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Roses
Are Red
Violets
Are Blue
Why
the heck
Won’t
he say?
I
love you!
I
look at these three little words, “I Love you.” They sure can carry
some powerful feelings. How many times in your life have you longed to
hear the words I love you?
You
may have longed to hear them from your mom or dad. You may have longed to
hear them from your kids. You may have longed to hear them from your
spouse. You may have longed to hear them from your boyfriend/girlfriend.
As
you may now know from reading some of my other articles, I like to
question the reader. Have you said to yourself lately, “I love you”?
What! Say to myself, “I love you”? You are probably thinking I am
crazy and going out of my mind for asking you to do such a thing.
Well
maybe about a year ago I would have said, “Yes, I am losing it.”
However I have found that working through recovery, the one thing that
absolutely must happen is that a person must love themselves first before
they can love anyone or truly have someone love you in return.
Great
just great! Love myself first! Well how the heck do I do that? In
searching for answers, Doug Kelley had responded to one of my emails and
he said “I have found that if I want my outside world to change,
I must first change my inside world. This would be a good thought to
ponder deeply.”
That
was a good thought to ponder. I thought to myself, why would I want
my inside world to change? I was comfortable with the way it was. Was I
not? I really wasn’t but I was scared to death to change any of it!
Why
should I change? I am great just the way I am. Do these remarks sound
familiar? Do you find yourself hearing alcoholics say “ I don’t have a
problem, the rest of the world does”?
To
learn to love myself was quite a challenge. Changing my inner world took
some effort. It all started for me with looking in the mirror and saying,
“I am a great person. I do like myself. I am a beautiful person.”
You
also are a beautiful person. We just allow society and the events that
happen to us eat us alive. We lose our self-esteem. We lose our inner
beauty. We start the vicious cycle of unloving ourselves. When we feel
unloved and ugly, the whole rest of the world appears to be unloving and
ugly.
As
our self esteem lowers, we lower our standards and begin to accept
behaviors and relationships that are unloving to come into our life.
I
have learned that there is a lot more to “I Love You” than what I
thought. When I talked with my good friend Sue from Empowered Recovery
tonight, she said “Robin, really think about it; the words ‘I love
you’ are misused, over used, and abused.”
Isn’t
that the truth? Stop and think about it. In what ways you do you hear
folks using the words “I love you”? Have you ever heard, “You are
going to love this deal—0% financing for a year.…” Love a deal?
Hmm... Have you sent or received an email from someone you are not that
close with that is signed, “Love,” so and so? How about when someone
at work says, “I just love the work you are doing for the company”?
My
point is that the four letter word LOVE can mean many things. It is
construed in many ways. Sue helped me understand that it is more awesome
to see love than to hear love. This was another thought that
made much sense to ponder.
I
ask you to take time today as you read this to see LOVE in your life. Look
for ways that people show you that they love you and care about you. I bet
if you reflected on your day today you will see a lot of love that has
been shown. I did some self reflection on my day today, and here is what I
saw:
The
very special man in my life got up early to snow-blow the driveway so I
could get my car out to be to church on time. He told me today how extra
nice my hair looked. He told me today when I was leaving to drive safe and
have a safe trip. He shared a lot of special words and sentences over the
week-end with me that had “love” encircled around them.
I
got to spend time today with a great group of folks from a local church
who said “thank you,” and that they appreciated me coming today to
visit. I got to spend time with a close friend that enjoyed our time
together. I got to talk to Sue tonight and she cared enough about me to
talk about my articles. My cousin called today to see how I was doing and
what was new in my life.
These
are just a few examples of LOVE.
The
lesson I learned and want to share with you is that in yearning to hear
“I love you,” we may overlook the actions of love that folks are
showing towards us.
With
becoming healthier and changing my inner world and being with those who
truly care about me, I have learned I am loved.
I
leave you with this thought:
Roses
are Red
Violets
are Blue
There
are many folks
In
my life and yours that are saying
I
love you!
Reach
out today. Encircle yourself with positive and loving people. You are very
worthy of being loved. Don’t ever think differently!
Luv,
Robin
Walters
January
8, 2006
I
now wonder what three letter Luv means… Man this article could go on and
on..!!
Hugs
to you all!
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