On Love | How to Feel Your Heart

Gabriela Rocha Caballero
Mar 1
3 min read

Presence, Responsibility, and Love as Practice

A few words borrowed from those who walked before us.

“But I love your feet only because they walked upon the earth and upon the wind and upon the waters, until they found me.” — Pablo Neruda, Love Poems

Love Begins with Presence

This month — the month of love — asks for nothing more than presence.

The Hollywood idea of romance is not as real as we once dreamed. Couples are exhausted during these difficult times. We have lost the simplicity of being together — of simply looking into each other’s eyes.

Streaming television and social media slowly erode the reality of love and presence. They dull our ability to be quiet, to pause, to sit across from one another holding a cup of coffee and truly talk. How can we honestly look inward and discuss what we are building — as couples, as parents, as friends? How can we notice what we are standing on, receive feedback, and plan ahead in ways that nourish and motivate our daily lives?

This kind of reflection is essential for well-being and for having something meaningful to move toward.

Love Is Not Sentiment — It Is Structure

The love we share is not merely sentiment — it is structure.

Love is an invisible, active verb that holds our lives together. Love works. Love provides. Love holds — with presence.

But how can we feel our hearts when exhausting hours at the computer and endless scrolling pull us away from ourselves? How can we feel our hearts when, after finally saying “I’m going to put this away,” we collapse into bed and turn on Netflix instead?

Why do we avoid our hearts?

Feeling the Heart Through the Body

Love begins with loving ourselves — through somatic awareness: sensing, softening, listening. The heart speaks through the body when we slow down enough to feel.

First, reconnect with yourself. Feel that love, and learn what is best for you.

The path back to the heart is not indulgence — it is discipline, action, and responsibility. Only when we take responsibility for our own actions can we move into romantic love: toward ourselves, our partners, our children, our families, and our dear friends.

Presence as the Greatest Gift

As Thích Nhất Hạnh reminds us, presence is the greatest gift.

True presence is the ultimate expression of love and care — more valuable than any material offering.

True love requires letting go of distractions, breathing consciously, and choosing love as a daily practice. Simple mantras such as “Darling, I am here for you” — spoken to ourselves and to those we love — cultivate connection, stability, and deep listening.

This is how love becomes real again.

Not dramatic. Not performative.

But steady, attentive, and alive.

_____

To feel your heart is not to escape life, but to return to it.

To choose presence over avoidance.

Responsibility over distraction.

Love as a practice rather than a promise.

This is not a call to do more —

but to feel more deeply what is already here.

And that, perhaps, is where love begins again.

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