+1 #1120: Love in Action

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another optimize plus one. In our last plus one, we upgraded our conception of Soulmates to Soulmate 2.0. At least I did. Before we jump into the wisdom for today's plus one, how about some fun? Johnson family history Once upon a time, actually almost exactly 13 years ago, Alexandra and I met. At the time, I was running a social networking site called Zods that was all about connecting people who wanted to be the change and change the world together. Long story short, Alexandra was introduced to the site by a friend. She checked it out, found my profile page and said, I'm gonna marry that guy. No joke. I got misty eyed just typing that. Now, we happen to have a mutual friend who happened to introduce us and, well, skipping some fun details, the rest is history. Now, one of the reasons we fell in love is that we both loved Leo Buscaglia and his book called Love. In fact, Alexandra was the first one I ever met who had actually read that book. Twice, no less. So today we're going to talk about love. More specifically, Leo Buscaglia's love. We'll start with this gem that captures the thesis of our Love 101 class. Buscaglia tells us, as soon as the love relationship does not lead me to me, as soon as I in a love relationship do not lead another person to himself, this love, even if it seems to be the most secure and ecstatic attachment I have ever experienced, is not true love. For real love is dedicated to continual becoming. Then there's this lesson I've been blessed to learn and relearn. He tells us, one does not fall in or out of love. One grows in love. And it's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely. And finally, he tells us, if one wishes to know love, one must live love in action. Love. Let's live it today.