This month’s hospitality notes are from a section of “The Common Sense Guide to Living at Lupin” by Glyn Stout. I am using it because it so mirrors my own thoughts and feelings and is so appropriate for this month

TRY A LITTLE LOVE by Glyn Stout

Nothing is more vital than to start (and if necessary, restart) each day with love in your heart and a smile on your face. It’s the best decision you can make for Lupin’s composite energy and for your own health. And it has an amazing effect on others, too. There is no better agent for creating positive change.

Love is the most powerful force in the universe. Used as a natural, mood-altering drug, love is even better for the giver than for the recipient, who may be unaware. To love is a profound, continuous choice which can even improve the body’s immune system.  No pill or diet could do better.

Loving others even when it is most difficult to love them is, of course, the greatest challenge. Love is most profound when it is unconditional. If all love had to be earned, the entire human race would be bereft.

People are just mirrors for ourselves. The “reasons” we often use to reject people are for behaving in ways that we don’t like in ourselves or others we care deeply about. Learning to love our “adversaries” may thus be a precondition for learning to love our imperfect selves. It’s possible to hate sin and still love the sinner.

Imperfection is why forgiveness is love’s first requirement. People don’t always act lovable, and they don’t always apologize when they transgress. There is nothing more self-destructive than hanging on to an old grievance, however justified.  It’s far more self-empowering to forgive than to be right.

Some may think that mixing love and business is inappropriate, though the counter-argument is more persuasive. Lupin is in the people business, and all people, though unique, need love. It’s a universal, all-purpose curative ingredient. The best thing about involving love in solutions is that it never hurts to try it, even after all else fails.”

And I might add that we all want to be seen, heard and appreciated and this is the best way to show Love—by listening, seeing and appreciating others.

Rochelle
Hospitality Director Lupin Lodge