Love is a way of walking through life.  Love is a way of BE-ING in the world.  Love is peaceful, kind, cooperative, understanding, forgiving, patient, and honest.  To give the positive behaviors of love to the people we have affection and caring for we must BE these in our everyday life.  So we cannot ego-box with strangers on the road and come home peaceful and kind to our family. We cannot be selective with loving.  We are either loving or we are not.  In every moment, in every circumstance, we have the choice to lead with love or to lead with the behaviors of fear – rudeness, self-centeredness, anger, rage, entitlement, frustration, disappointment, control, blame, and judgment.

You get angry at someone for the stupid mistake he or she made and you’re going to bring that anger home.  People do careless things.  Sometimes we don’t think.  Sometimes we don’t seem to care if our actions are going to inconvenience another person or not.

Too often we are only concerned with what we’re doing, where we need to go, what we want to do and give little thought to what other people are doing, where they need to go, and what they need to do.

We’re not islands alone in the ocean and free to behave as we please.  Our behavior creates our life.  Our behavior helps to create the life of others too.

How other people choose to behave is their choice.  How you respond is yours. When you choose to respond with loving behavior – calm, forgiveness, understanding, compassion, patience, empathy – these are the feeling you create for yourself. The same is true if you choose to ego-box and respond with fearful and controlling behavior – anger, impatience, frustration, arrogance, and cruelty – these are the feelings you create for yourself.

All interactions we have with others are relationships.  The goal is to create the best relationships possible with those who desire to do the same.  Not everyone knows this is the secret to a happy life.  Some folks believe other people are responsible for their happiness.  Not true. Each of us is responsible for our own happiness.  And our happiness and feelings of self-respect and love come from how we move through the world – how we treat others as we want to be treated.  Even those who have no clue what this means.