Awakening Your Inner Hero

I apologize from the very beginning if you began reading today’s message because you thought it was going to provide some enlightenment about the art of sexual love-making.

But hopefully today’s message will be one of the most life-impacting you’ve ever read on this eternally compelling topic.

I never was comfortable with these common words for a sexual interaction—making love. It’s a joke. And I wish it wasn’t a joke, and I wish more of our sexual interactions were about making love than I believe they are. I am a 77-year-old fellow with considerably fewer sexual hormones than many of my dear younger readers, but hopefully my ever-decreasing hormones come along with some valuable elder perspectives.

Let’s start with some definitions of love. What is it? We say the word love a lot, but what does it mean? Can we even define it?

According to one of the dictionaries I looked at:

“Love is an intense feeling of deep affection.”

I think that’s a very shallow perspective on the topic of love.

The Urban Dictionary defines love as:

“The act of caring and giving to someone else. Having someone’s best interest and well-being as a priority in your life. To truly love is a very selfless act.”

I love this one!

In the Old Testament, it is stated that:

“Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered and it keeps no record of right or wrongs.”

Beautiful!

This commonly used word has many definitions. All the way from a deep feeling inside of me, to how I choose to treat you.

Me? You?

You? Me?

Is love how you make me feel or is it how I do my best to help you feel loved? Can it be both? Is love just a heavenly feeling or is love a choice we can make every day?

And let’s not forget to define our word “make.”

The title of this message is HOW TO MAKE LOVE. My favorite definition of make is: “To create or to make something come about.”

You and I can actually “Make” Love. Think about it. We can be love makers. We already are. When we wake up in the morning, we can make it. When we go to the grocery store, we can make it. Even when we feel lousy, we can still make it. Maybe not quite as good as when we feel great, but we can still make it. “Make” is as important as “Love” in this title. Maybe even more important.

If we can “Make” Love, can anyone ever take it away from us? Can there ever be a limited amount to go around? Or can we keep creating more love when we want it or need it? We are love chefs.

I am about to ask you three key questions required to dedicate yourself to this challenging Love Maker pathway. After each question, I will intuitively give our answer.

Q: Would you like to be a serious Love Maker in your lifetime?

A: Yes, of course I would.

Q: Are you already a Love Maker?

A: Yes, I am, some of the time.

Q: Would you like to become the best Love Maker you can be in this precious, time-limited lifetime of yours?

A: Hmmm. That’s a big one, but yes, I absolutely would. Never thought of it quite that way before.

How did I do?

We are in. We do want to be the best Love Makers we can be in this lifetime. This is very exciting. I just have a few guidelines to get us to vigilantly stay on our pathway.

First, let’s remind ourselves, every day, that we have pledged to be the best Love Makers we can be. Upon waking and before closing our eyes at night would be good times. Anytime in between would help, too. Every single day, for the rest of our lives.

Second, choosing to “Make” Love may be the most important decision in our lives. It is a challenging and rewarding pathway. Maybe the most challenging and the most rewarding pathway we can ever choose.

Love on!

— Burt Gershater is a local counselor, leadership trainer, speaker and writer. He can be reached at info@burtgershater.com

This article appears in Source Weekly March 7, 2024.