The sun's unconditional love is expressed in a poem that tells us that, ‘The sun never says to the earth, you owe me.' Last week we talked about building a love-filled relationship and this week I'm continuing with the theme of love. Last week was Valentine's Day and last week was also my wife's birthday so I chose to talk about unconditional love. A few minutes ago, I found myself looking out the window at this beautiful day with the sun shining so warmly, and yet it was a snow storm on and off. It was just one of those incredible beautiful days. The sun streaming in the window reminded me of this very short little poem that has been a favorite of mine for a long time. The first time I heard it was from Dr. Wayne Dyer. Listen & Subscribe on: iTunes / Stitcher / Podbean / Overcast / Spotify The Sun's Unconditional Love The poem goes like this: ‘Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, “you owe me”. Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.' (Hafiz)What a beautiful metaphor the poet created, to think of the the Sun and the Earth as humans. Many times I look at the sun and I think about this poem. If you look up the background on this poem, you'll find out that it's credited to the poet have Hafiz. Hafiz was a 14th century Persian Sufi poet. There is some controversy about the origin of the poem. Some say it was really written by Daniel Ladinsky. If you look up the information about this topic, you'll find out that Daniel Ladinsky included this poem in his 1999 publication called, The Gift. Ladinsky studied the poet Hafiz and put together thoughts and ideas based on his studies and what he what he actually thought that Hafiz would write. The poem I shared was not a straight interpretation of a poem. In spite of the controversy, I think this poem is a beautiful way to look at and understand unconditional love. Look At The Love In Your Life Do you have this kind of unconditional love in your life? Do you love another person this way? Or does that other person love you unconditionally? On this episode, I've shared some things to consider about unconditional love. Do you keep score in your relationship? Do you expect something in return for the love that you give to someone else? Do you feel the love you receive is attached to certain behaviors? Being Human The fact that we're human means that it's not realistic to have complete, unconditional love 100% of the time. Sometimes it's natural to expect reciprocity. Often we want something in return for the love we give, and sometimes we just need it. The more unconditional your love is, the more your relationships will thrive. Loving someone unconditionally can bring you incredible happiness and joy. Loving Satisfaction Most experts agree that you'll feel a high level of satisfaction if you love someone else as unconditionally as you possibly can. When you expect people to give back for all the good things you've done, you'll probably find that people will start to avoid you. And you'll probably find that those relationships are not particularly strong.I believe a lot of people haven't considered the difference between conditional love and unconditional love. That is certainly the case with me. For many years I didn't think much about the difference between these two kinds of love. Defining Unconditional Love What is unconditional love? To love unconditionally is to love without expecting anything in return. You might call this, loving someone with no strings attached. To love someone unconditionally, you have to be able to overlook their flaws and, and not expect any benefits from the relationship. You will be happy to simply have that person in your life. If you're a person who loves someone with all your heart, and you only care about the happiness of that person, then it's very possible that you love them unconditionally. The following are four specific indicators of unconditional love. 1/ Seeing Beyond Their Flaws If you lov