Welcome back to this weekly (as opposed to weakly) attempt to “Occupy the Blog-o-Sphere” each Thursday. I offer this hopefully uplifting message to brighten your day and bring something buoyant into your life. As you move through your day with a renewed outlook, may you pass it along.
Have you ever been fortunate enough to hear the words from someone about whom you care deeply, “I love you madly” or “I’m madly in love with you?”
Have you ever said those words?
Philip used to say this too me. A lot. Then one day he surprised me. He said, “I love you gladly.”
I looked at him with a smile that encompassed my whole being. He explained, “I don’t know why people say ‘madly’ when they talk about loving someone. It sounds like they’re crazy or out of control. I know I love you and there is nothing crazy about how I feel. I feel so grateful that you’re in my life. That’s why I love you GLADLY.”
Ever since then, we’ve said to each other, “I love you gladly” or “I’m gladly in love with you.”
I offer this to you today: if you have someone special in your life about whom you feel a deep and abiding love, take a moment and look into her/his eyes and say with all your heart,
“I love you gladly.”
I’d love to know what comes of your surprise declaration (no details required, of course)!
*****
Click on this link to find out more about joining Soul Dipper’s cyber-movement to lighten up and brighten up our world so you can decide if you want to be part of it.
Oct 25, 2012 @ 17:04:16
I just popped over to your blog and left you a note. This is a very nice award and I accept. Thanks so much and I’m glad that this post held such meaning for you! 🙂
So This Just Made Me Feel Much, Much Better :) « sarahlong00
Oct 25, 2012 @ 16:57:36
Oct 25, 2012 @ 16:52:15
I am so going to use that from now on! It’s amazing how a phrase can only change by one word and yet become so much more meaningful. So I just wanted to let you know I nominated your post for the Passionate Communicator Award. I totally understand if you don’t accept these things, but just wanted to put it out there for you 🙂
Oct 19, 2012 @ 11:07:37
So true. Never miss an opportunity to express love and gratitude. It’s never wasted, is it?
Oct 19, 2012 @ 11:05:00
Good luck. I hope it helps you. My purification diet helped me. I just don’t know that I could go this “pure.” 😐
Oct 18, 2012 @ 23:45:19
Right. I’m going to try it tout de suite and report back. Love it!
Oct 18, 2012 @ 15:43:29
Oh, YES … we say it to each other everyday and several times a day. When you’ve been to the edge and seen the other side becasue of ill health you never take for granted the possibility of the final good-bye to your loved one.
Fabulous reminder to those who don’t.
namaste … dear friend
Oct 18, 2012 @ 15:05:22
Thanks, Peter, that’s how I saw it after Phil pointed it out to me. I smile every time we say “I love you gladly to each other.” 🙂 It’s so much more conscious and purposeful and positive.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 15:02:14
I just picked a sweet, wise guy. Um, not a Wise Guy, but, well, you know what I mean!
Oct 18, 2012 @ 15:00:52
Yes, me too, but Phil put such a nice twist on it that I had to share it! 🙂
Oct 18, 2012 @ 14:59:59
Thanks!
Oct 18, 2012 @ 13:41:58
Wonderful reflection.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 13:23:22
What a great idea! What a difference it makes. I always wondered about “madly” – then decided it must mean “insanely”. Since medical scientists proved that the same chemical process is happening with people newly in love as those who are mad, it worked for me! 😀
Oct 18, 2012 @ 12:50:30
Wise words!
Oct 18, 2012 @ 11:57:59
Its a very good point. You’ve set me off thinking now. “I love you for no reason at all” Is that what madly means in this context. Just frothing on my latest bizarre obsession, as I write this you have 15 comments and 11 “Likes”. Thats pretty much what I would expect. On my latest post I have 2 comments ( one from you and thank you very much as always ) and 8 “Likes”, It doesn’t make any sense to me.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 11:38:13
Indeed. I’m going to try the gladly version on my partner tonight and I’ll let you know the result!
Oct 18, 2012 @ 11:25:29
No to worry, I looked up the word, too, and saw the multiple meaning of “madly.” Yes, passion probably where it comes from. And there is nothing wrong with that declaration of intense love. Phil was just saying that his love is more than passion (which can burn out as quickly as it can ignite); his love is a day-by-day choice. That’s what I was trying to get across.
In the end, it doesn’t matter how you say “I love you,” as long as you say it with your heart and you mean it.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 11:20:22
Your story is pretty great, too. And yes, my Phil is a treasure. Thanks! 🙂
Oct 18, 2012 @ 11:14:29
I love your story. My husband and I don’t leave the house without kissing each other goodbye. We’ve been married almost 40 years (I was a child-bride. Really!) so it must work.
Little things make the difference in a relationship. Your Phil sounds like a wonderful guy!
Oct 18, 2012 @ 09:38:20
Without wishing to question your wisdom, if you search up the definition of ‘madly’, it has other definitions besides the insanity one. One definition is ‘extremely or excessively’ which can definitely apply to being head-over-heels in love! It also has a recognised colloquial meaning of ‘passionately’. Or am I just being too pedantic here? Gladly is good too! 😉
Oct 18, 2012 @ 09:25:46
U, Phil loves me. Period. And yes, he sometimes wears shades–looks very handsome in them, too! 😉
Oct 18, 2012 @ 09:24:10
I sure think so! 🙂
Oct 18, 2012 @ 09:23:51
I suppose so. Hopefully you can tell the difference! 😉
Oct 18, 2012 @ 09:22:37
Keep trying, you may get more! 😉
Oct 18, 2012 @ 09:21:45
Can’t argue with that! 🙂
Oct 18, 2012 @ 09:10:19
I actually find both to be wonderful expressions, apropos of Elizabeth’s Barrett Browning’s pining question: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…
Madly and Gladly are among the many. And variety is, after all, supposed to be the spice of life.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 08:18:35
Tried it and got an “aaahhhh that’s lovely”…. not sure if I was expecting more….
Oct 18, 2012 @ 04:58:28
Good point, but maybe in some cases they are just mad…:)
Oct 18, 2012 @ 02:48:31
I love this and yes you’re quite right, loving someone “madly” seems so odd..”gladly” sounds and feels so much nicer 🙂
Oct 18, 2012 @ 02:33:45
How sweet. Only my friends love me ‘gladly’. And I them. Everyone else is miserable.
Let’s surmise that Phil loves you madly and is glad that he does. To inquire whether his love has also ‘blinded’ him would be cruel so I won’t ask the question. Just hand him a pair of shades.
U