Love

Surround yourself with love. Though this may seem
to you the most impossible emotion to experience
in the first stages following a separation, it is
to become your course of action when you realize
that love is the key to your control of self and
to the door that is opening toward your new
reality. Love is what brought you into your
relationship and love is the power that will lead
you to the meaningful resolution of your situation.

This decision to love must first take effect with
reference to yourself and to the person from whom
you are separating. You must love yourself for
those qualities which brought you into the realm
of that other person: your willingness to give of
yourself and to take the risk of being hurt. And
to love the other person in spite of the pain you
are feeling is to allow that person the same
freedom you will both need in order to move on.
Love is a force that renews us and prepares us for
tomorrow. Hatred is a shackle that keeps us tied
to the past. Drop the shackles!

The one from whom you have separated will not soon
be forgotten, though great distances may separate
the two of you. Give the memory of that person the
chance to help you by insisting on remembering the
beautiful experiences that united you. The painful
ones which separated you will need no coaxing from
the memory. Turn your anger into love. Take the
qualities you found in the other person and
develop them in yourself, use them as a way of
better experiencing your love for all the others
who are important in your life. After all, those
were qualities which brought you into love and
they are no less worthy today.

Love has no guilt and no boundaries. In fact, it
has no definition. Yes, it is the force which
takes us out of ourselves so that we may share
ourselves with others. Yet it is also the force
that leads us into ourselves, so that we may
understand and prepare ourselves for the act of
giving. You cannot resolve the bitterness and pain
of the separation you are experiencing by
continuing to dwell on these feelings. Come alive
with the force which is the essence of life
itself. You are leaving one relationship, one stop
in your journey. There is still a path before you.
Walk in love.