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200 words, caring, compassion, courage, Diana Schwenk, generosity, Happiness, integrity, joy, kindness, love, passion, peace, Purpose, question, Suffering, Woody Allen, world issues
“To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love. But then, one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy, one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness.” Woody Allen
LOVE
Whatever you do
Whatever you say
Wherever you go
LOVE
Before you do it
Before you say it
Before you go there
CHECK YOUR MOTIVES
If you are motivated by anger
Don’t do it
If you are motivated by fear
Don’t say it
If you are motivated by distress
Don’t go there
Just LOVE
Will you get hurt?
Probably
Will you be betrayed?
Likely
Will you be mocked and belittled?
Possibly
So should you love anyway?
Can your love make a difference to someone who is alone?
Is a life led by love worth the effort?
Absolutely!
Lesson here: just stop over-thinking it!
And LOVE
~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~
What’s the worst that could happen?
That through it all you chose to love?
talktodiana 
Hello. Love this post and what a great reminder how to start each day and that there is always someone that you can show love to.
The quote on “unconditional love” rocked me a bit. ‘Unconditional love expects no reward, knows no fear, does not demand’. Even though that is truly what I believed in; with my husband, now I see it is where perhaps I went wrong. Maybe I should have expected a bit more reward, maybe I should have known more fear (or distrust), maybe I should have have demanded more respect.
Ahh… I see you have covered all that in your post … hurt…… betrayal …belittled….. mocked …..
“Is a life led by love worth the effort? Absolutely!”
You are a wonder Diana!
Unconditional love does not mean having to accept another person’s behaviour.
I can still chose my own responses in life.
I can still chose to live by love ….. unconditionally.
“I am the Master of my fate, I am the Captain of my soul” (Henley)
Thanks for the post
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You’re welcome and thanks so much for your insightful comment! I love that Henley quote!
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Wonderfully written Diana!
It begins with lust (normally)…it matures into love (usually)…and ends in heartbreak (almost always)! Like all drugs, it takes you to an incredible high, but the coming down is horrible…and being without it, is incredibly hard!
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until you get used to it! 😉
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Great advise! Life is just one big fab risk. One breath, one step, one day at the time, always changing. Love is part of it and we should open our fences and let it in.
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Absolutely, thanks for your sage words!
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Is it Buddhism that has a key philosophy that, “Life is suffering” (so learn to live, love and deal with it)?
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I have no clue!
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The old saying about it being better to love and lose than to never love is quite true, I think. I do absolutely believe in love. (Which is a pretty good trick from the perspective of having it never work out for me, personally! But I still believe in it, totally!!)
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haha I hear ya on that one!
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I ask the question, can you avoid love.?? I don’t think so and to love is to live… to love ever thing you do see and touch, is to live and be happy… Woody Allen certainly had my head going in circles…. Lovely post Diana…. a good one for me to return from the bush to
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welcome back from the bush! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your eperience with live and love.
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Such a great post…simple, poignant and so much to ponder. Thank you for this…
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Thank you Bonnie. So glad you got something out of it.
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I did, and so did my sister, whom I pass it along to! A two-for-one with us! 🙂 Thanks again!
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That’s so AWESOME!
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Another Fabulous Post Diana! Blessings to you and all your LOVE!
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Thank you so much and blessings to you and your love!
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I have never been a fan of Woody Allen but he did say a few things that made sense…………lol This was a great post…………..
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Thank you very much Joanne!
xo
Diana
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Really lovely post Dianna – as always you have a way of getting to the heart of things – love is really the one thing that can change the world.
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Yes it is, doesn’t always feel that way but I do believe it does…
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Thank you!!!!
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You’re welcome! Thanks for reading it.
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Reblogged this on A Western Buddhist's Travels and commented:
Diana says it so perfectly, that I’ll just reblog her post.
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This is excellent Diana! Thanks for the insight along with the humour. It’s all worth it!! Hugs, Gina
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Thanks Gina. It doesn’t always feel worth it but I know it is!
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not a big Woody Allen fan after what he did to his wife. Perhaps to love is to be. To be unable to love is to exist.
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I never really followed Woody Allen. I don’t get his films hahaha. I’ve been minding my own business living here under this rock…what did he do to his wife?
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divorced his wife, I think it was Mia Farrow, to marry their adopted daughter. His explanation: The heart wants what it wants.
I beautiful phrase, but turned.
I am sure you live under a very nice rock. I bet it sparkles with quartz or better.
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Oh I remember that…I wasn’t impressed either. I will come out from under my rock soon…I think…maybe…Love, at least how I meant it in this post, could include but is not limited to romantic love.
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I know and felt your original intent. The definition I heard that I liked best was “Love is a verb”, an action we take and to.
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and it’s not necessarily a feeling it’s an act of one’s will!
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absolutely …. that act of will makes us truly human
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(smiling) I think so too.
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you can make such simple sense of even the most convoluted of quotes — like Woody Allen’s!
Love (and yes I meant to use that word) this!
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Thanks! I never really understood Woody Allen. 😉
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