Buddha Quote on Life and Understanding The Difference Between “I Like You” and “I Love You.”

“When you like a flower, you just pluck it. But, when you love a flower, you water it daily. One who understands this, understands life.”

Buddha

Beyond the Quote (202/365)

“Liking” is superficial. “Loving” is deep. “Liking” is occasional and when it’s convenient. “Loving” is regular and prioritized. “Liking” keeps you the same. “Loving” helps you grow. One who understands the difference between “liking” and “loving” in life understands the difference between “existing” and “living” in life.

When you like someone, you just try and hook up when it’s convenient for you. When you love someone, you invest time, energy, and effort into growing the relationship daily. Some relationships never get past “liking.” Some relationships start out as “liking” and grow into “loving” with time. Some relationships are just “loving” from the very beginning. No two relationships are the same.

But, in order for any relationship to be “loving,” both sides have to be open and ready for “love.” If one person is “loving” and the other is “liking”—love won’t work. In order for love to truly flourish, it has to come from a similar place of depth, care, and compassion from within each person. Otherwise, the relationship ends up being polarized and imbalanced and will eventually collapse.

Think about it like building a house from the ground up. Imagine that one person in the relationship was in charge of building one side and the other person was in charge of building the other side. If the first person was in love with the idea of building the house and was constructing from a place of deep care and compassion, but the second person just liked the idea of building the house and only constructed on occasion, with partial attention to detail, and with only a decent amount of compassion—the house would never last. It would certainly collapse. If the house is to remain erect, both sides of the house need to be constructed with love.

This idea of acting from a place of “liking” or “loving” extends far beyond just relationships too—it is the type of life energy that is behind all of your actions in life. When you like a job, you just show up and collect a paycheck. When you love a job, you don’t really think about a paycheck. You look forward to the work and you go above and beyond to do things that help you grow in your field. When you like martial arts, you watch movies and maybe take some classes on occasion. When you love martial arts, you obsess over training, researching, and developing yourself into the best martial artist you can be. When you like to play piano, you just hit the keys. When you love to play piano, you create music.

This is all to say, “liking” your way through life is existing and “loving” your way through life is how you graduate to living. Do you see it now? Don’t just exist your way through life—find ways to go all in and love your way through! Love your imperfections, love your aptitudes, love your potential, love your talents, love your interests, love your surrounding people, love the work you do, love how you spend your down time, love how you present yourself to others—fall in love with it all!

And don’t misunderstand me, “loving” is not the easy option. “Loving” every one of those above mentioned aspects of your life is hard and requires diligent work, constant curation, and an abundance of patience to achieve. But, whoever said graduating to living was easy? Existing is easy. Anyone can exist. Anyone can “like.” “Liking” is easy. It’s “loving” that requires risk, vulnerability, effort, and bravery. It’s “loving” that demands the best in you—all of you. But, why would you want to live any other way? Go all in. Or, should I say, you’re already all in! …It’s the only life you’ve got. Now, live like you mean it.

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