and leave them with the grace of my open presence?

Can I process my own dark emotions in my own private moment and not vomit it on another?

Can I GIVE myself the unconditional forgiveness and compassion that I sorely lacked in my own childhood?

Can I return to a state of inner connectivity and outer oneness in my today?

Can I resolve to engage with my day with gratitude for breathing, for having limbs, for eating and for being able to live under a roof?

Can I reach out to another that I know is in pain and send them the energy of love, acceptance and hope?

Can I call someone today and say "I am here if you need me" or "You are important to me"

Can I GIVE someone something - nonmaterial - but infinitely more valuable?

Little do we realize that it is through this GIVING that our entire world shifts. Our reality undergoes a drastic metamorphosis. 

And we realize we are not empty any more. 

We are full. 

Through the act of giving, we have actually filled our own coffers. 

Now, this is a revolution indeed!