Precious Gifts of Love
One-minute daily reflections on the meaning and miracles of Love.
by
C.J. Good
Smashwords Edition
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Published By:
C.J. Good on Smashwords
Copyright © 2010 by C.J. Good
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
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This book is available in print at Amazon.com.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to Natalie, Max, and Andrew.
None of these words would have been written down without your loving encouragement and support. You are such a gift to me. Thank you.
We all need more love, for love is a magical, transforming power. When we let it into our hearts, our entire world shifts. Nothing else truly matters except the way we give and receive love. “Precious Gifts of Love” is an exploration into the meaning and miracles of love.
You can read it from cover to cover or after going through the book once, you may find yourself returning to various parts for study, reflection, or practice.
To break through the confines of self-imposed obstacles to love’s freedom, to be more loving, to love more, and feel content in every aspect of life, is the purpose of this book.
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Precious Gifts of Love
Love and you shall be loved
~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
January 1
Love has ever delighted and perplexed, inspired, and confounded. We want to visit love from every imaginable angle. How this celebrated and mysterious emotion has been and ever will be, is the one enduring obsession of humankind.
January 2
Love is a promise that is never broken, a fortune you will never be able to spend; a seed that grows anywhere, a light that never fades, the creator of your greatest memories, and the foundation for your fondest dreams; love is only known to those who love.
January 3
When we are being the love of our own life, when we stop seeking it outside, then we are on the easiest road. An act of loving ourselves like nothing else is the best kind of investment. If we truly desire “big love” in our lives, we must love ourselves first. This is the ultimate reward of love.
January 4
Love has the ability to teach you things that the most extravagant and respected university could never do; it is love that gives merit to all things. At some point, a magical person will step into your life. Coming from an ordinary place, seemingly for no reason, an individual appears whose fascination with life is so gorgeous and rare, so unpredictable and spiritual that, without any exertion at all, you are enchanted with their miraculous gift for living.
January 5
When we are loved for ourselves, regardless of ourselves, this brings enormous happiness. Life takes on another meaning when we are in love. All the pleasures of life remain, but we are born again, as love’s delirium reaches new heights.
January 6
Love can be seen in our eyes. Daring to look we see eyes full of life; child’s eyes; liquid eyes of youth; trembling eyes protected by beautiful long lashes; intelligent eyes twinkling like solitary lights on winter evenings; glowing eyes full of fire, as if ready to pierce our humanity.
January 7
The only regrets that had ever touched our hearts were the loves we left by the wayside. We seized love as a monkey grabs a fruit; we stripped off the bitter peel to savor the sweet meat. The love we gave away was the only love we were able to keep.
January 8
Love delights endlessly; love charms. From the depths of our essence, love gives us the pleasure of hearing ourselves praised. True love can grow more deep and tender by the hour; it replenishes our molecules by precisely transforming our DNA. Love’s beauty, gifts, and influential powers reside deep in our hearts. Nothing can tranquilize like the whisper of unconditional love.
January 9
We walk on earth, but our heads are in the clouds. Love in conversation imagines Souls exchanging noble thoughts of the future; if we want to be loved, we need to reveal who we are. There is joy in the passion we feel when love brings out the best in us; true love is one that overlooks our defects and revels in our successes.
January 10
If you love someone enough, they will give up their secrets. Loving your animals will reveal their secrets. Flowers, plants, lakes, and ponds, will eventually share their secrets. When in quiet meditation or communing with people, places, or things, they give up their secrets too — if you love them enough.
January 11
Love is your highest essence. A part of you remains wherever you have loved.
January 12
Love encourages a remarkable level of understanding. Some people believe that holding on will give them strength — but it comes down to letting go. When we see things, it is not as they are, but as we are: love is a mirror.
January 13
Real love does not interfere or demand. It delights in both worship and sympathy. To have that sweet weakness aiding me, to touch providence with my hand, able to take it into my arms, as the soul is present, is to be caressed. Love looks with care, intense, and fascinated. Beholding an object in thought, in its absence, to hear it come, go, enjoy its attributes, without judgments, totally accepting it, is love.
January 14
Being genuinely loved by someone creates stability, while deeply loving someone generates courage.
January 15
The most painful things in the world are felt within the heart. Love is a form of resuscitation and is the most potent healing force in the world. Love has the power to bring light out of darkness. Love throws us on our knees as we give thanks in gratitude; those who cannot be grateful cannot love.
