One tree can start a forest,
One smile can begin a friendship,
One hand can lift a soul,
One word can frame the goal,
One candle can wipe out darkness,
One laugh can conquer gloom,
One hope can raise our spirits,
And one choice can change our life.
Think about it; one choice can change our life forever. Our life today was made by our choices, but with new choices, we can change directions instantly.
We are always one choice away from changing our life. And that choice is none other than Love, which is highly motivational.
It offers tremendous hope, happiness, confidence and inspiration, regardless of our circumstances, for a better tomorrow.
Mistaken word
Although much has been said, written, sung and immortalised through the centuries, love remains a deeply misunderstood concept.
I asked myself as to why people do not know how to give and receive love.
From time immemorial, love has been the only factor that has kept people happy, while its absence has caused misery between individuals and nations.
It is so easily given and received; yet it remains elusive to so many.
Loving others is one of the best ways to becoming a better person, because it emanates from the heart and we learn to trust and understand one other.
In this process, we learn to be more giving and become selfless, which is an incredibly beautiful thing.
Universal appeal
The word ‘love’ can also apply to objects, places, memories and experiences, all of which stem from the love of people.
For example, I love the sound of birds chirping because it reminds me of my family home in Singapore where I grew up.
I love the sound of howling rain beating on my bedroom window because it reminds me of crawling into bed with my parents when I was small, feeling safe.
I love to hear the sound of music that reverberated in my home during my childhood.
Love is something everyone can experience from young, and as we get older, we get more opportunities to love others and to be loved in return.
Love, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
It is that unspeakable connection to certain people or things for unexplainable reasons. It is very abstract, hard to describe and yet real.
Love is something that everyone defines and applies differently.
It heightens our emotions and makes us feel truly alive.
People never lose their fascination for love, because it is inside all of us, to feel, share and fill our lives and those of others.
Although love is expressed as an action and experienced as a feeling, it has the essence and power, encompassing compassion, tolerance, endurance, support, faith, determination and more.
A great force
Love reaches beyond romance and embraces us in all walks of life as we encounter one another and make choices about respecting and caring for each other.
So is there any force in this world greater than love?
The purest form of love is unconditional love that I find the most beautiful.
This is the type of love which parents shower on their children; love that is pure, untainted, deep, enduring, unchanging – something that exists despite unfavourable circumstances.
Love is undoubtedly the most splendoured thing in the world!
There is no shortage of quotes, poems and experiences.
As we begin the New Year, let us reflect on the following quotes:
A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love (Max Muller).
A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge (Thomas Carlyle).
A loving heart is the truest wisdom (Charles Dickens)
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind (William Shakespeare)
Being deeply loved by someone, gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage (Lao Tzu).
Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love (Mother Teresa)
Where there is love, there is life (Mahatma Gandhi)
In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make (Paul McCartney)
O tell her, brief is life but love is long (Lord Alfred Tennyson)
Dr V Subramaniam is a retired Chartered Accountant with a doctorate (PhD) from the University of Canterbury. He is a member of professional, accounting and management institutes in Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and UK. He now lives in Singapore.
