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Unable to experience love

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  • #93965
    leke
    Participant

    Dear visitors of Tinybuddha,

    I feel like I used to be a very loving and caring person. To the (unhealthy) point of caring more for others then for the self.
    Some people described me as to nice, or soft, however you want to put it. Their happiness gave happiness and reduced any suffering.

    Unfortunately a lot of life experiences have given quite a bit of grief. Bullying, working hard without getting payed, Unfaithful partners in relationships (all of them), sudden loss of friends over material things or wanting to take my place in a relationship/friendship with another person, very long periods of solitude.

    I was depressed and addicted to a variety of things to try to make me feel better about myself. I felt it was my fault. And somewhere deep down, it was. Therefore I started meditation, about a year ago. I can’t say i have meditated everyday since then, but for most months I have.

    I feel relief in letting go of most experiences, good or bad, and through that gain some balance in life. Buddhism describes an
    overwhelming love for the universe and all creatures in it. I find myself caring greatly for Children, Animals and Nature, but “adult people” not so much. Mind you I do not wish them suffering, though that probably doesn’t qualify as love.

    I hope to hear from anyone that may relate, since this website is a gathering of great wisdom. Any shared advise, or experiences you’ve had may help me greatly

    Thank you,

    Leke

    #94010
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear leke:

    You wrote that you find yourself caring greatly for children, animals, nature but not adult people. You are not the only one! This is why man’s best friend, the dog, is so popular, why many people choose a dog over people. Children (at least young children), animals are honest, straightforward; they do not lie, deceive; you know how they feel. You don’t have to be careful or guarded. This is understandable.

    If you do form an intimate relationship with a person, make sure that person is as close to what you like about children and animals as possible: honest, straightforward, easy to understand….

    anita

    #94033
    Michael
    Participant

    Hi leke,

    I have been through some of these experiences and understand how cumulatively they can lead to disappointment and isolation, and how this can happen multiple times in life. Bouncing back each time is taxing, I know :(.

    Know that if you have not been following true intent you hold for yourself i.e. because you have not defined it, you are too scared or have low self worth – The effect is that it/you create ‘transience’ in your life manifested in many different forms, because you are never where you want to be, and meeting people that ‘travel in different directions’. This is daunting. You keep failing to find worth in self expressing and receiving positive validation. Hopefully meditation will help you with this, looking inward to move forward.

    Know that we are all expressions of love! You express love and refer to ‘caring’ in your message here and ask for validation :). Even this website is an expression of love, do you see how?! You never stopped experiencing love! Observe it in everything around you and within you. You simply stopped perceiving it because you hold on to negative beliefs about yourself. Understand that ‘adults’ is a concept. It is not that you do not love humans, instead you reject what you fear and you project this onto adults. Your fear is shaping your reality. You have become afraid to self-express. You have become afraid to love. You have become afraid to be. Do not let those ghosts from the past get the better of you! Aim to express unlimitedly instead!

    ‘The now’ is forever becoming – and within ‘now’ we are always creating something new; the future. Keep questioning during each and every moment what you are creating for yourself – and question whether this actually aligns with your true intents? What are they? i.e. Your intent is to experience love but then you let fear block you. In other words, what you create for yourself is not aligned with your intent. Similarly, you may let others get the better of you, but your decisions that lead to this were also not aligned with your intent. and so on 🙂

    You allude to love requiring interaction/intimacy, but love can be experienced in many other ways. Love is an action, which you can do alone or with others. You are never without love and within this you are never without another! I hope you continue to seek ways to express, heal and expand, and widen your perception. Maybe seek the parks and forests for the love and peace to can provide.
    Hopefully one day soon you can be accepting of all and express love towards all again. I am sure there are many today that would be happy to express love for you, I do too with this message 🙂

    #94252
    leke
    Participant

    Dear Michael and Anita,

    Anita thank you very much for your reply and understanding, it means a lot to me.
    Funny thing is I used to (partly) own a dog called Flip, with my ex girlfriend, and there was much love between us.
    It’s true what you say, some sincerity in people’s intent is very important in this part of my life.
    I mean to regain this in the future, your kind words and understanding have contributed in a very
    meaningful way to me. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

    Michael, I’ve read your wise words quite a few times. They are truly words of wisdom. They ring very true to what I’m experiencing. Without sounding melodramatic, its like you looked into my soul. You described something I “know” but can’t seem to experience in most moments of the day.

