Tuesday, August 31, 2021
Love is a skill set that draws out the best in others, particularly those we love. However, if our interactions with our loved ones merely amplify their weaknesses, then we may be prone to manipulation. Manipulation is a skill that has the potential to guilt others into doing what we want them to do. When we do this to another human (use their weaknesses to get what we want), we get control over them by enslaving them to their own, negative self-perceptions. When your partner’s behaviors and actions result from their own sense of guilt and obligation, love withers.
Love blossoms when it teaches us to always draw out the best of who we are, and to do the same for others. That’s what the skills of love are – it’s using what you know about another to encourage the best in them. If you perceive someone as being weak, incapable, or overly emotional, you’ll only amplify that kind of behavior in how you interact with them, if you’re not careful. But if you reconnect to the intangible qualities of what made them lovable in the first place, you’ll begin to perceive more of their strengths, and you will interact with them in a totally different way.
We all have issues, and we all carry tremendous “baggage” in this world. But love is a skill set that helps others drop their baggage, and to pick up those truths about themselves which amplify their best qualities as a human. We don’t love others for what they have, or because of what they can or cannot do. We love others for who they are, at the core of their being. But love always magnifies the best, human qualities. The skills of true love teach us to become a catalyst for drawing out the best in others. So amplify your strengths. And most importantly, learn to do this in all of your relationships, and love will blossom forever.