Does Love have a Color?

Anika’s Zen and the Power of Gratitude. A new weekly column.  Every Sunday. 

 

Easy Thing Called Love

 

I love easily. I fall in love with ideas, books, trees, shells, beaches, animals, paintings, doors, sidewalks, towns…you name it.

It’s a beautiful feeling. Loving something and immersing yourself in it. This love of mine has made me do strange things. While others, may bring back magnets or other souvenirs from their travel, I have carried back rocks from mine – think of really large, well-rounded rocks that make up 40% of your baggage allowance. And when rocks are not available, shells are as good. Think large, white ones. Or small ones for that matter. These shells remind me of my love for the beach and the ocean. When neither rocks nor shells make the list, pieces of driftwood take their place. They also remind me of my ‘unexplainable’ draw to the ocean, unexplainable just like the feeling of love.

 

 

I also love doors. My friends laugh when they see my travel pictures. Usually about a 100 of those pictures are made up of doors, leaving, perhaps a couple that actually show some people in them. While I am writing this, I wonder why I love doors so much. Maybe it’s the promise that they hold? The promise of bearing witness to the many lives and stories?

On my first trip to Puerto Rico, we stayed in the beautiful city of San Juan. If you have not been, and love color in general, do visit. I must have taken at least 300 pictures of just the doors and the alleyways of the town of San Juan. The color and the vibrancy of the doors made me so happy, even though the town was hardly representative of the ‘wealthy’. The doors spoke to generations of families that bore witness to the island life, and all the difficulties that come with being a part of a country and yet was not accepted as one. But those doors still vibrated with happiness, against all odds.

 

The Musicians Come to Dinner

 

I am known to play a song over and over and over and over again, to the point where even my Alexa (you know, the voice robot!) says, “Anika, really?” Songs that go in and out of my life. And then in again. I love songs so easily – to hum them, sway to them, shower to them, close my eyes and be one with them. Making me, for just a few moments, forget everything else.

The beautiful part? There are no boundaries to this love of mine. My music love has Madonna sitting right next to Kenny Rogers, the Eagles, the Beatles, Bob Marley, Sting, Lauryn Hill, Tracy Chapman, Stevie Wonder and even Santana amongst others, around the dinner table, sharing a meal and happy conversations.

In fact, currently, Santana may be at the head of the table, but it’s a little bit like musical chairs. Who is at the head may change, but the guests at the dinner table only increase, filling my heart with love, on a regular basis. I start my day with music and most times, end with it too. Every time I hear a song, especially when it is really really loud, while driving in my car, I feel this sense of love, wanting to go hug the musician and maybe even share a ride!

 

Of Plants, Birds and Animals

 

 

My love for plants has been rather fragile. Like most good relationships we have broken up many a times, only to come together again, sometimes stronger and sometimes with a lot lacking. Throughout this process, many a plant’s heart has been broken – they have died, been ignored, and sometimes, even left out in the cold too long. Sometimes they have been forgiving and sometimes not – like any other relationship. But just like true love, they have stood by me, patiently waiting while I learnt their ways better.

Today, they fill my heart, my home and my garden with lavender, mint, sage, basil, roses, lilies, honeysuckle, succulents – you name it. True story: as a valentine’s Day gift to myself today, I ordered a set of 64 succulents. Call me crazy or call me in love!

Animals and birds. This love of mine has been responsible for taking a picture with a baby goat perched on my shoulders 20 years ago, making a very indulgent friend stop the car almost in the middle of the road, to capture the moment. It has made me pet tigers, crocodiles, snakes, take pictures with geckos and of course, pet almost every dog I come across, no matter what the city or country. Dogs are easy to love, snakes for me, not so much.

My consistent love, however, has been for hummingbirds. I used to always dream of a garden which could attract these elusive beings. You know what they say about wishing for something, because it just might come true? Well, not only did I get the hummingbirds, but I did not realize how territorial they were, till they started showing up every year. They even chased away other hummingbirds that wanted to make my garden their Eden! All in all, I got my wish and fell in love with these ‘garden fairies’ even more – small and so fast that if you don’t look closely, you might just miss them.

 

Where Have You Been?

 

Humans: Complicated. Nuanced. Difficult to love. Difficult to ignore. And for me, difficult to live without.

I love my humans and they come in all shapes and sizes. My garbage collector has been taking care of my street for all of the 13 years that I have lived in this home. Our interactions have been limited to the gifting around the holidays or sharing the occasional box of donuts. He usually comes very early in the morning and I went through a patch of working late, thus, not having a chance to see him that much.

One day, out bright and early, I saw his truck come up. When I went up to say hello, he looked at me straight in the eye, all worried and said, “Where have you been? I did not see you for so many weeks and thought you had moved!”. I was so touched – after all, he has so many other homes to take care of, why bother with just one of them? “There is no way we would move without telling you”, I said. I love the energy that he brings to our home and the care that he has for us.

Then, there is our very, very tall mailman. Think six-and-a-half-feet at least. He would recognize my car whenever we crossed paths and wave. I would do the same. In all these13 years of life, he has been such a critical part of it. When I used to travel a lot on work, I just knew that even without asking, he was always looking out for us and keeping a watchful eye on my home.

Then there are other humans outside of family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances and peers. The humans you meet at airports, on planes, in buses, in stores, on streets and in other countries. Humans you love for who they are and what makes them, them. And, humans you may or may not meet again but they leave you with just a little bit more pixie dust than when you met them.

 

In Deep Gratitude for love

 

Today is Valentine’s Day and though I went through life thinking of this day as another marketing tactic created by the Hallmarks of the world, it did make me pause and reflect on the feeling of love.

Does love have a color? I don’t know but it looks good on me.  Does love have a feeling that can be described? I have no idea, but I do know that I like feeling it.

I have been lucky to love so many things and so many people in my life. Those who know me know that I love easily (different from ‘falling in love’ – a completely different story and one that will require many walls to be pierced through and many barriers to be broken!). Every day, I look around and see so much more to love – another song, another book, another bird, another animal, another color, another idea, another door, another food, another story. I am in deep gratitude for all who wait patiently till I get there and be immersed in that feeling of love for that moment, that thing. Sometimes I get there instantly and sometimes it’s a life’s journey.

But most of all, I love life itself – its colors, its vibrancies, its hopes, its secrets and its everyday twists and turns. I am in deep gratitude for the openness of my heart to allow this love to flood it and the opportunity to give it back. Love, after all, is all there is. Isn’t it?

 

Read my previous blogs below:

• Anika’s Zen and the Power of Gratitude
• Sack Full of Breaths
• The Power of Silence: A Date with Myself
• Travel Through the Glass
• The Elusive Trophy
• The Joy of Everyday
• Does Love Have a Color?
• Stronger than the Storm
• My Neighborhood, My Tribe

 

Anika Sharma is a digital thought leader, a mother, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. She was recently named as one of the top 150 digital global leaders to follow in 2021. When she is not busy working or raising her two teenage children, you can find her planting herbs in her garden, meditating with her friends, swimming long laps or filling rooms with her cackling laughter. Contact her at anikadas@gmail.com or on twitter

 

If you enjoyed this blog, read about the Many Benefits of Gratitude. and the Rules of Simple Living.