love is

Earlier this week I was listening to "Someone Like You" by Adele {whom I love, by the way. such a fabulously talented singer.} And today the song was running through my head, and it got me to thinking. The gist of the song is her going back to visit an old boyfriend, and he's settled down, found a girl, and married now, but for her it isn't over. "Nevermind, I'll find someone like you," is the chorus. It's a good song, but what I wanted to write about is what it made me think.
And what it made me think is this:


Every time I've been the saddest, it's been because I was focusing on myself. Thinking about how miserable I was, and focusing on my own situation and how bad it was for me. It's true, what Henry B. Eyring said - "Sorrow comes primarily from selfishness, which is the absence of love." Anger is this way too. They're selfish emotions. My life is hard, I am sad, I can't believe this is happening to me. 
Last June I was sort of down about things, when we were asked to volunteer for the Special Olympics. I didn't really want to go, but I went anyways, and it was exactly what I needed. {I wrote about it here.} 
What I learned from that and from other experiences is to stop focusing on myself, and start focusing more on other people. It's happier that way :) Instead of being sad or angry, just try to love other people. Love is a purely selfless emotion. All the good definitions say so :)

"Charity suffers long, and is kind, and envies not, and is not puffed up, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, and rejoices not in iniquity but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." {Moroni 7:45} 


Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. {1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NIV}


Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained. — C.S. Lewis


Joys come from putting the welfare of others above our own. That is what love is. — Henry B. Eyring

:) Life is happier when you put love first, and focus on others instead of yourself.