Learning how to love.

Post 427 - Thornton Wilder once wrote, "There is a land of the living and a land of the dead. The bridge is love."

When I started to study at UCLA in the early 1970s, I was fortunate to hear the late Dr. Leo Buscaglia speak about the power of love. He was invited to present to our MBA class even though he was a professor at USC at the time. Given my scientific and business background, I hadn’t given very much thought to subjects like this before. Indeed, graduate school was the first time I’d ever been helped to think about who I was, what I believed in, and what I really wanted out of life. I still remember the impact of Buscaglia’s ideas and his sincerity and energy in presenting them. Here are some of his quotes that stick with me still:

“Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.”

“One can’t give what he doesn’t possess. To give love you must possess love.”

“Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love.”

“The opposite of love isn’t hate - it's apathy. It's not giving a damn.”

“Love always creates, it never destroys. In this lies man's only promise.”

“Love is always open arms. If you close your arms about love, you ‘ll find that you’re left holding only yourself.”

“Love yourself for who you are, no matter who that may be. It's the funny and odd things about us that sometimes makes us the most loveable.”

“What love we've given, we'll have forever. What love we fail to give, will be lost for all eternity.”

Everyone should have someone in his or her life who says, "I’ll love you no matter what ... if you fall on your face, if you do the wrong thing, if you make mistakes, if you behave like a human being – I’ll love you no matter."

"Connectedness and kindness are all we leave behind at the end."

Originally published in 1972, Love: What Life Is All About, by Leo Buscaglia, is a wonderful book and one that I recommend to everyone who’s in a relationship, or has children. It’s short, funny, and easy to read. It’ll confront your beliefs and make you think. You may or may not agree with Dr, Buscaglia - but you’ll enjoy his presentation and it’ll help you clarify and develop your own ideas about love.

Buscaglia says, "If someone desired to know about automobiles, he would, without question, study diligently about automobiles. If his wife desired to be a gourmet cook, she'd certainly study the art of cooking, perhaps even attending a cooking class. Yet, it never seems as obvious to him that if he wants to live in love, he must spend at least as much time as the auto mechanic or the gourmet in studying love."