Unconditional Love
With uncertainty all around us, I thought it would be fun to share some of my personal stories regarding observation of unconditional love.
What is unconditional love, anyway?
It’s really hard to just assign it a definition, right? But, let’s make a deal. After you finish reading my share, I want you to reflect on your life... honor your stories... notice the signs of unconditional love all around you.
Now, what I am about to share might not be pretty, but it’s real.
Unconditional love is when I disregard an idea that my husband, Mark, is super excited about. Yes, for real. We have been talking about remodeling our kitchen. The remodel is my idea because I love to cook, entertain, and eat… you can tell I was raised by an Italian mother, huh?
Well... Mark thought that it would be a great idea to replace a beautiful chandelier with a ceiling fan. I immediately had a violent reaction and said, ”Um, no way.”
I know we are talking about a ceiling fan, but he was LEGIT excited about this. A few seconds went by, and I realized that I could have been kinder in that response. I turned to apologize, but he had already gotten over it. He didn’t even know what I was apologizing for.
Unconditional love is when someone can see through the words and know the intentions of your heart.
Unconditional love is when I catch my 6 year turning on the baby monitor for the puppy during her class break and talking kindly to her. She always says, “Hi girl. It’s ok girl. We will come get you soon, girl.” It’s the way the 6 year old cares about what we are eating for dinner only to make sure that it is safe for the dog in case a scrap falls.
Unconditional love is when you haven’t talked to a close friend for months - maybe years - and when you do, you pick back up like nothing has changed. It’s also when you don’t see eye-to-eye with a friend, but that doesn’t really matter. Those disagreements are forgotten.
It’s when you haven’t seen your parents in over a year because of the pandemic... and they say, “Don’t worry, it’s ok - as long as we get to hear your voice, we are happy.”
Unconditional love for ourselves is when we say “enough” and we start protecting our boundaries. We start accepting the idea that we can say ENOUGH because we ARE ENOUGH. Without any bells and whistles, we are ENOUGH.
When we can believe this... we start to see that others are enough... and we start to drop the unrealistic expectations for others. And, we are able to love unconditionally.