A few weeks ago, I was getting into my car after a yoga class and noticed the word EVOLVE painted on a wall with a man and woman dancing next to it. It was the first time I became aware that evolve had the word love in it.
This got me to thinking about how evolve and love relate to one another. My own definition of evolve is to grow, change or become better. Merriam-Webster's definition of evolve is to change or develop slowly often into a better, more complex, or more advanced state. How do you define evolve?
To evolve requires change and often times discomfort. Most people can be resistant to change because change is uncomfortable and no one likes to feel uncomfortable. What is it about being uncomfortable that frightens us all so much? Perhaps its because comfortable is easy and certain. To feel comfort is to feel safe and secure. Isn't that what we all want? To feel safe and secure in a world where things and life are easy and certain?
The way I see it, evolve and love relate to each other because you need one, to have the other. You need love in order to evolve. Love from others, love for others, and most importantly, love for Self. Without having others in our lives to love, and love and mirror us, its possible that we might never know who and how we really are and what things we might need to change in order grow into a better person. If we have no love for self, it's possible that we won't care about growing, changing or evolving into anything more than we already are.
By loving our Self, we are able to make choices that we know will help us to become a better version of who we want to be, what we want to do, and how we want to feel in our life. Self love is an ever evolving process that develops slowly over time through the struggles we endure, the maturity we gain, and the resonance we feel from practicing it.
How will you love in order to evolve?