[PONDERING] ... love?

My father likes to make me do things that create a deeply rooted feeling of misery. His current means of instilling dread in me is by forcing me to read self help books (shows you just how much he loves the young lady I've become). I fought, and fought, and fought, but he won. To avoid the incessant nagging and badgering, I've been shoving my nose into these darn things for the last several months whenever he gets within a certain range of my bedroom door.

--Does anyone else agree with me when I say that the whole genre of "self help" books are bs? It's not really self help if you're reading someone else's advice and using that to mend your problems, is it? Even if it is meant to inspire one to be proactive in fixing one's problems, it's still depending on someone else to start the process...right? I think I stopped making sense there somewhere.

I digress...

The current book-from-hell is "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey. I have to admit, though, this is the first one that I'm reading where I actually think this guy isn't a complete idiot. I actually agree with him here and there. I just finished a chapter that said something about love that threw me off a little.

"In the great literature of all progressive societies, love is a verb. Reactive people make it a feeling. They're driven by feelings. Hollywood has generally scripted us to believe that we are responsible, that's we are a product of our feelings. But the Hollywood script does not describe the reality. If our feelings control our actions, it is because we have abdicated our responsibility and empowered them to do so.

Proactive people make love a verb. Love is something you do: the sacrifices you make, the giving of self, like a mother bringing a newborn into the world. If you want to study love, study those who sacrifice for others, even for people who offend or do not love in return."

True? False? I'm not sure if I'm sold, but it was strange to think of love as a verb instead of a noun (and no, not like that "oh, baby let's make love" kind of way). I think I was one of those people who always thought it just happens. That you get lucky and you just click. It's actually reassuring to think of it as something you can create and nourish. Something to choose to do instead of just falling into it. Perhaps I won't be lonely and single at the overly ripe age of 40. I'll make love happen dammit.

And on a completely random note. IF YOU ARE NOT WATCHING GLEE, START NOW. It's my guilty pleasure. Hulu every thursday morning. Just do it. I got distracted writing this entry about 67325483 times because I was frolicking about in my room dancing and singing. Maybe I do need help...

Bookmark this post: