quotes by Erich From

You Need Not Earn A Mothers Love

– Thoughts on Love for Mother’s Day

From the first breath of life, a baby begins to learn about love.

Throughout life, until that baby takes its last breath, love will amazingly be the most natural, joyful and wonderful experience in life and simultaneously the most challenging.

Learning to love and letting love evolve and grow is part of the miracle of life. Some might say that it is the purpose of life, the reason for living.

On Mother’s Day, here in the United States, it seems natural to consider the birth of my son, as I consider writing about love and the amazing lessons and changes that becoming a Mother gave me.

Motherhood is a life-changing event. Once you are a Mother, you are always a Mother. Being a Mother is perhaps nature’s best opportunity to learn about love.

I remember, as I am sure most Mother’s do, that powerful moment when after all of the discomfort of pregnancy and pain of delivery, my child was placed in my arms. In that moment there was such a welling up of joy and love in my heart that it could not be contained. Love, in that moment, became the most important thing I would ever do or could ever do with my life.

As I held my child in my arms and looked deeply into his eyes, he smiled. That moment, that first connection, opened a place in my heart and touched my Soul and spontaneously filled me with unconditional love that was so powerful and so profound that I knew I was in some way miraculously changed.

In that moment, by that connection of our Souls, I learned something about love that was beyond any lesson that life had ever offered me before. I was transformed, and I felt deep in my heart what I would learn, experience and grow with, by having this child, loving this child and protecting this child.

It was not simply the miracle of being a co-creator of life that overwhelmed me; it was how my awareness of what it means to love was transformed. To love unconditionally is, we are told, how God loves us. I knew at that moment that my son would never need to earn my love.

Yet, to really understand that is not easy. Unconditional love is selfless, and most of us, as human beings know ourselves to be selfish. To learn to love unconditionally is to learn to express that spark of the Divine that makes a human being unique and wonderful out of all of creation.

When you let love be your guide, you will never get lost.
– Genevieve Gerard

Perhaps it is through the miracle of becoming a Mother that this great life lesson is empowered. The miraculous event of motherhood will transform you and will provide the lesson of unconditional love.

It will teach you that it is not dependent upon the act of giving birth, but is related to becoming a Mother. This I learned when my nephew joined our family as a very welcomed adoptive addition. Being a mother is much more than just giving birth. It is a way of expressing love that is unique to that experience.

If your life was blessed with the experience of being a Mother, take a moment to pause and consider all that you have learned from that life’s adventure. Make sure that your loved ones know that they need not earn your love, but rather you give it unconditionally.

On May 10th and throughout the year, we should celebrate Mothers everywhere. Take the time to consider and be grateful for the love that has transformed and touched your life. It could be from your biological mother or from a grandmother, an aunt, a teacher or even a supportive neighbor.

Mother’s Day provides an excellent opportunity to remind us to express our gratitude for those who have loved us, guided us and supported us throughout our journey and who have provided us with the unconditional love that is called a Mother’s love.

Also, remember that the bonds of love and the lessons that love can teach in life most often reach their culmination in family life. And although families are imperfect, there is no other human structure that gives you more opportunities to learn about love, and to demonstrate what it means to love, than family.

Ironically, family not only teaches you to love, but also teaches you about the need to forgive, and hopefully also how to forgive.

No one anywhere can trigger our emotional response more powerfully than our families.
Check out my Heart of the Family Meditation CD-MP3 for a transforming awareness meditation
that will unite your family.

Erik Fromm, humanistic psychologist and philosopher discusses in his book, “The Art of Loving” the importance developmentally of the unconditional love of a Mother’s love. He is quoted as saying,

“Mother’s love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved.”
– Erich Fromm

It is through your relationship with your Mother that you first begin to learn life’s lessons about love, so it is wonderful that by becoming a Mother you can learn how to love unconditionally.

In my deepest moments of meditation and reflection upon the meaning of life, I have found that learning to love is the most important of the lessons we are given throughout life. It seems that most of life’s challenges and the very best of life’s blessings and joy are interwoven with love.

I believe in your life, it is what you have done for love, that gives you the greatest sense of accomplishment and the deepest sense of satisfaction and success. If you take this celebration of Mother’s Day, and consider the Mother’s love in your own life, I feel you will also find that to be true. Ponder on this.

Take this moment to consider and meditate on all that you have learned about love in your life.

You may wish to record these thoughts and impressions in your journal. If you don’t have a journal, you may wish to take this day to begin one.

You might wish to add to your consideration of what love is, the words of St. Paul in his famous epistle to the Corinthians.

The Way of Love

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Love never ends… so now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
– 1 Corinthians, English Standard Version (ESV)

From the moment of your birth to the moment of your death, giving and receiving has more impact on your life than anything else you do. Throughout your life, the lessons you learn about loving are the most profound.

