To love without knowing how to love wounds the person we love .
The question is what is love? is it a feeling? an action or is it something we simply can’t define ?
According to Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh it simply a way of being , In fact , in a simply worded but profound passage Thich Nhat Hanh says that the way of love is one of the most complex and rewarding human experiences.
Understanding is love’s other name in other words to love another is to fully understand his or her suffering. After all understanding is what everyone needs .
A good example is :
“If you pour a handful of salt into a cup of water, the water becomes undrinkable. But if you pour the salt into a river, people can continue to draw the water to cook, wash, and drink. The river is immense, and it has the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. When our hearts are small, our understanding and compassion are limited, and we suffer. We can’t accept or tolerate others and their shortcomings, and we demand that they change. But when our hearts expand, these same things don’t make us suffer anymore. We have a lot of understanding and compassion and can embrace others. We accept others as they are, and then they have a chance to transform.”
How can we commit to understanding each other’s suffering apparently this all starts with our own happiness
“When we feed and support our own happiness, we are nourishing our ability to love. That’s why to love means to learn the art of nourishing our happiness. Understanding someone’s suffering is the best gift you can give another person. Understanding is love’s other name. If you don’t understand, you can’t love.”
yet Thich Nhat Hanh says the dynamic interaction love must also be learned
“If our parents didn’t love and understand each other, how are we to know what love looks like? … The most precious inheritance that parents can give their children is their own happiness. Our parents may be able to leave us money, houses, and land, but they may not be happy people. If we have happy parents, we have received the richest inheritance of all.”
LoveMeXXXX