Have I Loved Well?

Have I loved well?

Have you?

Of all our actions here in this lifetime, how we love is at the base of who we are.

Is our heart a cornucopia of love that overflows in random directions occasionally bowling over the woman we order coffee from at the drive thru? Or is our heart walled in a way and guarded by a cautious and skeptical prison warden who lets only small crumbs fall out and even less flow in?

(Likely we live between these two - visiting each during a period of time.)

We are really just a flow of love during our life.  Like a large plumbing pipe ... either gushing at full force like the old faithful geyser or clogged with the debris of our past broken hearts merely dribbling a scant flow into the world.

We are just a piece of plumbing. (Chuckle)

Are you flowing? 

Are you loving well? 

What happens when you ask yourself this question?  What happens when you ask yourself this question about one particular person in your life?

And then what action rises up in response?

This morning I asked myself this question.  “Have I loved well?” Just asking the question illicites a response.  I’m not talking about an evaluation response like “yes” “no” or “sometimes.”   I’m talking about an inspired action response.   

When I asked myself this question this morning “Have I loved well?” The urge to pour love and gratitude to my partner weld up.  Then the urge to say “I love you” to a particular friend rose up... and to my kids... and then came a welling of gratitude for the existence of these beings I love.

Am I loving well?

Let’s not answer it.  Let’s ask it to ourselves and watch what rises... and then, let’s not wait to do it.

When my life is over, the measure of this flow will inform my life.  It’s the difference between a work of art that stands statically on the canvas or one that leaps from the frame and draws you emotionally right into the pigment.  Our lives are works of art.  I am painting my life each day. 

If you knew that your flow of love was the most important ingredient in your life’s composition.... would you do anything different?   

The trick is to die with very little “no” in your answer.