The Variants of Love

With Valentine’s Day upon us, we gathered in downtown Nashville at The Studio 208 to discuss “What is Love?” Special guest, Katelyn Lover, a counselor from the Refuge Center for Counseling, and artist Kristin Llamas lead the discussion. During this time, we found that there are many variants to loving one another. We also discussed the power of giving and receiving love.

Katelyn was asked many questions in the realm of how to love everyone without being taken advantage of? If we are called to love all, all the time, how can we protect ourselves? While Katelyn stated how even though we most certainly have the capacity to love all, that it is beneficial to view your efforts toward those that have a metaphorical seat at your table. Your table only has so many seats, and you give unrestricted love to those who sit there. So take a look at who’s there, and see if they need a different variant of love from you instead.

Artist Kristin Llamas elaborated on the many variants of love, such as love for yourself, your children, your parents, spouses, friends, and even strangers. She reminded us that there are many different ways to say “I love you”, first by simple acts of kindness and applying the Golden Rule. Kristin discussed the power in such things to change someone’s day or even year. So even though many of these people you share this variant of love for doesn’t necessarily sit at your metaphorical dinner table, it’s still a powerful love nonetheless.