Who Loves Ya, Baby?
A note from Carin, our Heart-To-Heart Therapist in ‘The Nook’ at Sow & Root.
It’s that time of the year again when hearts and flowers dominate the agenda and our thoughts turn to the ‘L’ word in a big way. So much of society and what we consider to be important in our lives is linked to love; a small word with enormous universal significance.
It’s a fact that some Inuit tribes have over 50 words for snow, so how is it that English, with the biggest lexis by far of any language, can only muster one, measly little word for the phenomenon which touches us all to a lesser or greater extent every day, throughout our lives? The ancient Greeks had many words for it: eros - passionate love, philia - deep friendship, storge - family love, pragma - long standing love, ludus - playful love, mania - obsessive love, agape - unconditional universal love and philautia - self-love.
As a therapist, love is the area which is of most concern in the work I do with other beautiful humans in terms of a perceived imbalance, sometimes too much of it but, more often than not, too little. I wonder which of the above you consider to be most important and how you would rank them within your own experience in order to lead a contented life?
I’ll leave you with a quote from Bell Hook’s book ‘All About Love: New Visions’. It is something I refer to often and is the one I will let you ponder: ‘To love well is the task of all meaningful relationships, not just romantic bonds’.... but I would add ‘and it starts and ends with yourself’.
Happy Valentine’s Day ❤️❤️❤️!
- Written by Carin Hammond