This is true of learning to love within your family relationships. It is true when you strive to love one another as you have been loved by God. It is true of learning to love yourself. One might say that life is a classroom where the primary lesson is love.

Love has the power to redeem and the power to heal. It is a bridge across the divide between life and death because when you love another, the bond is forged from Soul to Soul.

The spark of your Self that is both Divine and eternal is what gives love its greatest power and provides the greatest joy.

This day is the perfect time to celebrate love and to consider the many ways that love manifests in your life. This day is a perfect time to consider the ways that love influences your life. Throughout your life is the perfect opportunity to express your gratitude for the love you have received.

We love life, not because we are used to living, but because we are used to loving.
– Fredrick Nietzsche

Mother’s Day can also be a powerful time to forgive and let the hurt of your past heal. It is time to accept the grace and healing love of the Divine Mother. It is a time to invoke the work and wisdom of the Divine Mother in your life.

This Mother’s Day, celebrate love, celebrate life and demonstrate love in your life!

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

Related Posts That You May Enjoy Reading:

Give Love, Live Love, Be Love

Try one of my Love CD-MP3’s The Gift of Love or The Gift of Unconditional Love to open yourself to the energy of Divine Love and the Love that your Soul brings to you.

Love One Another

Love Is An Action Word

Love Is The Greatest Law

You Need Not Earn A Mothers Love Read More »

LOVE Is An Action Word

Genevieve Gerard

LOVE is an Action Word

This post is part of my ongoing series on Love.

As I am sitting in meditation pondering what to write and teach about, I realize that many people in the world do not understand the relationship between loving as a feeling and love that makes life an exciting and amazing exploration of relationship and togetherness.

The phrase “love is an action word” came into my mind attached to a myriad of lessons and impressions about love and loving.

I shall try to unravel and share the wisdom and implications of this revelation with you today, lessons about love.

Love in action takes love from being just the emotions of love, into being a guide for your love relationships.

It supports and encourages your loved ones in coming into the fullness of their being. It supports their journey, even when it goes in a direction you may not personally desire.

Love is, of course, a powerful and dynamic force that has the power to transform your life and fill you with incredible joy and fulfillment.

Certainly “falling in love” is a peak experience in anyone’s life. For some love lasts a lifetime as cherished support that permeates their lives.

However, for others love becomes a source of agony, riddled with pain and sorrow, marked by disappointment and betrayal.

Love is certainly a complex emotional energy-riddled with a great many differing aspects. Although it is perhaps one of the most important issues in life, it is something that everyone assumes you know how to do.

In my experience, and my many years of teaching and coaching people to have a happy and successful life, I have realized that there is much about love that is not easily understood.

My meditations, and I hope my writings, will open you to a new way of considering love.

What It Means To Love

The very word love has so many variations to it that ancient Greeks divided love into multiple words.

Here is what Wikipedia says about these Greek love words:

Agápe means “love: esp. brotherly love, charity; the love of God for man and of man for God.” Agape is used in the biblical passage known as the “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13, and is described here and throughout the New Testament as brotherly love, affection, goodwill, love, and benevolence.

Éros means “love, mostly of the sexual passion.” The Modern Greek word “erotas” means “intimate love.” It can also apply to dating relationships as well as marriage. Plato has Socrates argue that eros helps the soul recall knowledge of beauty, and contributes to an understanding of spiritual truth, the ideal “Form” of youthful beauty that leads us, humans, to feel erotic desire – thus suggesting that even that sensually based love aspires to the non-corporeal, spiritual plane of existence; that is, finding its truth, just like finding any truth, leads to transcendence.

Philia means “affectionate regard, friendship,” usually “between equals.” It is a dispassionate virtuous love, a concept developed by Aristotle. Philia is expressed as loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires virtue, equality, and familiarity.

Storge means “love, affection” and “especially of parents and children.” It is natural affection, like that felt by parents for offspring.

Unfortunately, in modern society, we only have one word that is supposed to fit all forms and aspects of love and we have romantic books, films and media products that seem to go out of their way to define love in a way that creates unrealistic expectations about what it means to love.

All too often, this fairy tale fantasy about love leads to the expectation and belief that when you love someone they want exactly what you want, that in some way doing what you need gives them what they need. This fallacy leads to many broken hearts.

As I pondered further about these love issues, the phrase, “Love is an action word” loomed in my consciousness.

To say ‘I love you’ is often easy.
To demonstrate that love in action is much more powerful.
– Genevieve Gerard

Put Your Love Into Action

What does that mean, put your love into action? How does just considering that concept change how you act with someone you love?

These are all valuable questions to ask yourself. There is no primer for how to love or what it means to really love someone. And, there is a lot of glamors and illusion surrounding love. In fact, in spite of how very important love is in life, there is very little available about how to truly love another.

To love and manifest your love for a beloved in a way that communicates to them that you love them requires action. To act in a loving way in the midst of your needs and their needs often requires sacrifice, clearly involves taking the time and effort to understand what they want that is different from you and what they need that is different from your needs.

