{"id":400,"date":"2013-08-22T23:26:14","date_gmt":"2013-08-22T23:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayinspiration\/?p=400"},"modified":"2013-10-10T01:17:04","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T01:17:04","slug":"eight-ways-to-bring-more-love-into-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2013\/08\/eight-ways-to-bring-more-love-into-your-life.html","title":{"rendered":"8 Ways to Bring More Love into Your Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhere there is love there is life.\u201d – Mahatma Gandhi<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Love brings clarity and focus to your life. Love helps you see what is truly important compared to what is trivial. Love empowers you to help others find its healing grace while you are showered with its grace along the way.<\/p>\n

To bring more love into your life, you may need to draw a new map or shake your compass a little if it\u2019s stuck. Finding new ways to let more love in your life can be simple to do when your heart is ready for the journey:<\/p>\n

1.\tAcknowledge the walls holding love back.<\/strong>
\nOften what keeps you from bringing more love into your life is you. Step back and notice the barriers that are holding love back. Are you withholding love from others because of jealously, spite or a lack of emotion? Do you see love as a burden or something unimportant? Do you allow self-love to flow through you?<\/p>\n

Bringing more love into your life takes action and awareness. Begin by knocking down the walls that are keeping love away. When you do, love will not come in drips, it will come all at once.<\/p>\n

2.\tChange and grow.<\/strong>
\nLove is not static. People change; relationships change and you change, too. Becoming aware of the changing needs of the people in your life and then changing how you extend love to meet these needs will allow love to grow.<\/p>\n

3.\tDetermine what you are willing to release to experience more love.<\/strong>
\nConsider what it would feel like to let go of past expectations, rules or experiences of love. In the place where regret once lived, fill this space with hope and imagine what your life could look like from this point forward. Let go of the past and take hold of love.<\/p>\n

4.\tStop controlling love.<\/strong>
\nLove knows no boundaries and is limitless in its potential. The idea of controlling love is temporary at best. To bring more love into your life you must be willing to surrender to it. Put down your anxiety and allow love to fill your life on its schedule; not yours.<\/p>\n

5.\tImagine what love looks like to you.<\/strong>
\nClose your eyes and feel love spread over you. What does it look like to you? Is it peace, security and wonder? Does it look like loving your partner or child unconditionally? Does it look like repairing a part of your past? Or does it look like having the confidence to love you<\/em> a little more each day? No matter what love looks like to you, keep this picture in front of you and refer to it often when it feels like love is slipping away.<\/p>\n

6.\tRecognize your expectations of love.<\/strong>
\nLove often disappoints when your expectations are unrealistic. Love can be the bridge that brings two people together, but the bridge looks different each day. Some days it is paved with passion and on other days it is filled with a simple, subtle knowing.<\/p>\n

Celebrate each day for what it brings and understand that to realize intense intimacy a baseline has to be established. The \u201cbaseline days\u201d of sharing gentle tenderness can be just as passionate when your expectations are appropriately calibrated.<\/p>\n

7.\tPractice giving.<\/strong>
\nLove grows in abundance by how much you are willing to give \u2013 so practice giving. Donate to the disadvantaged, find ways to help someone in need and give your time and attention to worthwhile causes. Find ways to make your partner\u2019s day a little easier and be fully present for your children. Practice giving more of yourself. With practice, love will grow in strength.<\/p>\n

8.\tKnow what\u2019s temporary.<\/strong>
\nShortcuts in love may feel good, but they don\u2019t last. Instant gratification isn\u2019t really love at all. Commit to the journey of learning how you can bring more love to others. Resist the temptation of doing what feels good at the moment and replace it with what you really want for the long term.<\/p>\n

About Alex Blackwell<\/a><\/h5>\n

Alex Blackwell is a father, husband and writer. He writes about inspiring things at The BridgeMaker<\/a>.
\nWeb<\/a> | Simple Paths<\/a> | How to Love Consciously<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhere there is love there is life.\u201d – Mahatma Gandhi Love brings clarity and focus to your life. Love helps you see what is truly important compared to what is trivial. Love empowers you to help others find its healing grace while you are showered with its grace along the way. To bring more love…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":554,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n8 Ways to Bring More Love into Your Life - Everyday Inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"8 Ways to Bring More Love into Your Life - Everyday Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cWhere there is love there is life.\u201d – Mahatma Gandhi Love brings clarity and focus to your life. Love helps you see what is truly important compared to what is trivial. Love empowers you to help others find its healing grace while you are showered with its grace along the way. To bring more love…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2013\/08\/eight-ways-to-bring-more-love-into-your-life.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Everyday Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-22T23:26:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-10-10T01:17:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alex Blackwell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"8 Ways to Bring More Love into Your Life - Everyday Inspiration","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"8 Ways to Bring More Love into Your Life - Everyday Inspiration","og_description":"\u201cWhere there is love there is life.\u201d – Mahatma Gandhi Love brings clarity and focus to your life. Love helps you see what is truly important compared to what is trivial. Love empowers you to help others find its healing grace while you are showered with its grace along the way. To bring more love…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2013\/08\/eight-ways-to-bring-more-love-into-your-life.html","og_site_name":"Everyday Inspiration","article_published_time":"2013-08-22T23:26:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-10-10T01:17:04+00:00","author":"Alex Blackwell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2013\/08\/eight-ways-to-bring-more-love-into-your-life.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2013\/08\/eight-ways-to-bring-more-love-into-your-life.html","name":"8 Ways to Bring More Love into Your Life - Everyday Inspiration","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-08-22T23:26:14+00:00","dateModified":"2013-10-10T01:17:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/#\/schema\/person\/71d89f4271da87423b5582b35093074f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2013\/08\/eight-ways-to-bring-more-love-into-your-life.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2013\/08\/eight-ways-to-bring-more-love-into-your-life.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2013\/08\/eight-ways-to-bring-more-love-into-your-life.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"8 Ways to Bring More Love into Your Life"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/","name":"Everyday Inspiration","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Alex Blackwell","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/#\/schema\/person\/71d89f4271da87423b5582b35093074f","name":"Alex Blackwell","description":"Alex Blackwell is the author of Letting Go: 25 True Stories of Peace, Hope and Surrender and the founding editor of The BridgeMaker - a blog about letting go, faith and inspiration. Be sure to download Alex's free eBook How to Love Consciously and connect with him on Facebook.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/author\/cblackwell"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/554"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":519,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions\/519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}