    Creating transience is a term I haven’t heard of before, but will inform myself further in.
    Either way it is true. I am truly afraid of losing even more by experiencing love unconditionally. Fear of giving yourself fully to love, then regretting that attitude when it causes the ego pain. Like saying “I wish I wouldn’t have allowed myself to be hurt in this way”. It really is my true intent to love. As you described not just within an interaction or relationship, but also in a wider sense. I already let people in front when they have fewer groceries, let pedestrians pass when I’m driving, smile and greet people that have an open attitude towards me. I do wish everyone peace and a life without suffering, even if I have never met them. I wish to develop this further. The next step is to overcome fear, “if people know me long enough they will not like me” or “If i am loving to people they will exploit me”, because it is shaping any experience I might have. And you are right, in the end its just a concept and a projection that “adults” are hard to love.

    Off-course I’ll follow your guidance and keep meditating. I also find it amazing that you mention parks, since I’m in the park every single day, to love all that is around us. Today it did carry over into wider perspective, outside of the park or places I feel comfortable. I will meditate and keep in mind my true intent as much as possible. There is duality between the true nature of being, and how I perceive it now. Despite the potential for the same wisdom you already posses, being withing me as well (despite being well hidden 😉 ), I still would like to thank you very much for taking the time and describing it to me in such a way that it resonated with me deeply.

    Even though you are right, that the validation for these things, I should find within myself, It’s still very important to me that you described it the way you did. I will work hard to achieve the same mastery you have over the experiences life gives us. Accepting any ups and downs that may bring and expressing myself fully, thus living fully.

    I hope it’s alright if I update this topic in a few weeks/months to let you know how its going.

    Thank you,

    Leke

    #94254
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Leke:

    You are very welcome and please do update your topic as often as you need to and I will be glad to read and respond!

    anita

    #95119
    Michael
    Participant

    Hi Leke,

    Pleased we could connect 🙂

    Thank you for responding so warmly. You got it!

    Be good for now then and I’ll check back in when you update.

    #95244
    Heikki
    Participant

    Hi Leke,

    Thank you for sharing your experiences. I can relate very much so to what you are saying. People have always considered me to be too nice, my kindness was always taken advantage of, and I found that “friends” weren’t really what friends ought to be. I also had a difficult adolescent with my family and a good period of depression in my early 20s.
    What I first learned was to focus on loving myself. I started listening to positive affirmations everyday, I pursued hobbies I am passionate about, and I read many self help books to learn and open my understanding. I learned what boundaries are and how to put them up so that others could not take advantage of me and it has helped mend pain from my childhood. I think when you have a healthy understanding of relationships, you immediately will recognize another’s intent upfront.
    I forgave those who had hurt me, I forgave myself, and like you I meditate, sage, and say thanks daily for those experiences as I would not be who I am today without them. I also learned how to let go. I can freely give the love I have in my heart, which I’m sure you can relate as it sounds like one of your gifts is love, to others without expecting anything in return. It isn’t easy, and not a quick fix but with clear intention to fully open yourself to source and that incredible energy, you will find yourself not holding on so tightly but reveling in each moment.

    #95245
    leke
    Participant

    Dear Heikki,

    Thank you very much for writing and sharing your words of wisdom. You describe years and experiences we both share. It’s very good to hear that you and Michael have created a different perspective on life and are happier for it. Love does start with loving yourself, and as such my focus has been on creating “metta” or loving-kindness in mediation, since I posted here. Do you do this as well? Even though it’s pretty early days, I already feel some of the seeds of love planted. The support and added courage of your words, help with the patience to see these seeds bloom to fruition.

