I recently watched a movie where two of the protagonists were trapped in an elevator for quite some time. Their initial dislike for each other, and being caught up in their own story, dissolves little by little when they decide to open up to each other and spend the unforeseen and uninvited time together, to get to know each other. And as the movies do… they fall in love.
What occurred to me is how something – Love – that is so natural to us, has been distorted and limited to just this one thing: to finding someone, to finding the love of your life who makes you happy and fulfilled.
But what if we always have the ability to see past this and see the true beauty in each other, to see who is behind all these facades of behaviour and ways to cope in the world, behind the stereotypes we use to categorise and behind all the images that can come between us?
What if our hearts naturally beat to the rhythm of each other and not just to the one and only person that we decide to love, but to every being in the world, just by the mere and simple fact that we are all innately the same and come from the same source?
We have made love a very restricted matter that lets us run around in strait-jackets all the time, not supporting us to be truly open and fully loving with all people we want to be open with.
We are always connected with each other, whether we acknowledge it and live that way or not. However, we have made our way of living one that allows us to pick and choose, to love selectively, instead of being all the love that we are, all of the time.
So back to the movie. What if the two people appreciated – yes, appreciated – how beautiful the other person is and how they are opening up their hearts, but then not limiting themselves to this one moment, with a tunnel vision to only seeing that person, but rather opening themselves up to the beauty that has been presented to them, the vast beauty around us that we often do not see.
This beauty can be found in any encounter, and this beauty is us. We then do not have to hold on to this moment and spend the rest of our life with this one person, but can move on and appreciate the next moment and the next person we meet or come across with the same openness and love.
By Esther Andras, Flight Attendant, Delmenhorst, Germany
Related Reading:
What is true love?
What is a True Relationship and How Does that Feel?
Love beyond The sheets – Exploring our relationship with love, sex and intimacy