How to be loved

This morning, I walked by the lake while the last colours of sunrise were still stretched across the sky.

The pictures I took didn’t do it justice. They never do. Some beauty is kirei sugi (too beautiful), as the Japanese often say when they see the sakura in full bloom.

The water was sparkling. The blue sky was vivid. The colours were like a painting, soft pastels of orange, red, purple, and white. Everything shimmered in the greatest show on earth that is free.

I felt, for a moment, rich.

Not rich in the way we usually measure it. Not in numbers, savings, or security.

But standing there by the water, I felt abundant.

The morning sunrise. My apartment. The neighbourhood. The beach and lake. The people I meet in my neighbourhood café. My dog, Bounty. My best friend, Barb. Being alive and healthy.

I have been thinking a lot lately about love.

Not just finding it but receiving it.

Because no one really teaches you how to receive love.

Growing up, I often felt I had to earn it, hold onto it, and not lose it at any cost. I became so focused on seeking love that I never learned how to let it in.

Lately, I have started asking myself at the end of the day: Where did love come to me today?

I am beginning to understand that love is not only something we wait for. It is something we practise noticing. And often, it arrives in tiny moments.

• The morning sunrise.

• A deep conversation with a good friend.

• Your dog or cat excited to see you when you arrive home.

Love is also about letting it in when it arrives.

• Replying to a kind message in our inbox.

• Letting a compliment land without deflecting it.

• ·Accepting help without explaining why we deserve it.

A friend once told me: Go to the people and places that love you and are excited to see you.

I think about that often.

How much of life is spent trying to win love from people and places that cannot give it? What if we turned instead toward what welcomes us?

This includes being kind to ourselves.

• Saying no without guilt.

• Not apologizing for being who we are.

• Being proud of ourselves, even the parts we don’t always like.

• Keeping our hearts open with those we may not agree with or fully understand, often starting with our own families.

Maybe love has been here all along, waiting for us to notice.

Maybe she has loved us quietly for years, like a secret admirer, leaving small gifts in our path.

And perhaps healing begins when we finally see love and invite her in.

Where did love show up in your life today? Did you let her in?