Because love is such a vast, multi-dimensional and powerful force in life with so many distinctive and differing forms, it, unfortunately, falls into a category of everyone believing it is something that just comes naturally. However, you only need to consider the number of loves and lives that have crashed and burned, to realize that this is far from true.

This blog post, this concept, is only a drop in a vast ocean of need. Even so, I think “Love is an Action Word” is an important concept and an important way to empower your relationships and your life.

It is important to tell someone that you love them, for to feel loved is a deep longing in the human psyche. To tell someone you love them reinforces a lot of wonderful energies. Moreover, when you back up what you are saying by what you do with them and for them, by supporting and encouraging them, it is powerful indeed.

To make your love into an action word, to behave in a loving way that manifests that love into the world, is a way that can have a profound influence on the success of a loving relationship and the happiness of both you and your beloved. It requires extending beyond your needs to the consideration of who they are and what they need. In this way, you can honor and cherish them.

Immature love says, I love you because I need you.
Mature love says, I need you because I love you.
– Erich Fromm

To manifest love into action requires stepping outside of yourself, your needs, and your thoughts and take a fresh look at who they are. This honesty with yourself and honest consideration of who they are, and what they want or need that is distinctive and different from what you may want or need, is active loving. It demonstrates the respect that is affirming for them.

Doing this also avoids the senseless sacrifices that are often made in the name of love. All too often people make sacrifices for someone they love without this step.

When sacrifices are made without thought and consideration of what they truly need, or are really asking for, it is possible for you to have made a real sacrifice and find it is not appreciated.

Rather than being hurt or disappointed by this response, consider your sacrifice in the context of whether or not it was what was really needed or being requested.

To demonstrate love in an action that considers who your beloved is, separate from you is potent. It does require stepping outside of your perspective and considering the perspective of someone other than yourself. It also means loving unconditionally. This may not be an easy or natural thing to do, which is why it is so significant. This is why I say, it is putting love in to action.

To help you get in touch with your ability to love unconditionally and to be freed by forgiveness I created my Gift of Unconditional Love meditation. This meditation will help heal the hurts in your heart and open you to a source of love and grace that aligns your mind and your emotions with your Soul and invites you into a community of consciousness to help make the world a better place.

Sadly, all too often, the giving in a relationship falls into the tragedy of O. Henry’s tragic story “The gift of the Magi.” You may recall that this story of loving sacrifice ends with the irony of lovers both left with less by their great sacrifice for the other.

When you love someone, I recommend considering them,
what they need, what they desire, and
then take the step of demonstrating that love by action.
– Genevieve Gerard

Think of the little ways you can take action to make the life of your loved one a little better, a little easier. These need not be big things and need not cost money. Little considerations, small kindnesses that honor and support the other are all demonstrations of love.

These little gestures may not even be consciously observed by the one you love, however they will establish an atmosphere of love and support that builds and becomes more tangible with each active expression of your love. To truly understand and acknowledge and honor the person you love as a unique individual, who although they have joined their life circumstances with you, is a dynamic way of demonstrating your love.

It may require forgiving things they have done that you do not understand. Seeing your loved one as who they are, different and separate from you. This differentiation and clarification is the first step in learning to love unconditionally.

This requires thought and consideration. It is all too easy to fall into the pattern of projecting your thoughts and feelings onto your beloved and then expect them to think and feel exactly the way that you do, or to want exactly what you want.

To give your loved one what they want, especially when it is different from what you want may require sacrifice on your part, but if you have taken the time and the effort to consider what they want and need that is truly meeting their needs and wants, you avoid the all too frequent issues of unappreciated sacrifice because what you have given was not really what they wanted or needed.

Taking love from romantic fantasy’s, to the action required by understanding and respecting that your loved one is separate from and different from you, may shift a lot in your relationship that makes it happier, healthier and more supportive and empowering.

…let’s not merely say that we love each other;
let us show the truth by our actions.
– Bible, John 3:18

So, in this season of love I invite you to explore and consider who your beloved is as a unique person who is different from you; who may want different things and have needs that make no sense to you. Then, act upon that understanding. Make love an action word in your life and in your relationship.

This shift in your behavior, when you express your love, will strengthen and empower your relationship and your expression of love in a dynamic and life-changing way that can increase the happiness and satisfaction of both you and the one you love. Your love will mature and bring you both greater joy and happiness.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

QUICK FACT: This post has been viewed 13,926 times. Please share with friends and checkout our other related posts below.

Hand-Pick Related Posts You Might Also Like

Learning To Love
Love One Another
Discover How To Love Yourself
Recommended Meditation

The Gift of Love

Open Yourself To The Energy Of Divine Love
& The Love That Your Soul Brings To You

Last updated 7-22-2020

About the author:
Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened Soul awareness. She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of your soul.”