Radiate Love

Watercolor by Susiebloom

My thoughtful husband, John, bought me a journal recently. I'm a journaler. It says "Radiate Positivity" in colorful, bold letters all over the front of it. It's charming. Plus, motivation to look on the bright side of life and share that is a good thing. However, it occurred to me that encouragement to radiate LOVE is even better. Positive emotions fluctuate, but love is an innate, stabilizing force and feeling within each of us that has the ability to create, nurture, and sustain relationships of every kind. Yes, if we radiate love, what a wonderful world this would be.

Love - practiced, not just preached - can be a quiet revolution.

Love inspires hope, lightens loads, brightens days, and fosters connection and peace. It generates joy, humility, gratitude, tolerance, and forgiveness. With love, all good things are possible. ALL good things. Maybe all we need really is love. Maybe love really does make the world go round. Maybe love really is the answer. I believe it is, yes. Every day, ordinary people - like you and me - choose love over fear, compassion over indifference, and connection over isolation. When they do, something shifts - not just for them, but for everyone around them.

Take, for example, the neighbor who changed a street. A woman moved into a neighborhood known for being cold and disconnected. Instead of matching the energy, she began waving to people on her morning walks, leaving small potted plants on porches, and remembering people's names. Within a year, the street had a group text thread, monthly potlucks, and a reputation for being one of the friendliest blocks in town. The shift began with one person choosing warmth over withdrawal.

Then, there is the father who broke a generational pattern. He grew up in a home where anger was the default emotion but decided he wanted something different for his kids. He started therapy, learned to apologize, and practiced saying "I love you" even when it felt awkward. His children grew up knowing emotional safety instead of fear.

Finally, a community that responded to vandalism with kindness. When a local park was vandalized, residents gathered - not to complain, but to clean it up together. They left chalk messages of hope, planted flowers, and created a mural that read, "We take care of each other." The vandal returned weeks later, apologized, and joined the next cleanup. Love transformed a wound into a gathering place.

"The greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being."

Tenzin Gyatso

Love is what we come from. It is an inherent, divine, generative, creative power from our Heavenly Father, beautifully and perfectly exemplified in our Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. Yet, we live in an imperfect world where, too often, hate, instead of love, is cultivated. But opposition in this world is necessary for us to use our agency to select what is good. We are here to learn by our own experience to choose love, light, joy, and peace over the alternatives.

"If people can learn to hate they can also be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than it's opposite."

Nelson Mandela

Imagine the collective impact if more of us practiced love intentionally. Our humble, but meaningful, offerings and actions can make a big difference and change lives. Simply...

• Slow down enough to notice people. Love begins with awareness.

• Assume good intentions instead of the worst.

• Listen without preparing your response. Presence is one of the purest forms of love.

• Speak gently, especially when you're frustrated.

• Offer help before someone has to ask.

• Celebrate others' wins. Love isn't threatened by someone else's light.

• Apologize quickly and sincerely.

• Let people be different from you. Acceptance is a form of compassion.

• Choose generosity over judgment.

• Simply practice kindness.

  
  

Love doesn't need a spotlight. It needs willing, courageous hearts - bloomers like you and me. As we radiate love we create a better, brighter, happier, more peaceful world for all of us.

Radiate LOVE and keep blooming!