January 16
It is sometimes hard to remember we need to love those who are most important, including ourselves. We should not forget that the greatest gift we can give is love.
January 17
Love is like giving a daily hug, and who doesn’t need a hug each and every day?
January 18
Contemplation is similar to sitting beside a mountain stream; become the moving water. Read poetry; it will resonate in your heart as a complete, delicate, quite perfect thing of beauty.
January 19
Human existence is an ambiguity; it is unpredictable. It is much easier to live in the moment without expectations, than to live in the past or future. Choose to accept what you receive in this moment. Other people, places, objects, and situations cannot fulfill you completely. Be willing to choose love; it is the most impeccable solution.
January 20
The many facets of love are refreshing as a spring breeze. Amazing and incandescent, love's healing effect goes to the very marrow of our souls. A loving heart brings passion and meaning to the many guises of our everyday lives. Love is profound and practical when we actively contemplate it, and open our hearts to it.
January 21
Those who lack self-love may go searching for love and never find it. Only those who love themselves find love, and they never have to pursue it. Self-love teaches us how to accept failure. With courage, we proceed on with our odyssey even when the journey feels uncertain. Self-love is about the wonders of ordinary people, facing their destiny, and fighting against all odds to find their purpose in this world.
January 22
Do not be miserly with your love; love thrives on a profusion of giving. It stirs fibers within that could never be moved by any other emotion. Love introduces quavering tenderness — ancient impressions of wonderment at the awareness that some special Power is presiding over your life.
January 23
Loneliness is like being dry with thirst; you defiantly endure it; you manage to divert yourself with distractions. If true love comes knocking at your door, be sure to open your heart, and drink the fresh cool water of love; it spreads through your body as a quenching bliss. Love is the greatest instinct, as there is no reasoning.
January 24
When we look back on life, it would be difficult to find an instance in which love’s goodness had failed us. We recognize that we felt truly alive when we conducted ourselves in the spirit of love. We were brave — we allowed love to cling tightly to our hearts.
January 25
Love generates a persona touched by kindness; it profoundly moves us when gazing at another person with admiration. As we chat gaily around a table of friends, alighted by candles and surrounded by exquisite works of art, love enables intense, passionate expression, and unrestrained beauty. It has the voltage to heat up and rekindle the cold organs of age; it starts us on a new existence with each dawn.
January 26
Despite the heat of the day, never underestimate the potency of love. Notwithstanding outside events, it is here, encased in the depths of our bodies, struggling to break free. All it takes is a pause; the door will open when love decides to manifest itself.
January 27
When we give love with all of our functioning, we automatically begin making new choices. Because love makes the ride of life worthwhile, we find that the conditions of our lives — including our health, relationships, and work situations — are all changing for the better. Like the ebb and flow of tidal currents, love’s continuous intensity surges before our eyes.
January 28
Call attention to the pathway allowing love to enter your life. The type of love we are talking about is human love; the love that you would share with friends, coworkers and even the person behind the grocery counter. Love is the highest level of understanding.
January 29
Our greatest distress is caused by the absence of those we love. The heart sees with an invisible eye as thoughts scarcely pass through our minds. Love’s intelligent voice makes us believe that we are understood, giving us the courage to endure.
January 30
Three words “I Love You” can enlighten you more than twenty years of life experience. Through love you suffer and through love you rejoice. Allow yourself to deeply attune to the love in this moment, for that is being fully alive. Feel the love, even at the level of your molecules, for the talents you possess, and your potentialities are utterly magical.
January 31
How many times do we avoid newfound love, because we were brokenhearted? Do we display the awful look that a person casts upon an unwanted stranger? Do we recoil in displeasure, not willing to look our friend in the eye? Love gently sows points full of fire, life, and intelligence. We rise like a noble monument of white marble, regaining our impetus to love again.
February 1
Communication is about listening, digesting, and soaking up. Permit your self to be touched, altered, evolved, stretched, and transformed by what has been disclosed. Communication is two souls connecting to find fulfillment. Let the light of your partner radiate through you.
February 2
Love is the only regret that will ever crush our foundation, especially in moments of physical depression. Love knows admirably how to yield itself to another’s influence. Love is shrewd enough to make one tremble like a youth.
February 3
Love is a dream from which we need never emerge. Love is a game for which we must pay meticulous attention, because it has no rules. The only way to experience love is by loving. Once we have given love, we can never claim it back.