    Before mentioning the things that are going well, I’d like to ask you: How has setting boundaries improved your experiences? What is the thought process you use or a book you recommend? I have looked into the subject (Pia Mellody I believe wrote a lot on the subject). But I still find myself in resentment when a “no” is being ignored, or when I say something like “I feel angry/hurt about what you said/did”. I find this message still gets ignored, leading to resentment and suffering for both people involved. Since that is not what I want to happen, I just choose to not engage, unless there is absolutely no other option. This is a fear based response and leads to resentment eventually for me.

    You mention focussing on hobbies, which is something that I find myself doing a lot more and is reassuring that this practice helped you as well. During depression I felt mostly unable to express myself creatively. While creativity is a key to experiencing life at it’s fullest.

    You also mention self-help books. Again this was a point of focus for me since the last year and a half or so. The perspective has shifted though. In the early days I used to read books about what was wrong with me and the people I felt hurt by. Terms like codependence came up a lot. However the last months the information I gather has shifted, from naming and labeling what’s wrong, to just finding ways to improve upon the perception of life. Because as you mention to forgive people that hurt you is an important step to overcoming fear, resentment and suffering. Just last night I wrote some of these people a letter. I’m not sure if I’ll ever send them, however it contained a message of love and understanding, not of resentment and judgement. Since the way they treated me (and let myself be treated), is a product of their own suffering and lack of self love. And I honestly wish them strength and love in overcoming this.

    The final thing I like tot touch upon is letting go. This is the elephant in the room I feel. Even during meditation, half the time I do not seem to be able to let go of the mind/ego. Yesterday I tried repeating over and over “let go” during every thought that crossed my mind during mediation. Mostly during negative thoughts. But also during positive ones. It felt really liberating. Since I only tried this for the first time yesterday, any further advice on letting go is more then welcome, as I feel it and metta are the two things I should focus on most for the next few months.

    Wasn’t really planning on writing in on any progress on tinybuddha in a little while, I actually logged on to try and help some other people, like you, Anita and Michael have in response to my message. I cried of joy reading your messages, since I do not recall “strangers” to ever be this warm and loving in life. It means more then words can express. I one day hope to return this kind of love to anyone in need. Thank you and bless you.

    Leke

    #95314
    Heikki
    Participant

    Hi Leke,

    That is very wise to focus on kindness-love during meditation. I might be all over the place here so I will apologize in advance. I can only offer the advice of what I feel, so please do not feel my way is the right way. What is your main focus when you meditate? Are you listening to anything? Are you counting your breathes, inhaling positive thoughts and feelings, and exhaling the negative? Do you use any crystals or rocks during? Do you sage prior and after? Do you invision yourself covered with light around and through you? I like incorporating the last few as I notice a dramatic difference when I do. I think you need to adapt the “letting go” mantra into everything, not just meditation. For example, say a negative response pops up when you recall a memory that was a happy time, but that person is no longer here and was a painful loss. Tell yourself to let go, breath, and then focus on the positive. Say someone has said something hurtful about you, replace that thought with one that you believe is good about you. Maybe you become frustrated with something not working or moving at the pace you want, tell yourself to let go. Have you had experiences in life where you did let go and everything fell into place? As you are saying about resentment and these relationships, are these the kind you want to have where your opinion is ignored? Start projecting to the universe what you do want in your friendships and relationships and then let go and let it happen.

    I am not sure the basis of your spirituality, mine is faith based. That was my source of love. Each day I wake up and start my mindset with thanks and love and it helped greatly during my depression. I love that I have another day of perfect health and that I am who I am and for all of the hardship I had to go through, as I feel there is a purpose for it. Believe that in yourself too. Feel your purpose. You can say this to the universe, and even though you may not feel it, in time after repetition you will the light shine in you. Focus each day on loving yourself. Louise Hay has great positive affirmations, as well as Wayne Dwyer and I would recommend them.

