Loving others by seeing darkness and light.

You are given life to live but living means growing. It means becoming fulfilled according to one’s potential. It means finding what is nourishing and not dwelling upon what is destructive. By recognizing what is nourishing in life, you are not turning a blind eye to the shadows of life, but you are providing light so that those who experience the shadows of life will more readily see the presence of light that is always there.

If you truly feel loving toward others, not just a romantic love but a loving spirit towards others, the natural expansive manifestation of that lovingness is an embrace of all that exists. Loving others allows you to see darkness but to recognize that in the darkness are shadows that are created by the presence of light. The attention is on the light without a rejection of the reality of darkness.