The Many Forms of Love

By Jennifer Kelleher

When most people hear the word love, their mind jumps instantly to romance— the great cinematic sweep of partnership, longing, and union. Romantic love is a beautiful, holy thread in the human experience. But it is just one expression of love, and when we reduce love to only that one dimension, we miss the hundreds of ways it moves through our lives every single day.

There is the love of a mother whose instinct is woven into her bones— the kind of love that wakes before dawn, watches, protects, softens, and endures. There is the quiet love of friendship— the people who walk beside us not out of obligation, but out of chosen devotion. There is love in community, in belonging, and in that sacred comfort of being known. There is love that exists in the way we care for our bodies, in how we nourish ourselves, in the movement and breath that say: I matter.

There is love in creation— the love that pours through artists, healers, teachers, gardeners, parents, and caretakers of all kinds: those who plant seeds they may never personally harvest. There is love in presence— in the tiny, invisible moments that never make a headline: folding warm laundry for someone you cherish, remembering how they take their coffee, looking someone in the eyes long enough for them to feel seen.

Love isn’t only an emotion— it is a way of being. It is how we move through the world. It is how we touch it. It is what is left behind after we’ve walked through the room.

Some of the deepest forms of love might not even look like love at first glance, for example: discipline, faith, boundaries, honest conversation, and staying when something is uncomfortable. There is love inside choosing growth instead of comfort. There is love inside, “I’ll try again.” There is love inside, “I’m listening.” There is love inside the simple act of showing up, repeatedly, even quietly, even when unseen.

When we widen our understanding of love, our lives suddenly become full of it. Because then love is not something we are waiting to receive, or something that must come to us, it’s something we get to become. Something we get to radiate outward. Something we participate in with intention.

Love becomes the way we stir soup. The way we pet the dog. The way we hold space in a conversation. The way we breathe through the moment instead of rushing past it.

To live a life steeped in love is not about chasing an ideal, it is about pouring your heart into whatever is in front of you.

Try this for just one day: bring love into everything you do. Not performance-love, not the grand gesture, but quiet, attentive, ordinary love. The love that says, “I am here. I am awake to this moment. I am giving it the fullness of my attention.” Love as care, as tenderness, as presence.

You begin to notice: the world softens. Your nervous system settles. Conversations deepen. The small becomes sacred. And somewhere inside you, life begins to glow again— not because something changed for you, but because something came alive within you.

Romantic love may feel like a spark, but this steady, everyday love is the hearth that warms a lifetime.

So let this be your invitation today: bring love where you stand. Into your hands. Into your voice. Into your work. Into your meals. Into your pauses. Into the way you greet yourself in the mirror.

The more you give love a place to land in your daily life, the more it becomes the air you live in.

And if you want to practice love in community, the kind that fills the spirit and settles the heart, Ocean Bliss is here for you. Come breathe, move, connect, and remember that you are meant to feel held: by others, by your practice, and by your own beautiful capacity to love. Sign up at oceanblissyoga.net. Call or text me with any questions at 917-318-1168.