    For boundaries, setting them has now allowed to have my family in my life and has created the healthiest of relationships that could be cultivated. A synopsis is that my family is very self-destructive and full of drama. I was manipulated a lot by them, I normally was the one hurt in the end and blamed for any personal issues that they were going through. I too wrote some of my family members letters but never gave them to them, and I allowed myself to grieve the loss of what I wanted or thought that relationship could have ever been. I forgave them for all of the hurt and pain, and I thanked them because I am a strong person for it. Allow yourself to really feel that and for me, I now know any interaction with them hopefully benefits them in some way. And don’t stop the process because you will not fully move on from it if you don’t. I’ve seen it with others. The book I read on setting boundaries is faith based- Boundaries by Henry Cloud & John Townsend. That is great you can wish them love as well, do you feel that you are though? Can you send them love now?

    Really great to share with you and your words have touched a part of my heart. I love to learn and share with others, as life is so much more meaningful when you do. Best wishes.

    #95878
    leke
    Participant

    Dear Heikki,

    Apologies for the delay in response. Some rough days have passed, that contained a lot of things I seem to be facing right now. Not going into the details, cause the focus here has been on the positive and constructive aspect of facing the self. I’d really love to keep that going! Thank you again so much, for taking your time with a warm and informative response!

    The first few months of meditation where guided, a few months later with nature sounds. Didn’t manage/dare to just meditating “normally” for quite a few months. During a very stress free period, I managed to do just that for a few months. With the increase of stress and it being pretty unavoidable (without other details, it was in my home and almost 24/7 that several problems with boundries occured) I nearly gave up on meditating and rarely did so anymore. Only a few months ago I tried again, focussing on anything that might help in the process of retaining concentration even under the hardest circumstance. This included counting breaths, and only since this last week metta and “letting go” affirmation. So its very early days using different forms of meditation. I have not tried anything else, although with your great tips, I definitely will. Can you explain using sage? I’m sorry English isn’t my primary language. My aunt gave me some crystals (she is pretty spiritual), so maybe I can use those?

    Letting go and having things falling into place, I cant really recall. Do you find this works in almost every situation for you? Do you find that if it doesn’t you haven’t fully let go? For instance during the current situation I tried letting go and just having patience for a very long time. Stuff only got worse and worse over the course of 6+ months. So yeah not wanting to be a downer, but unfortunatly that happens a lot. I will not give up though :). Have experienced the alternative and dare I say it, I have no further choice but to go down this path. Nothing has worked, for years and years. At least this gives some relief, so that’s more then anything else has. I guess during my best moments I feel there is truth in “not doing”, “letting go of all desire” and creating circumstance by having a different outlook.

    Very inspiring to hear that you found faith to be your source of Love. To inspire you to face the day despite feeling that the odds where against you for a long period. That it gives you purpose. I come from an extremely science based family. I do “talk to god” on occasion, one of the reseasons I started meditating. However I don’t know about Karma and Rebirth (or heaven and hell for that matter). Karma feels somewhat logical, though I rarely see its effect on anyone including myself. Days like the ones just passed I feel life is just luck based. Yes, I still do believe I can improve my vision upon what takes place in life. Yes, I do believe that a good intention creates more opportunity. Yes, I do think desire can get in the way of things. But for things to be the way they are, with a great cosmic plan, feels far off. I do wish to cultivate this more. Cause it would give more meaning to an experience, or to the way with which to deal with it.

    Will get the Cloud/Townsend book! The way you created a better relationship with your family is inspiring and familiar, thank you for telling me about it. Forgiving and feeling strong about your boundries is something very wise. I can personally do this with my family now, or with people that hurt me in the past. Not as consistently as you, but like you said before, its a (slow) process. The ones that are currently causing suffering, not yet. Though i do refrain from any further engagement to do “justice” or speak out in anger.

