LOVE Versus Fear

Each year for the month of February my blog posts focus on the theme of love. This week I want to share with you some additional thoughts that are circling around in my head regarding love as opposed to fear.

What I have personally come to understand and witness is how much of life is directed by fear and not love. I believe that fear is the opposite of love and that we are cultured to operate from a place fear. We are not cultured to operate from a place of love. Fear wants us to restrict, it doesn't want us to expand. Fear is from the ego mind and love comes from the heart.

Blogger Luminita Saviuc explains it this way, "There are only two emotions in the world, only two emotions we can express, and those two emotions are FEAR and LOVE. All the other emotions with whom we are all so familiar, are nothing more than subcategories of these two. Where there is LOVE, we may have peace, joy, content, serenity, forgiveness while on the other hand, where we have hate we will have anxiety, sadness, depression, fatigue, judgment, guilt and so on. You see, where there is LOVE, fear can not survive, and where there is fear, LOVE can not survive. They can’t live together, for only one is real, while the other is just an illusion."

This acronym for fear has really been useful for me:

F - false
E - expectations
A - appearing 
R - real

This is typically the case for most things in life. Our mind and our ego try to convince us to operate from a place of fear when really fear is usually false expectations appearing real. Our minds though work to exaggerate scenarios and cause us to believe that we need to protect ourselves, or avoid something, or worry, etc. 

I believe that what our world needs more of right now is love and not fear. All things break and all things can be mended. We need to love intentionally, extravagantly and unconditionally. Infusing loving kindness into everything we do and every interaction that we have. Collective love, empathy and compassion will dissolve collective fear, anger and hate. 

As Mother Theresa said, "There are no great deeds, just small deeds done with great love". Let's each go out and do small deeds with great love. Let's expand into love instead of contract into fear. Let's hold the vision by taking a lot of little right actions in the direction of love. Love is a choice, just as fear is a choice.

Here is a poem that captures the essence of the difference that occurs in life when we LOVE versus when we fear. 

​LOVE Versus Fear
By Sarah Nean Bruce

LOVE IS UNCONDITIONAL (fear is conditional)
LOVE IS STRONG (fear is weak)
LOVE RELEASES (fear obligates)
LOVE SURRENDERS (fear binds)
LOVE IS HONEST (fear is deceitful)
LOVE TRUSTS (fear suspects)
LOVE ALLOWS (fear dictates)
LOVE GIVES (fear resists)
LOVE FORGIVES (fear blames)
LOVE IS COMPASSIONATE (fear pities)
LOVE CHOOSES (fear avoids)
LOVE IS KIND (fear is angry)
LOVE IGNITES (fear incites)
LOVE EMBRACES (fear repudiates)
LOVE CREATES (fear negates)
LOVE HEALS (fear hurts)
LOVE IS MAGIC (fear is superstitious)
LOVE ENERGIZES (fear saps)
LOVE IS AN ELIXIR (fear is a poison)
LOVE INSPIRES (fear worries)
LOVE DESIRES (fear Joneses)
LOVE IS PATIENT (fear is nervous)
LOVE IS BRAVE (fear is afraid)
LOVE IS RELAXED (fear is pressured)
LOVE IS BLIND (fear is judgmental)
LOVE RESPECTS (fear disregards)
LOVE ACCEPTS (fear rejects)
LOVE DREAMS (fear schemes)
LOVE WANTS TO PLAY (fear needs to control)
LOVE ENJOYS (fear suffers)
LOVE FREES (fear imprisons)
LOVE BELIEVES (fear deceives)
LOVE “WANTS” (fear “needs”)