share the love you feel

Last week, I was lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving with my 83-year-old grandma, who I call Grammy. Grammy always brings so much joy, laughter, and warmth to my house. More than anything, she brings love - and she makes that known. 

One night as things settled down after dinner, my grandpa was teasing her. “You tell everyone you love them every time you talk to them,” he joked. 

And in the most sincere way, she responded, “What’s wrong with that? It’s how I feel.”

My grandpa isn’t wrong. I can probably count on one hand the number of conversations Grammy had last week without bringing up her love for the other person or people talking with her. Even though she says it a lot, I can tell that every time she voices her love it is genuine. She has no desired outcome or reason to tell us how she feels other than just that - expressing the love she feels. And in turn, she makes everyone around her feel seen and loved, and she gets the internal fulfillment of sharing and spreading her love.

We all can learn a lot from Grammy’s sincerity and openness. We all have moments when we’re spending time, talking, or even just thinking of someone, and we feel a tug in our heart for whatever reason. In those moments, we can push ourselves to spread the energy and love to others.

We can use our best judgment when talking to people we are not especially close with or still getting to know, but when it comes to our close friends and family, there is no reason to hold back in telling people when we feel something in the moment. We can make someone’s day and also fill ourselves up with those strong feelings.

Be unapologetically direct in sharing your feelings of love and care. If you feel love for someone in a moment - tell them. If you miss someone, if you appreciate them, if you are proud of them - tell them. Maybe it won’t be an “I love you” twenty times a day like Grammy, but taking a page out of her book will make the world a kinder place and fill it with a little more love.

xo,

han