    Thank you again for sharing and your wisdom. A lot of tools and knowledge of how to make something beautiful, you’ve handed to me/reminded me of. I will keep feeling responsible for building something that last out of all these things. Bless.

    #95879
    leke
    Participant

    If any of you think it helps to share the current situation, I will. I realise my own shortcomings here, but I think honesty might help…

    Let’s just say I had to give up on loving a person romantically, Being friends with this person, Being friendly with this person. Despite a lot of honest effort and letting go of all steps in this process as they became unreachable. I had to give up attachment to living in my house and move to seeing it as just a house. I had to give up on peace and quiet during meditation and accept penetrating noise deep into the night (2-3 am). I had to give up on my nights rest multiple times a week. I had to give up on talking about this situation, as the person involved only responded in judgement and extremely defensively and wants to reinforce the money and party-esque joy they get from creating this situation. I also gave up taking legal steps against this person, even if my legal advisor told me I have more then a great case and plenty of laws have been violated.

    This is following me moving out of a toxic relationship, with lots of lies and cheating (not me btw). Forgiving my family for some though times and overcoming all my addictions (think of smoking, gaming, eating etc not hard drugs). Offcourse the main thing here was forgiving myself for my role in all of this. This was 2014, the stuff I’m describing here is 2015 upto right now. It feels unrelenting. It’s making me feel like a victim. It’s making me feel like there is no greater plan behind it and the way of the buddha is filled with masochism. It feels punishing. It’s making me feel weak.

    I know it’s resentfull, but the people that play a part in these circumstances seem to be doing more then fine, while I keep struggling and suffering. I didn’t want to focus on specifics, but at least it may give some insight into the process and struggle I face in keeping faith, not doing and my own karma in check.

    #95887
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear leke:

    I read most of your posts from the beginning of this thread. At one point you mentioned meta meditation, loving everyone, I suppose. The thing is there is no way to short cut the following reality:

    When you were indeed a victim and someone hurt you, you can’t just let go and love the one who hurt you. Not that I can imagine it being possible. There is real, valid hurt in you, and naturally you get angry. Everyone gets angry when hurt. So, without acknowledging and validating your own hurt (and anger) over having been victimized, you cannot move forward. As in What-you-resist-persists: the hurt and the anger will persist and your ability to see the present for what it is, your resources are greatly compromised until you validate your own hurt and anger.

    What do you think, leke?

    anita

    #95913
    leke
    Participant

    Dear Anita,

    Thank you again for your response! Just wanted to say that its very warming and inspiring to see you respond to any and everyone in need across this forum. I’d love to follow your example once I master myself a bit more 🙂

    Metta meditation is firstly about loving yourself (which is my current focus), then about loving the people close to you, then towards neutral people and eventually yeah even your enemies. It feels far off, but even if only saints can achieve this, to love my enemies is a noble goal. To be honest with you, sometimes I see their suffering. Without it they wouldnt cause hurt deliberatly to gain their shallow pleasure, right? Do you agree? Also if I see them as enemies, I too make myself an enemy, right?

    How do you deal with anger coming from hurt? I have lashed out in anger a few times in the past, even if it had its effect and resolved something, it didn’t feel like I was true to myself. I can’t really control it to make a clear judgement, you know? I either put it away or get really angry, which seldom happens..Just tonight I read the book on boundries Heikki recommended. I really took away recommendations on what to do in a calm and clear fashion and to let go of fear of losing more or getting guilt tripped.

    As stated above I have to let go of a lot of desire, because if I fear to lose my house, lose more sleep or lose favorable opinions, im stuck in hurt and anger, like you said. If I’m unafraid i become strong enough to stand up for myself with calm and confidence I think 🙂

    Leke

    #95926
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear leke:

    Thank you for the appreciation. It is kind of you!

    Most if not all people who hurt others, including unspeakably cruel people, do so because first they suffered and still suffer. This is a fact of life. No one who grew up in a truly loving home decides as an adult to hurt another on an ongoing basis, repeatedly.

