Category Archives: Conscious Love

Only Proactive People Can Genuinely Love Others, Reactive People Can’t (updated)


(The following is abridged and adapted and modified from Stephen R. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change”) Between stimulus and response, human beings have the freedom to choose—but only *if* we develop and … Continue reading

Posted in "Man's Search for Meaning", "Siddhartha", Conscience, Conscious Love, Courage, Critical Thinking, Differentiation, Emotional Maturity, Hermann Hesse, Immature Love, Intimate Relationships, Love is a Choice, Love is a Decision, Love is Not a Feeling, Luke 6:32-35, M. Scott Peck, Mature Love, Mental Health, Perspective, Proactivity, Reactive, Real Love, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The Examined Life, The Road Less Traveled, Truth, Viktor Frankl, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Love, the Feeling, versus Love, the Capacity (Immature Love versus Mature Love, part 2)


. A properly (or fully) developed human being is a Loving human being. Love, ultimately, is a capacity. A capacity that develops as the result of developing many other capacities and virtues and behavioral predispositions. Some of these are of … Continue reading

Posted in chapter 13, Conscience, Conscious Love, Courage, Differentiation, Emotional Maturity, Friendship, Generosity, Gratitude, Honesty, Immature Love, Love is Not a Feeling, Mature Love, Perspective, Real Love, Self-Love, Spiritual Growth, Thích Nhất Hạnh, Truth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Why Real Love Is So Difficult & Rare (updated 12-26-2012)


. (This is an updated version of a post I first publish on Feb 28, 2012 — “Why Real Love Is So Difficult & Rare“) . . “We have lost our sense of values: when your fence falls, you mend … Continue reading

Posted in Conscience, Conscious Love, Courage, Czeslaw Milosz, Differentiation, Emotional Maturity, Generosity, Honesty, Immature Love, Intimate Relationships, Love, Love is Not a Feeling, Mature Love, Mental Health, Real Love, Self-Extension, Spiritual Growth, Thích Nhất Hạnh, Thomas Merton, Truth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Mature Love v Immature Love


. Erich Fromm, in “The Art of Loving,” wrote, “Immature love says: ‘I love you because I need you.’ Mature love says: ‘I need you because I love you’.” The first statement is based on dependency—I am dependent on you, … Continue reading

Posted in "Reverence for Life", "The Art of Loving", Albert Schweitzer, Conscience, Conscious Love, Courage, Death, Dependency, Emotional Maturity, Erich Fromm, Immature Love, Intimate Relationships, Love, Love is Not a Feeling, Mature Love, Rilke, Spiritual Growth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Thomas Merton on Love


. “Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work.” – Anna Quindlen When we are leading a life based on real … Continue reading

Posted in "The Velveteen Rabbit", 1 John 4:16-18, Anna Quindlen, Chris Rock, Conscious Love, Courage, Emotional Maturity, Intimate Relationships, Mature Love, Mental Health, Real Love, Schnarch, Self-Extension, Spiritual Growth, Thomas Merton, Truth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Romantic Love Dies from a Lack of Love


. “Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.” … Continue reading

Posted in Anaïs Nin, Ayya Khema, Conscience, Conscious Love, Immature Love, Intimacy, Intimate Relationships, Mature Love, Mental Health, Real Love, Spiritual Growth, Truth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , | 23 Comments

Don’t Wait!


Death—either an actual brush with it or slowing down in our daily lives enough to begin deeply and honestly contemplating it in a way that allows us to actually get a sense of what it will be like to know … Continue reading

Posted in Albert Schweitzer, Conscious Love, Death, Generosity, Gratitude, Intimate Relationships, Living the Questions, Love is Not a Feeling, Mature Love, Meister Eckhart, Mental Health, Spiritual Growth, Truth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

“What Love Is” – by Ayya Khema


. I came across a quote/excerpt yesterday on another blog that I frequent and I wanted to know more about both the author of the quote/excerpt and the excerpt itself. In particular I wanted to see if I could find … Continue reading

Posted in Ayya Khema, Conscious Love, Generosity, Gratitude, Intimate Relationships, Mature Love, Mental Health, Real Love, Spiritual Growth, Truth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Self-Revelation versus Self-Presentation & Giving versus Getting: A Few More Thoughts on Real Love & Intimacy (updated 4-2-12)


. (This is an update of my post “Self-Revelation versus Self-Presentation & Giving versus Getting: A Few More Thoughts on Real Love & Intimacy” from November 18, 2011) . Intimacy For most people intimacy equates with self-presentation, a process much … Continue reading

Posted in Anthony Robbins, Conscious Love, Generosity, Gratitude, Immature Love, Intimacy, Intimate Relationships, Joseph Campbell, Ken Wilber, Mature Love, Mental Health, Real Love, Self-Extension, Spiritual Growth, Truth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Relationship Between How We Think & How We Love


. Or “Learning How to Think More Clearly In Order to Learn How to Love Better,” or “The Relationship Between How Clearly We Think & How Grateful and Appreciative We Are and How Well We Love“ How we think—how clearly … Continue reading

Posted in (CBT) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Buddha, Conscious Love, Czeslaw Milosz, Dr Nicholas Jenner, Emotional Maturity, M. Scott Peck, Mature Love, Real Love, Self-Love, Truth, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments