It's fun! It's rewarding and interesting and natural. UNlearning...that's a different story. We're built for moving forward, not backward. Once we've grasped an idea - or a feeling or belief - it's difficult to let it go. We walk through dirt and mud and it sticks to our skin and clothing. We run through clouds of dust and it accumulates in our eyes and lungs. We fall and scrape our knees, and the scratches and bruises that appear are part of ourselves. Time dims the stains and turns wounds to scars, but the memories remain, and paint the ever-changing canvas of the present moment with shadowy reminders of the past. Perhaps the solution is to spend more time in the sunlight, letting its ultra-violet rays bleach out the splotches, collecting memories of warmth to thaw the old shivers still clinging to bones. Or of course to find love and let it in. Let its laundering action break up old dirt and clots, clear away old shadows by wiping the film from the window pane and letting the bright sunshine pour inside, filling your soul with warmth and comfort. A little-known fact is that the most effective love is not found outside yourself. It's not the kind that someone brings you and serves up on silver platters with kind words or lavish gifts or tender affection. Rather, the most potently-healing love begins within and spreads out from there. If you don't know where to begin letting love in and out, remember that it's nearly Christmas, the time most famous for acts of loving service. You have license to secretly serve anyone you want - family, friend, or stranger. You can begin with something as simple as taking a few cans of food to the local food bank. Up the ante by leaving treats on neighbors' doorsteps. Get creative and build a snowman on their porch, perhaps holding a note just to say you were thinking of them and hoped to make them smile. Pray for someone else. See how long you can make your prayer last. Sometimes prayer can bring help that nothing else can, and the peace you help spread has a funny way of sticking to you as well. And all the while, as you let love in and let it out, take some time in between to let it linger within. Savor it. Believe in it. Let yourself learn that love is real and substantive and that it can wash and erase and repair all those lessons you wish you - or someone else - never learned in the first place.