When we care enough to listen to others, not so much as to give them advice, but to understand them…not so much to solve their problems but to be their confidante…not so much to inspire them but to be there for them, we become to them a trustworthy friend.

They perceive that our motives are simply to affirm their humanity and to ensure that they know that they are loved — not for what they did or didn’t do, and not for what happened to them or the circumstances they created for themselves, but for them as a person, who just like us, needs someone to acknowledge that they are worth loving.

Let us so love one another. And whether or not we are loved by others in this way in return, we have made the world of others a better place — and therefore our own lives as well. Whenever we do good for others, we do good for ourselves.

Love shared is love experienced. If the only love we experience is that which we give, we are far better off than those who have never experienced it. And I would add that we are also better off than those who have only received it.

The soul that recognizes its ability to generously give love is aware that it has an abundance of love within that beautifies and blesses life, and gives one’s life purpose and meaning. To give love, joyfully and unreservedly, is to understand that you yourself already possess the greatest gift of life; and that by passing it on, you appreciate and partake ever more fully in that gift.

— Bret S. Myers, 12/18/2015