I fall in love with everything - quickly too. I remember sharing with a friend a sweet ‘I love you’ moment to which she responded: ‘You love everything tho,” and I remember feeling so hurt by it. I couldn’t place why but if I could put words to it now, it felt as though because I had deep love for so many things, it made my love for my friend not as special.
It’s been four years since that conversation and I’m just now having the realization I needed to have about it. Grab a drink baby, I’ve got the chair; it’s all about love (read that book btw), but not how you may think:
I swear society has taught us that love was to be reserved for romantic relationships and romantic relationships only. This goes for intimacy, affection, care, trust, etc. We feel that the investment made in us must be grand in order for us to share those aspects of us with others. Mm, but what if love isn’t just about romance though? What if it’s about so much more?
The other day, I was out on my walk before my husband and son woke up and I was knee deep in love with everything around me - the palm trees, squirrels, shrubbery, the stranger’s baby’s curl across her face as she turned to look at me, the sound of the wild parrots as they found a new tree to settle on, the book choices at the little library on the corner house, the Spanish tiles on the roof that needed repairs, the massive trunks of trees that have seen centuries.
I thought to myself how could anyone not fall deeply in love with all of this? All of what’s around? Love is everywhere. It’s in the laughter shared between friends when you do something silly as fuck. It’s in the tender care we give to show our plants as you wipe the dust off their leaves + watching them grow and thrive under our attention. It’s even in the passion and dedication we pour into whatever new hobby has our attention. Suddenly, love seems a bit bigger and shit, a lot more inclusive.
I kept thinking about it and started to recognize that I do fall in love with everything and I love everything deeply and there’s nothing wrong with that. It started to make me smile that I can find the beauty in most things in a way that’s going to deepen my love for it and in turn, my connectedness to it. I connect through my heart space, that’s my center, and it erupts with love constantly. What used to be an insecure feeling now envelops me in the deepest love for my ability to look at a tree, acknowledge that it’s probably seen the world change, and fall in love with the fact that it’s still here, standing, looking down at me with its beautiful leaves every time I trace my fingers on its peeling trunks, waiting for the next stranger to pass it by and smile. And that love transfers to the bumper sticker that made me laugh. It reminds me that while I can fall in love with all of the things, I can also fall in love with how I fall in love with things. I can fall in love with the me I’m becoming, the me that gets overwhelmed by all of this love for the world that it has to pour out in all of creative expression and affection and words. Each one of these connections is a form of love, a testament to the capacity of the human heart to care, cherish, and connect. Some wait forever to fall in love and here I am, enveloped in the feeling by everything around me.
If you leave with anything let it be this: this realization that we can see love in everything around us is more than just an observation—it’s a reflection of the love that lives within us. It’s like holding up a mirror to our souls and seeing that we are embodiments of love ourselves. If we can recognize the ability to love so freely and widely, we can uncover a deep and profound truth about our essence: we are not just capable of giving and receiving love; we are love, in its most pure and expansive form. If you let this understanding shift your perspective, it allows us to not only recognize love in all its external manifestations but to also acknowledge and celebrate ourselves as sources of love. It’s a powerful acknowledgment that our capacity to love everything is a testament to the boundless love we carry inside, ready to be shared with the world.
And I say the following with a grin no less: it’s totally fine to be head over heels with everything. This ability to see beauty everywhere I look deepens my connection to the world. What once made me feel vulnerable now fills me with a profound sense of love—not just for the things I see but for the experience of loving itself and it’s not just about external things. It’s about loving the process, falling in love with the person I am as I navigate through this love-filled world. Every connection, every little moment of appreciation, is a testament to the boundless capacity of our hearts.
When we expand our view of love, our world becomes richer, more vibrant. We begin to see the magic in the mundane, the extraordinary in the everyday. It makes us more empathetic, more connected, both to the world around us and to our inner selves.
So, as you take another sip of that drink, I invite you to think about all the forms of love in your life. Cherish them, nurture them, and most importantly, celebrate them. Because love, in all its forms, is what makes life truly worth living.
You’ll be hearing more from me soon, promise 🤍🤲🏽
-marr