The Bible says that God is love and sacrificed Jesus because he loved us so much.  William Shakespeare refers to music as the food of love in Twelfth Night.  Sigmund Freud identifies it in Eros as life’s energy force.  Others say love (and money) makes the world go around.  Hollywood tells us that we all want to fall in love, as many times as possible.  Some of us are in love with love.

There are probably as many views of love as there are people on the planet.  Great writing, music, art, film, dance and architecture have been inspired by love and serve as a monument to its expression.  Love is powerful.  Oprah Winfrey says that experiences presents us with an opportunity ‘to choose love over fear.’

Love is certainly part of human need, desire and longing.  Some of us are lucky enough to experience it at some point in our lives, and others are not.  Maybe loving others starts with loving ourselves.  In order to give and receive love we need to be able to trust ourselves and trust another.  Can we love if we know that our feelings will not be reciprocated?  Some people find it easy to love their children, family and friends; others do not.  I have heard parents say that they would be prepared to die for their children: real sacrificial love.

Love may be both about who and what we attach ourselves to. We may have been badly hurt by our earlier attempts to love and be loved.  Consequently we may find it easier to love power, status and material possessions.  We can find ourselves becoming addicted to that which we once loved, or we might assume we love something because we are unhealthily addicted to it.  Love is mysterious and can turn into hate.

Some powerful questions you might want to consider: Who or what do you love and how does that affect how you relate to them?  Does it feel like a healthy love or more of the obsessive kind?  Have you been hurt by loving and need to heal before you can love again?   Do you not love because you are afraid of exposing yourself to the pain of disappointment?  Are you missing out on beautiful emotional connections because you fear it will all go wrong?   Do your actions express what is in your heart?

There is no need to love everything or everyone but to be open to the possibility seems important to me. What do you think?

Humour is part of what makes life pleasurable.  Smiling and laughing is good for our heart and helps us to de-stress. It does not get rid of the stresses altogether but offers some respite from them and is enjoyable in its own right.  It can make us feel happy.

Psychologists and others have spent time analysing humour and why we find certain things funny.  What you find funny can say a lot about who you are.  If you spend enough time listening to comedians you could see the punch line as it approaches.  That does not make it any less funny.

Do you laugh because of what you hear when someone tells a joke or is it about what you see.  Many of the early silent movies are very entertaining to look at.  I don’t think humour is about picking on any one person or making fun of a group of people. That is unnecessary and cruel. Generally I prefer my humour in situation comedy or clever stand-ups with witty word play.  But often it is the silliest things that remain in our memories.

Comedy does not have to be performed for us.  Laughter can come from our everyday encounters with the people in our life.  This can provide many private episodes of riotous laughter. We can always laugh at ourselves too. In surveys women often say that they want a man with a sense of humour although men don’t seem to rate this as important for them.  I do not know why that is.

I am glad I know what makes me laugh and where to find it.  Is there a place for laughter in your life? Could you laugh with the ones you love?