This is the month when we’re reminded of love. Most of us know how to fall in love, but do we really know how to love? Think about it. Do we love without expecting anything in return? Do we act out of the kindness of our hearts?

The truth is, love is always there. It’s inside us all the time, but our agendas, concepts, morass of thoughts, mental states, input from the media, friends, families, colleagues etc., keeps us from experiencing it as part of our daily being. Just looking at the above list can put our minds on overload. If you just think about walking around with all that baggage in you head all the time, without even knowing it’s there, it’s easy to understand why it takes “falling” in love to get your attention.

When we “fall” in love, initially, we’re in love with everything and everybody, we see nothing but love everywhere. That “fall” has short-circuited all the mental chattering and tapes, and focused our attention on LOVE itself. Although we think of love in terms of the love object, the one we love, it’s really who we are at the core of our being. Underneath all the fear, greed, hate, anger and conditioning, love awaits us. When we begin to still our minds and step back from our thoughts, we begin to get more in touch with our true essence. We begin to tune into our own love, the unconditional love that’s hidden under all our baggage, and find that we can feel the rapturous state of love just by noticing the beauty in a flower, the smile on another person’s face, the blue sky. We begin to feel grateful for all these moments of connection to things we usually overlook or take for granted.

So if you are “in love” now, know that that feeling is coming from inside you. If you’re not in love right now, know that love is in inside you and you can be in touch with it whenever you stop to notice the little gifts in life.

Take a moment to sit in a comfortable upright posture and close your eyes. Visualize a joyous, loving moment. Bring that memory into your heart. Very slowly, breathe gently into it and slowly and gently exhale. Let the joy expand. Relax. Relish. Rest in this space of joy, softly breathing into the heart region and gently exhaling. Continue in this way for 5-10 minutes. You can then give yourself a hug for taking the time to honor your own inner Self, the place of perfect peace, unconditional love, and pure bliss. While walking on the street, when you pass a flower stand, see the beauty of the flowers, the assortment of colors, drink it in, so you can feel this beauty in your heart, then focus on that feeling. You can do this with a magnificent sunset, a baby’s smile, whatever evokes, love or joy or brings a smile to your face. When this happens, notice the warm feeling that arises in the heart region. Connect with this place as often as possible. It’s always there waiting for you to discover it. The more you are able to contact the love inside, the more you will come from a place of love in relating to others, no matter who they are. It takes practice, but it’s worth it.