Mysteries of Love

Love. It is a simple word yet with it comes unlimited mysteries, complications and confusion. What a strange relationship if you ask me.

The past few weeks, months and years have been highly educational. Paying attention to the world and people around me has been eye opening. Paying attention to "the stories" and "situations" around me has brought more revelations.

Call it what you may, but people have different views about Love. Some say Love deceives. It confuses. It heals and it hurts. It can make you lose your mind. It should come with a warning label. Carolyn Hax, a Post advice columnist, suggests: “Don’t operate heavy machinery when you’re under the influence of this stuff.”

Yet people are still trying to explain love, to measure it, calibrate, capture it with advanced medical imaging. The science of love is in the air. Scientists are homing in on the neurochemistry of love. The love experts talk about dopamine and oxytocin and vasopressin and opioids. They study brain scans of people in various throes and permutations of love, and say things such as (we got this the other day from Helen Fisher, a pioneer in the field, and a professor at Rutgers): “We found activity in a tiny little part of the brain called the ventral tegmental area.”

Yet when you’re in love, it doesn’t feel like the ventral tegmental area is the cause.
It seems like, for example, that the eyes are more important. The hands. And other parts.

Love is not a feeling. Love is accepting another person and their flaws. Love is a decision that one makes. Love is choosing to love and accept the other people as they are.
Everyone has the power to hurt or betray another. It's up to us to chose who we want to be betrayed by... And the ability to accept is an act of Love..