Lifestyle: Where there is love there is life

What would life be without love? It would be boring and less exciting. After all, where there is love there is life. And love makes us better people.

I know… you probably read the title and thought that I was some Hare Krishna handing out roses at the airport *as if they really still do that anymore*. But the truth is that whether we want to admit it or not, the one thing that means anything on this earth, is love. A life without love is meaningless, and where there is love there is life. God *or entity you believe in* has put us here for a purpose, and it isn’t to make it to the top of the corporate ladder *or at least not the only reason*.

Our species has survived for one reason – because we reach out to and work with others around us. That is why, when we lose people in our lives, friendships break up, or we can no longer live with someone that we promised our undying love to, it is one of the hardest things that we can go through.

In the same respect, finding comfort, love, and support from either a host of people or just one special person, is the thing that defines the quality of our life.

Where there is love there is life

Loving someone not only makes us feel better, but it also makes us better people. Why? When you love someone, you want to not only give the best of yourself to them, you want to be the best YOU that you can be. If you are with the right person in life, they should challenge you, push you, and encourage you. But also at the same time, they should comfort you when things are rough, pull back when you are pushing too hard, and know when all you really need is a hug.

15 ways to see that where there is love there is life

There are numerous ways that love makes us better people, and here are the top 15 ways.

#1 It makes us believe. Love makes us believe that things are possible and that there is a design to this life. When things are feeling out of control, hopeless, or just as if they have no direction, love is the thing that brings us back from the brink. It lifts our spirits and makes us believe that there is some higher purpose than just ourselves or the monotonous routine of our day-to-day lives.

#2 It makes us feel less alone. Think about how lonely it would be if we all lived in our own homes, went to work alone, ate alone, and never had any interaction with anyone. The way that we find meaning is through the interactions that we have with those around us.

If there was no such thing as love, we would walk through this world without any companionship, encouragement, or support. Imagine going from day to day without anyone to reach out to, hold on to, or tell us that they get it, and we aren’t in it alone.

#3 It gives us encouragement. We do things for the people we love. Not only do we get up in the morning to work to feed ourselves, but we also do so to take care of the people who we love in our lives. Whether you are a stay-at-home mom, a working mother, or a single man, there is someone in your life that makes you want to get out from underneath the covers in the morning.

If there was no love, doing anything – even for survival purposes – would seem pointless. You wouldn’t have anything to survive for.

#4 It gives us motivation. Nothing can motivate someone more than being in love. When you love someone, you want to be a better person to and for them. Wanting to provide them with a happier, more fulfilled, and joyful life, your purpose becomes to work harder to provide. Or, to get your work done to come home early for some time alone.

There is no greater motivator than wanting to make someone you love happy and satisfied. Love can move mountains because it gives us the motivation and strength to at least try.

#5 It sometimes makes us feel whole. When we lose love, or are looking for someone to love, it can feel like we are missing something in our lives. It isn’t that you aren’t happy, or fulfilled, it is just that being in love or loving someone feels like filling a cup to the top. Like having everything you can possibly want within your grasp, being in love can make you feel like every inch of you is to maximum capacity.

#6 It makes us feel warmth and happiness. The word “happy” is a very difficult to word to describe. To me, happy means that you look at others, or other things in your life, and there isn’t a thing that you would trade for what you have.

It isn’t about wanting what you don’t have, but about having what you want and loving every bit of it. Happiness isn’t a continuum, and something that can be fleeting. But when you have love, you know that happiness is a state of mind that can be achieved simply by taking stock of your life. [Read: 16 things you need to give up for a blissfully happy life]

#7 It makes us want better things. When you are in love, you want the best for the one you love. That makes you challenge yourself, do things you wouldn’t normally do without someone boosting you up, and it pushes you to go past the boundaries of what you typically believe yourself capable of doing.

Wanting better things isn’t about acquiring more, it is about wanting to take the time to enjoy the ride instead of just getting to the finish line – in all aspects of life.

#8 Love is being able to forgive. If there is one thing in this world that holds us back, keeps us from happiness, or robs us of security, it is the inability to forgive those around us. Loving means that you never hold a grudge and that you can always find a place for forgiveness in your heart.

When your soul is filled up with love and happiness, there is no room for resentment or anger. There is only room for understanding and forgiveness, so that you can move on and forward. [Read: Sabotaging your happiness – 12 ways you could be ruining your own happiness]

#9 It makes us persevere. At times when life gets the roughest, love is the thing that brings us through. Knowing that someone loves us and that there is someone to lean on during times of hardship can help us get through any emotionally or physically hard time.

Love is the thing that allows us to move past, move forward, and find the strength to carry on, especially when we would really rather quit.

#10 Love is what helps us grow. The thing that makes us grow emotionally is having the love of those around us. Unconditional love is what everyone strives for whether they recognize it or not. Knowing that no matter what we do – whether we do the right thing or wrong – or really screw up, someone is waiting to tell us that it is okay and that they still love us. This allows us to make mistakes without fear and to grow into emotionally mature individuals.

#11 It helps us heal. There are all sorts of wounds that we can endure. Love is the thing that helps those wounds heal so that we can love again. The reason that we continue to love, even after being hurt, is that we know that the feeling of love is so much greater than not loving, which feels empty. Love heals all hurt and gives us encouragement to continue.

#12 It makes us feel safe. There is no better security in life than knowing you are loved. At our lowest times when we think that things are at their worst, love is the thing that can lift us above it and find the silver lining to feeling safe, secure, and like we can go on. Home is where the heart is, and that is where there is love.

#13 It just feels good. Remember how it feels to fall in love for the first time? If you could bottle that feeling to replay anytime you are feeling low, there would never be a time of feeling anything but glorious. Sure, puppy love can’t last forever, but it makes you feel more alive than you have ever felt in your whole life.

#14 It can hurt worse than anything. Part of living is hurt. There is no way to make it to the end without being hurt by love at least once. That sting is something that takes a long time to heal and move past, but it also reminds us that we are alive and that as bad as things are, there is an opposite. After all, you can’t know what pleasure is if you haven’t ever felt pain.

#15 It makes life colorful. The feeling of love is like a rush through your body. Pure electricity running through your veins, love is the amplification that makes colors brighter, sensations more sensational and noises more clamorous. It is the icing on any cake that makes life exciting and alive.

The phrase, “It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all,” is one of the truest phrases anyone has ever uttered. There are times when love can lift you up, or it can crush you.

But, no matter which way it goes, without it, there is no such thing as life. It makes our life fulfilled and satisfied and makes us want to be better people. And that’s why, where there is life there is love.