    Should it be okay for me to hurt you now, if I could, because I have suffered (I have!)? And if I hurt you, with malice, should you forgive me right away because I suffered?

    And if I felt hurt right now, and angry and felt that I needed to get rid of my anger my distress and abusing you here on this thread would make me feel better, should I?

    No, I shouldn’t. No matter how much I suffered or am suffering, I have no right to hurt you. And I am responsible for my actions. So no matter how I feel, I will pay attention to not take it out on you or anyone else. This is everyone’s responsibility as a human being.

    You mentioned the word saint. I am not a saint and I don’t believe any person is a saint or should attempt to be one. What I mean by this is when someone repeatedly hurts me, it is not my job to forgive that person. My job is to protect myself from the attacks, do it by either running away, removing myself from the situation or to fight, in some reasonable, effective way.

    Saints, I think, try to live without anger but we need our anger to take care of our self interest. Our self interest is not a bad or sinful thing. It is a good thing and our main responsibility. First, take care of myself.

    When a person hurts you bad, it is not okay to respond with: you hurt me because you suffer, poor you, how can I help you? When a person hurts you, and badly, you get away or fight.

    And best thinking is done when calm. You wrote that when you lashed out in anger you were not true to yourself. Do you feel that when you feel anger you are not true to yourself as well or is it just the behavior following the feeling of anger that didn’t feel true?

    anita

    #95931
    Heikki
    Participant

    Hi Leke,

    Wow I feel like I have a lot to say and am enjoying sharing our experiences together.
    Michael had mentioned following the true intent you hold for yourself and without this you fail to find worth in self expression and receiving positive validation. Before you figure out what others feelings or opinions matter, I would suggest truly focusing just on yourself. I’m happy to hear you read Boundaries. Have you read The Untethered Soul? I have found much clarification from it and it has helped my meditation and focus. With sage, I would suggest white sage, it helps clear energy from your space. I cleanse or smudge my space each week or more, and it forces any negative or stagnant energy to leave my space and only allow positive energy in. I also cleanse my crystals and rocks as they do retain energy in your space.
    In my life, when I let go of the control I feel I need to have, the expectations put in place, others feedback, and allow myself to enjoy and believe that good things are to come, I am given abundance in life. Just to say, I left a secure job because I was disatisfied, with no back up plan. I ended up coming into the most fulfilling position ever because I let go and believed I would have a job that I loved and brought meaning to my life. And this happens each time I’ve let go. Opportunity and doors have opened, strangers have shown kindness and support, and each event had a purpose.
    Please do not ever feel you are a victim because of how others have treated you. I am sure you know this as you seem very wise. The ego demands to feel validated, and when it comes to family especially, you can’t interact in life if you have a feeling they hurt you. We all have unintentionally hurt people in our lives, but it is the compassion and empathy that allows us to heal and move forward. We do not allow this person to continue the behavior, but with boundaries you understand when it is time to remove yourself from the situation. There is no fighting or running away, because you know emotions are fleeting and that even if you did act out, they more then likely wouldn’t understand. And from that point, with self love inside of you, you can decide to move on in your life without these people. I think with your situation going on, I think the next experience should and will be the best. I am sure you are projecting what you want in life. I wouldn’t say avoid the emotions in your life right now, but look towards your future and what you want! Make plans of how you can accomplish these goals.
    You mentioned you don’t know about heaven or hell, rebirth or karma. I didn’t know about the last two as I raised myself very religious. But two years ago I saw a pyschic and she has helped me grow spiritually. Not in the fortune telling/ reading type but with my meditation, my chakra balancing, and with loving and believing in myself. We are all our own person and as you evolve, you will come to understand exactly what fits in your life. It’s not black and white, but a knowing inside of yourself.

    You sound like such a strong and loving person who is kind and understanding. Make the steps to get out of this current situation. Believe it will happen and that it will all work out as it is meant to. Be patient with yourself.

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