22 Jan The Island of Feelings (AKA Love Takes Time)…
I was going over my old writing and memorabilia the other day and I came across a short story that I had printed from an email. I do not remember who the email was from, nor the author of the story, but I thought I would share it, as I feel like it would resonate with a lot of people.
LOVE TAKES TIME
Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others including Love.
One day, it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all repaired their boats and left. Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to persevere until the last possible moment. When the island was almost sinking, Love decided to ask for help.
Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, “Richness, can you take me with you?”. Richness answered, “No, I can’t. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you.
Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel, “Vanity, please help me!”. Vanity answered, “I can’t help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat”.
Sadness was close by so Love asked for help, “Sadness, let me go with you”. Sadness refused, “Oh, Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!”.
Happiness passed by Love too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her.
All the other feelings passed by and refused to take Love with them.
Suddenly, Love heard a voice, “Come, Love, I will take you”. It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that she forgot to ask the elder their name. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went their own way.
Love, realizing how much she owed the elder, asked Knowledge, another elder, “Who helped me?”. Knowledge answered, “It was Time”.
“Time?”, asked Love. “Why did Time help me?”.
Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, “Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is…”
Interestingly, there are some functional MRI studies showing that it takes only about 1/5 of a second for our brains to start firing neurotransmitters associated with the feeling of love. Does love really take time or can you fall in love instantly?
In the follow-up to this blog post, I will talk about the 36 QUESTIONS THAT CAN MAKE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH ANYONE…
Lots of love,
Paula