LOVE

Definition
-Merriam Webster: feeling of strong or constant affection for a person, assurance of affection, unselfish, loyal, and benevolent concern for the good of another, to hold dear
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7: patient, kind, rejoices with truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, never fails
---what love is/does not: envious, easily angered, tracking wrongs, delight in evil

-Love is the absence of fear

---anxiety, worry, etc.

-Very biblical concept

-Imagine what would happen if we chose (or could choose) to live our lives without fear or anxiety?

-Love is a state of being and a lifestyle

-Love is not condoning poor choices

-To love is to allow people to make their own choices and their own mistakes and not to say "I told you so" if things don't work out

-"Love is an expression of the willingness to create space in which something is allowed to change." Palmer, 1997

EXPRESSIONS OF LOVE
-Love bridges spaces of separation and distance
-Love creates community
-Love naturally develops support structures that actually support

SELF-LOVE
-"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind...and your neighbor as yourself" Luke 10:27
-How well you love others is partly dependent on how well you love yourself
-Before going into the helping field, ask yourself: "Am I able to see myself as God sees me?"
-People have difficulty moving forward in life if they cannot see themselves as God (or loved ones) see them
-"Self love is the quiet inner sense people carry that tells others that they are competent, valuable, and worthy of giving and receiving love" p.313

LOVE IS A CHOICE
-May not be a choice we want to make, but always a choice
-"Not simply or always a rational choice, but rather the willingness to be present to others fully without pretense." (p.313)
-What roadblocks prevent us from loving: God?, Others?, Ourselves?
-Start by PRACTICING acts of love as a CHOICE
---pay it forward with buying a cup of coffee for the person in line after you
---begin a love journal where you choose to acknowledge positive things about others
---ask God to help you see others and yourself as He does
---practice positive self talk - even if you don't believe it
---practice positive perspectives of others - even if you don't believe it

FORGIVENESS
-Forgiveness is an act of love
-Refusing to forgive is not healthy for us - it causes: health problems, relationship problems, isolation
-Forgiveness is not condoning the offensive act
-Forgiveness is to let go of bitterness and resentment and open ourselves up to receive a healing of the heart
-Forgiveness is actually more for our sake than that of the offender

	Created by heinrichs.mark over 10 years ago

First Year SBC CO205 Life Coaching Note on Nov.28th - 2013, created by heinrichs.mark on 28/11/2013.