It’s true …. Love is the most potent healer known to mankind.  Love is more than just a feeling, it is a whole body experience and it has a physiological effect on the body. Loving and being loved actually improves our level of health. It boosts the immune system and our feel good neurotransmitters in our brain that control our mood, outlook on life and feelings of well-being.

According to Linda K. Lavin, Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Author of article “The Healing Power of love”,  writes…

Love is a treatment that comes in a remarkable variety of forms and dosages, is abundant, non-toxic, costs nothing, can be self-administered, and yet it bears the most potent healing power known to mankind. So, why hasn’t this treatment made medical headlines worldwide? Perhaps because it is not patentable and cannot be bottled or sold. Or, perhaps, because in this age of technology we have surrendered our power to science, ignoring the wisdom of our own hearts. What is this magical treatment? It is, quite simply, LOVE.

And yet, there is nothing simple about it. It comes in numerous potencies and forms: compassion, charity, respect, nurturance, empathy, reverence, concern, camaraderie, understanding, agape, affection, gratitude, eros, social support — in fact, any kind of caring imaginable. As a feeling, an expression, or a vibration, it signifies a connectedness to other beings, and to all of life. “The more connected you are to life, the healthier you are”, declared Dr. James Lynch, a specialist in psychosomatic medicine at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine. ” ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is not just a moral mandate. It’s a physiological mandate,” he remarks.

To receive one of these health-enhancing love treatments, all you have to do is locate a listening ear, and share your woes. It has been shown in studies conducted by Dr. James Pennebaker of Southern Methodist University that several immune functions are elevated in people confiding in others, and the effects can last as long as six weeks. If a human ear is unavailable, a furry one will do quite nicely. Among victims of heart attacks, pet owners are five times as likely to survive as those without pets.

Perhaps the most amazing and convenient characteristic of love as a therapeutic agent is its ability to be administered long distance, not just over the phone, but through prayer. Dr. Larry Dossey recounts the power of prayer in the Spindrift Studies. The “patients” who responded to this treatment happened to be plants. Dr. Dossey reported that prayer works best when the recipient is stressed, is known to you, when the prayer is nondirective (“Let whatever is best happen”), and when the one who is praying is experienced at prayer. Dr. Dossey concluded that the effect of kind thoughts “…on living organisms outside the human body was significant, quantifiable, and reproducible.” Similarly, human cardiac patients in a famous study conducted at San Francisco General Hospital by Dr. Randy Byrd also responded well to prayer. They had significantly fewer complications and required less medication.

Volumes of persuasive data exist which point to the possibility that LOVE could be the “magic bullet” for which scientists and physicians have been searching. I highly recommend that you avail yourself of every opportunity to give and receive this healing balm — no prescription necessary.

• Life is short and unpredictable.
• Don’t take life or those around for you granted.
• Cultivate love on a daily basis not just on holidays.
• Don’t let the precious gift of love slip by without experiencing it completely.
• Allow your love to expand to all living things and you will experience the healing power of love

Faith, hope and love ….  The greatest of these is love.

Love and be loved …..