Posted by ClearSkies on November 19, 2007, at 14:04:19
In reply to How Do We Live Without Love?, posted by Fivefires on November 19, 2007, at 13:49:32
I don't think that we stop loving those who aren't able to give it back to us, or who can't show us love. We keep on giving, as it's in our nature to show love, to love outwards, as it were.
Loving and expecting to be loved in return in kind is where it gets sticky and where we get in trouble. I love my siblings, but I can't expect them to show me their love in the same way I do. One sib is a joker, so he won't speak seriously of any emotion. Another sib is so emotionally fragile that we're forced to keep our relationship light and superficial, all shopping trips and sipping lattes. Any hugs or declarations of love are too bare faced and raw for it to be comfortable for them.
The trick is to be comfortable with what they are able to give, and to see it for what it is: it is still love. It may not be the love we want or the love we think we need, but it's what they have to give us. So when my one sib makes a sly joke or a bad pun, he's saying that he loves me. When my sib says she wants to go to the outlet mall with me and we stop at Starbucks on the way, she's saying she loves me. Each in their own way. That's what I'm hearing, anyway.
Does this help?
ClearSkies
poster:ClearSkies
thread:795957
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20071026/msgs/795959.html