When I was little,
I don’t think I really understood
what “thank you” meant.
I used the words
because I was taught to.
But as I kept saying them,
little by little,
their meaning began to sink in—
and now,
I can say thank you
from the depths of my heart.
Now,
perhaps I don’t yet fully understand
what “love” means.
No one really explains it,
so it seems
I have to discover it for myself.
Still, I feel that love must be
vast, gentle, warm, soft—
something that makes us feel at ease.
Love and God are quite alike, aren’t they?
No one has ever seen them,
and no one can truly explain them.
Perhaps that’s because
both love and God fill the entire universe—
so ordinary, like the air,
that we don’t even notice them.
And yet, they undeniably exist.
After all, I’m not the one
moving my own heart.
Something unseen
is doing that for me.
That unseen presence—
maybe it has intention.
Maybe it’s working earnestly,
trying to awaken me,
trying to help me notice.
I think I’ll call
that invisible something
“love.”
In a quiet, comfortable place,
I sit alone
and gently surrender myself to silence.
I take a deep breath,
and one by one,
I carefully recall the things
I feel grateful for.
The smiles of those I love,
my precious little pet—
I hold them tenderly in my heart.
And before I know it,
I feel my body and soul
filling with warmth.
This is love—
I know it clearly.
This is love—
I feel it deeply,
so deeply.
I sense my whole being
being filled
with love rising from my deepest core.
How beautiful it is.
How comfortable it feels.
How peaceful it is.
Once again, I understand—
happiness doesn’t come from outside.
It comes from within.
That love begins to overflow,
spreading through the room,
the house,
the town,
your country,
the entire world—
and then,
throughout the universe.
We are love itself.
We breathe in love
and breathe out love.
This—
this is life.
Perhaps
the heart is the place where love is felt,
the body is the vessel that expresses love,
and the Earth is where love takes form.
To you whom I have met,
and to you whom I have yet to meet,
I send
this love I am feeling—
all the love I have,
with my whole heart.
