6 Tips to Experience More Love in Your Daily Life

I'm a lover. If I were to label myself, I'd call myself that. I love to love. I love giving just as much as I love receiving. What a special gift we have as humans to be able to experience love with one another. Don't you think? Here's some tips on how to experience more love in your daily life. And I'll tell you a secret, the best part is -- there's no limit.

1. GIVE LOVE. We're going to do a little breathing exercise, ok? Here we go. Inhale the biggest breath you can. Hold it for a second and pause. Now exhale it out fully. Ok, take note of that experience. Now, exhale all your breath out fully, all of it -- every little drop of nuance in your breath. Go. When there's nothing left hold it, pause. Ok, and now inhale fully. Notice something different? When we exhale first, we're able to inhale even MORE. When we give with our exhale, we're able to receive even more fully with our inhale. Funny how that works, huh? So, practice exhaling. Practice giving -- just for the sake of giving. Without any expectation of return. See what happens.

2. Speaking of expectations, get rid of them. NOW. How can you experience what another being has to offer if you've got a To Do List of what you want them to fulfill? That's called an agenda. Nobody wants to take on that role. It doesn't feel good, it feels muddy. Love yourself enough that you don't "need" anything outside of you to fill up the space of any void that may be inside you. When this happens, it allows for a real, genuine meeting of sorts. An adding on type of situation, versus a subtraction or depleting effect. I mean, love should only enhance your life, not take away from it.

3. Be open. There's a saying by Rumi that captures the essence quite well. He says, "Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." We've all had experiences and situations in our lives that have in effect, forced us to build protective sheaths and sometimes even walls (materials may vary from plastic, brick, concrete, steel) to guard our hearts. At the moment they were built, it may have served in protection, but the trick is to know when to release them and allow your walls to collapse and let the old stories go. And don't worry, when it's time, they naturally fall away. When you feel safe and you know, really ready, everything will release. But you gotta be on it -- you have to be aware of yourself and your tendencies. Know yourself. Practice staying open.

4. Realize love comes in many different flavors. There are so many different aspects and shades, tones, qualities of love. Don't get caught up in one pattern. Everyone has something different to offer. Everyone has a gift to give. Love is one of those things that are so expansive and infinite in nature, that we will never have "too much" of it. We can only acquire more. Which is kind of the whole point isn't it? Heal ourselves more and more so we may receive all of Life's blessings and Love.

5. Stay in the moment. Be here now, daydream later. It's funny how all of the most purest words in the English language have so much dirt and baggage tied onto them. When we're in the present, experiencing love -- it feels like swimming. You know when you jump into the ocean and you're just floating there, in an abysmal pool of water that is so much bigger than you, but it holds you and allows you to be in its embrace? That's like love. When we're living in love like we're swimming in water, we will see love at every step and turn we take. Try it.

6. Ask yourself the question, what does love mean to you? What is your definition of love? Love is what carries us in life. It's the very root of all routes to any and all things. Unfortunately, with conditioning from the Western world of society, the media, from movies, from family dynamics when we were children, our ideas and perceptions about a thing so holy and sacred becomes well, a bit tainted. We all have our "stuff." So get in there, work it out. Untangle any and all things that may be getting in the way of you experiencing MORE LOVE in your everyday life. I hope and wish for you the healing and the experiences for your container to hold this magnificent gift to grow and grow, and grow with each new day. ¡VIVA LA LOVE!