Are You Allowing Others to Love You?

Love heals. This is a fact that no school of thought disputes. However, love can sometimes be experienced as threatening, and even invasive, if people are not ready to contain it. Containing love is no small matter. Love comes in all sorts of forms and languages. Sometimes one person's love language contradicts the way another person shows their love. Therefore, expressing love requires preparation, both from the one expressing it and from the one to whom love is expressed. There are 3 main reasons for the difficulty in receiving love:
1. Love requires unity – Sometimes when we disagree with each other, we find it difficult to love. Love has an element of unity. Therefore, to receive it, one must feel at one with the other party.
2. Love requires boundaries – If there are no boundaries between us and the other party, receiving the love expressed to us can cause us to lose ourselves.
3. Love asks for authenticity – When we are loved, our defense mechanisms become transparent. We cannot observe what is happening to us from within them, and people see us as we are.

Conversely, it is possible to receive love when one is careful to manage and contain it, not through coercion but with full attention to its synchronization with the rest of the body and consciousness.
1. When you receive containment, pay attention to the parts that repel it and allow it to pass through them as well. For example: never return compliments to the sender.
2. Listen to your heart – Love is not supposed to be backed by logical reasons. People express love to you and to your essence, not to your behavior.
3. Love is a space to be who you are – The lowering of defense mechanisms when you are loved is a wonderful tool for release. Use love and its boundaries as a platform to rest and gather strength for the continued fulfillment of your role in the world.

How do you receive love?