Monday Morning Motivator: ROLLING AROUND IN LOVE...

ROLLING AROUND IN LOVE...

It seems like there's a lot of hate out there...floating around, looking for a place to land. What we're vehemently against has, for the moment, won the day over what we're passionately for. And the hate can land just about anywhere - on a country, a company, a government, an idea...a person. In fact, I don't think I've ever been aware of it or felt it - hate - quite so strongly. Maybe I was just lucky - or not paying attention. Or maybe it's the 24-hour news cycle playing and replaying the appalling examples of man's inhumanity to man. It's pretty debilitating. No wonder we're exhausted, overwhelmed, stressed out and well, just plain negative.

Yes, hate is in the air. I overheard a woman speaking to her husband on the street the other day, saying, "I absolutely hate this hot weather. I hate the humidity, I hate feeling all sticky, I hate how awful my hair looks, I hate..." she just kept going." Her little girl (probably about 5) decided to put in her two cents: "I aba-soutly hate all that, too!" she said. Guess you're never too young to start hating stuff. When I was little, "hate" was one of those words you could get your mouth washed out with soap for saying... Ah, the good old days.

But look, can we just for a minute get back in touch with what we love? Little stuff, big stuff, it doesn't matter. I love the smell of garlic sautéing on a wintry night (a summer night is good, too.) I really love the late Robin Williams and Christine Baransky singing, "Love is in the Air" from The Birdcage. (Actually, now would be a good time to listen to that again...) I love flying home to NYC, seeing the Chrysler Building and landing at La Guardia. I love the sound of our daughters' laughing with total abandon. I love the Lincoln Memorial in DC and the statue of Alice in Wonderland in Central Park. I love our Golden Retriever, Willa, and how she always assumes the best. I love people who love wholeheartedly, without judging, or weighing the "rightness" of their emotions. I could go on...

But what about you? What do you love? Write it down so you don't forget. Write down what you love about your favorite people (including their imperfections...) Write down the names of the heroes who always emerge in tough times, not the names of the villains who cause them... Write down what moves you, what you cherish. Write down what you'd fight for. (Just for the record fighting for what you love is much more powerful than fighting against what you hate...) Write down what you get a kick out of. Get love all over you. That's what Willa does. When she finds something she loves - a good, scratchy rug, a nice patch of green grass - she flops down and rolls around in it. She always gets up smiling. Maybe we should try that. If we roll around in love, there won't be any room for hate. Imagine the energy, optimism and creativity we'll generate! Could we change the world? Maybe. Will we get back up smiling? "Aba-soutly."