There are those who find the phrase "Love is the answer." to be simplistic or trite. I understand this sentiment. When difficult times befall us and we want a solution to our financial problems or our health issues or problems with our family or living situation, "love" just doesn't seem like what we need at that moment. We need money. We need medicine. We need to fix our parents or our kids or ourselves. We need to move out or move in. We need "real solutions" to real problems, not platitudes.
If I took all the emotional pain I have ever felt in my entire life, I know that there are people in this world who have experienced far worse in just a single day. There are experiences so heart-wrenching that I cannot fathom what it must feel like to go through them. So I get it. "Love is the answer" seems to fall short for someone who just lost a child or left part of who they were on some far-away battlefield or languished in prison for something they did not do.
But, what is the alternative?
Someone far wiser than I told me to try this, so I did: The next time you feel like your situation is utterly hopeless, take just a moment and close your eyes. Take three deep breaths. In your mind's eye, picture your heart as a locked door. Now picture it opening. Imagine the fresh air and light that enters through it is love. Stay there for a few moments, for a few moments respite may be all you have at first. But it gets better.
Love is not the end; it is the beginning. It is the well from which all healing springs. It is the only place to start and without it, we are lost.
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