We all want to receive love. But maybe it comes in a form you don’t want – perhaps someone offers romantic love but that’s not what you’re looking for-or it doesn’t come at all. Then there is heartache and helpless¬ness; you can’t make others love you if they won’t.

Definitely, do what you can to get the love you need. But the practice here is about expressing love, distinct from receiving it. When you focus on the love you give rather than the love you get, then you’re at cause rather than at effect; you’re the cue ball, not the eight ball – which supports your sense of efficacy and confidence, as well as your mood. And it’s enlightened self-interest: the best way to get love is to give it; even if it’s still not returned, your love will likely improve the relationship, and help calm any troubled waters.

Sometimes people worry that being loving will make them vulnerable or drained. But actually, you can see in your own experience that love itself doesn’t do this: it pro¬tects and nurtures you when you give it. While you’re loving, don’t you feel uplifted and stronger?

That’s because love is deep in human nature, literally woven into our DNA. As our ancestors evolved, the seeds of love in primates and hominids – such as mother-child attachment, pair bonding, communication skills, and teamwork – aided survival, so the genes that promoted these characteristics were passed on. A positive cycle developed: As “the village it takes to raise a child” evolved and grew stronger, the period of vulnerable childhood could become longer, so the brain evolved to become larger in order to make use of that longer childhood – and thereby developed more capacities for love. The brain has roughly tripled in size since hominids began making stone tools about 2.5 million years ago, and much of this new neural real estate is devoted to love and related capabilities.

We need to give love to be healthy and whole. If you bottle up your love, you bottle up your whole being. Love is like water: it needs to flow; otherwise, it backs up on itself and gets stagnant and smelly. Look at the faces of some people who are very loving: they’re beautiful, aren’t they? Being loving heals old wounds inside and opens untapped reservoirs of energy and talent. It’s also a profound path of awakening, playing a central role in all of the world’s major religious traditions.

The world needs your love. Those you live with and work with need it, plus your family and friends, people near and far, and this whole battered planet. Never underestimate the ripples spreading out from just one lov¬ing word, thought, or deed!