The power of love

How we feel in our hearts

Huey Louis once sang: “The power of love is a curious thing. Make a one man weep, make another man sing.” What did he mean by that? Love is this thing we all hear about and see everywhere we go, TV drama, fuzzy butterflies, kisses, hugs, the love kinda love everybody knows. Interestingly the Greeks actually had categories for different sorts of love, be it a spouse, friend, family etc.

But love is one of the most complex things in the human body, we often feel it in our hearts but think about it in our minds, scientists chalk it up to chemicals and electrical impulses in the brain with powerful effects making us do crazy things, effects as strong or stronger than many heavy drugs. But, love has to be something more unexplainable, and love is definitely not always simple. Almost like a force of nature and magic combined.

Love has the power to make us conquer the impossible, and to defy the odds of the world, like a mother fighting a bear to save her child, or a loved one taking a bullet to save their family. But as all things complex in life, it also has the power to do the exact opposite, and to destroy our very hearts and souls, the vessels that it inhabits.

Sometimes love makes us blind, stubborn or just hold onto something so much that we end up utterly destroying ourselves, it makes your heart burn, ache, cry and scream, all while your soul burns with the intensity of a sun. Sometimes love turns into grief at the loss of a life, or sometimes that love is just not returned, whatever it may be, love can make your head spin.

I can say I have found myself in that very situation, a situation where love was the driving factor of my life, it gave me hope and strength, the kind that made me face my biggest fears and go head-in against my greatest challenges. That very love later also turned into hurt, fear, anxiety, depression, and more. Love did not hurt me because it was one-sided, but it hurt me, because the complexity of life came in the way, and my heart, pumped up by the power of love could not except the changes it had to endure.

The thing my heart griped and holds on to, even when my mind is in complete torment? Love, very simple. And it just can’t let go. Love is more than chemicals, more than pulses of electricity. Love is hope, love is memories, desires, fears, and more. Love is some powerful stuff, and for everyone reading, I hope love stays the kind of thing that builds up your life, not the thing that makes it impossible to manage.

So in conclusion, yes, there is real truth to the quote, because love can be a force that brings you insurmountable joy, courage, and strength, and hope but it can also deliver the worst pain you will ever experience.