Saturday, January 3, 2015

I Love You--Updated

This post was originally written in July 2011. Meant as a meditation on the phrase, I figured it was overdue for an update...

What do I mean when I say/write this? This is something that addresses all the people in my life I love--especially the ones I do not tell, but feel for none the less. I figure I should put some effort toward understanding love and my conception of it. I might update this post from time to time upon further meditation and interactions with books that discuss the subject. For now I'll start with the things on my mind. For starters...

  • I care about you
I want you to be happy, well, and safe. Caring about you means you are dear to me, near or far. I worry about you and hope for the best for you. I am willing to do what I can for you within reason. I wish I could protect you from harm. I want to be a positive presence in your life.

  • I respect you
I see the good in you. I admire and look up to you. I want to grow into the qualities that make you such an awesome person.  I look forward to learning more from and about you. You are a wise person who helps me see things differently. Good, bad or otherwise, you are yourself and I appreciate your willingness to be yourself around me. Likewise, you seem to like and enjoy me for who I am.

  • I adore you
You  are super cool in my book.  I enjoy your company. The vibes you give off are super positive, which makes me happy to be around you.

  • I appreciate you
You are patient with me. You are considerate, kind, loyal. I don't have to worry about the possibility of 'backstabbing', being talked about behind my back, or other negative things, which means I do not have to be ultra self-conscious around you. You do your best for me and I am more than happy to do likewise. You are understanding. You have my undying gratitude for being so wonderful. I'm glad you're in my life.


  • I want to know more about you
Who you are means a lot to me. I love hearing about your adventures in life; what you're going through, your triumphs and setbacks, guilty pleasures, favorite things. I may not vibe with everything that you are, but I want to appreciate who you are as fully as possible. This means getting to know you to the best of my ability, compassionately. Usually you share without shame because you know life is what it is and are more than willing to pass your insights on.

For now, these are the things that come to mind when I think about the people I love. When I say 'I love you' this is initially what I mean. Additionally, I feel the people in my life I love help me grow and become a better person and I hope to do the same for them. These categories are not meant to be thought of as mutually exclusive, just a way of sorting out my thoughts on the matter. I realize this might be a rather self-serving use of the phrase. I know I have a lot to learn about love and its many meanings. I want to learn more about putting love into action, making it more meaningful than just words. I realize I do not openly express all of these things to the people I love and I act on them in more of an internal sense. This is not a sentiment exclusive to lovers, but meant more for friends, family, and mentors near or far. These are all people I look up to and want to grow up to be in one way or another.

Any thoughts had about the topic are always welcome. I look forward to further expanding myself so that I may be of actual benefit to the people I love and humanity in general.

Until next time...

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