MoWorld: Loving What You Hate

Loving What You Hate

by Madisyn Taylor

Hatred cannot help but be transformed in the presence of love.

Hatred can be irrational, and it has a greater impact on the individual who hates than the person or object being hated. Yet overcoming hatred is difficult because hatred reinforces itself and causes greater enmity to come into being. The most powerful tool one can use to combat hatred is love. Deciding to love what you hate, whether this is a person, situation, or a part of yourself, can create a profound change in your feelings and your experience. There is little room for anger, dislike, bitterness, or resentment when you are busy loving what you hate. The practice of loving what you hate can transform and shift your emotions from hatred to love because there is no room for hatred in a space occupied by love.

Granted, it is difficult to forgo judging someone, but you can love your enemy, and seek the good in situations that seem orchestrated to cause you pain or anger. In deciding to love what you hate, you become one less person adding negativity to the universe. On a simple level, loving what you hate can help you enjoy your life more. On a more complex level, loving what you hate sets you free because you disengage yourself from the hatred that can weigh down the soul. Responding with love to people radiating hatred transmutes their negative energy. You also empower yourself by not letting their negativity enter your personal space. Rather than lowering yourself to the level of their hatred, you give the other person an opportunity to rise above their feelings and meet you on the field of love.

Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Loving what you hate sends a positive, beautiful energy to people while spreading peace and harmony throughout the planet. Instead of reinforcing hatred, you become an advocate for love. Hatred responds to hate by causing anguish, but hatred cannot help but be transformed in the presence of love.

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DailyOM Course Spotlight

Forgiveness as a Pathway to Love

by Megan Feldman Bettencourt, M.S.

Many people have been hurt and disappointed in love so many times that they feel resigned to a life of solitude or unsatisfying relationships. True love is possible for anyone and everyone, but what most people don't realize is that forgiveness is one of the most powerful keys to both finding and keeping lasting love. Conversely, the inability to forgive yourself and others is often the very thing that keeps true love away, or thwarts it once it begins to flourish. Research shows that resentment not only damages heart and brain health, but it's also a road to a loveless life riven with conflict. Empirical studies also show that mutual forgiveness is the most crucial predictor of successful, long-term intimate relationships, and that people who practice self-compassion are more likely to find healthy love relationships and to sustain them (they're also more highly-rated by their relationship partners). In this course, you'll learn how to resolve grief and resentment over past relationships and childhood experiences, and then cultivate the habits and practices that will enable you to constitute yourself as a magnet for the healthy, fulfilling and lasting love that you deserve. Award-winning author Megan Feldman Bettencourt draws on her global exploration of the science and stories of forgiveness, as well as modern psychology and ancient shamanic practices, to guide you through this transformative eight-week journey.