1. When have you felt love that was so strong that words were completely unnecessary? Describe.

2. Share your responses to Rumi’s quote “only from the heart can you touch the sky.” What do you think this means?

3. What feelings did you experience watching the birthday candles being slowly lit on the birthday cake? What feelings did you have when the candles were extinguished and the smoke lingered on?

4. Which image spoke to you more, that of the ancient Japenese ritual of a lover leaving a love poem for his beloved or the everyday sacredness of stirring the oatmeal and all that it represents?

5. What feelings did you have watching the violent video game? Why do you think it was included in an episode on love?

6. What does Gunilla Norris mean when she says "be careful with the crumbs, they’re food also"?

7. Why do you think the young cancer patients ask for the nurse who inflicts pain on them when they are
dying?

8. Explore why is it that love often comes out of pain — the loneliness of being out late at night, the challenges of a long marriage, the killing of a young life, etc.

Possible Practices

1. Consider ways you might expand your practice of love.

2. Make a special effort to be more vocal about your loves.

3. Consider intimate relationships as love in action. How conscious are you in your relationships?

4. Journal about a time when you were broken open and began to experience love more deeply afterwards.

Visit the Love homepage for more ways to practice this spiritual quality. Follow the links in the left column to:

  • a collection of quotations on compassion
  • book recommendations
  • book excerpts and teaching stories
  • film recommendations
  • music and art meditations
  • a daily cue, reminder, vow, and blessing for compassion
  • a prayer or mantra
  • personal explorations including imagery and journal exercises
  • practices and spiritual exercises
  • questions for discussion, storytelling, sharing
  • take action with household, group, and community projects
  • and more

Prepared by Persephone Zill with contributions from Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat