A thought on Love:

We all receive love in different ways, there are five according to author Gary Chapman and they can change over time. These Love Languages are: Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Giving and Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Acts of Service. Generally we have a preference for one or two of these love languages. My top two love languages are Quality Time and Physical Touch, although it wasn’t always that way. I used to hate hugs, they made me feel uncomfortable and awkward. Side hugs were my preference.

David Bond, one of my best friends and one of my brothers (I’ll tell this story in a future newsletter) would give me hugs all of the time in middle school. He gave the linger-hugs where you had to pry him away from you in order for him to let go. Over time and many many consensual hugs later, physical touch and tender hugs are one of the best ways I receive love. Now, I’m not saying to go hug your friends and convert them to be huggers, but I think there’s value in understanding how the people around you give and receive love, and how they might change over time. This understanding will only improve the quality of your relationships.

• Take the test and forward this newsletter and to someone you love to find out their love languages: Love Language Quiz

A thought on Justice:

How can we build a society where people have their needs met? In the first Love, Justice, and Generosity newsletter, I quoted Cornel West, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” If Justice is what love looks like on a bigger scale, isn’t love just meeting people’s needs? Therefore, Justice in our world looks like making sure everyone’s needs are met. But what kind of needs? Abraham Maslow, an American Psychologist, came up with a framework to think about how certain needs must be prioritized, starting with basic physiological needs.

Maslow argued that we can’t attend to our highest need of self-actualization, becoming the best we can be, until we have met those needs lower on the pyramid. If you don’t have a safe and consistent place to sleep, it's hard, if not impossible, to focus on getting a job. Take a look around you - both on the personal and societal level. Where do you see these needs not being met and where can you step in to help? Can you help serve food at a local food bank? Can you help create an environment where people feel safe? Can you tell your family members and/or your friends that you love them? Can you inspire and encourage people to reach their full potential? Look around, then see where you can step in to meet the needs of others. This is what Justice looks like.

A thought on Generosity:

I believe we need more Love, more Justice, and more Generosity in this world. This newsletter is just one of the ways I’m spreading this belief and these ideas. My hope is that they become contagious and in big and small ways create a better world for us all. So, I need your help to grow this impact. Send this newsletter subscribe page to two people you know. Respond to this email with your address and the names of the people who signed up. Once I see they’ve signed up, I’m going to mail you a FREE “Love, Justice, & Generosity” Sticker. I’ll send you a sticker for every two people you get to subscribe (I’m not rich so max of 3 stickers - but please get as many as possible to sign up). You have until the end of next Friday, March 31st, to email me back with the names and your address. Stickers will be sent to you shortly after. Thank you for your generosity.

A question for the day:

• If you had to take a guess, what is the love language of the person you interact with most on a day-to-day basis? And how can you be intentional towards loving them today?

Resource of the Week:

My understanding of love languages has made a profound impact on the close relationships in my life. This is why I am listing this test twice in this newsletter. Go take the test and get lost down the rabbit hole that is loving people better. And if you’ve already taken it, take it again, they may have changed!

• Love Language Quiz

If you know of anyone who might be interested in taking this journey towards more Love, more Justice, and more Generosity in their own life and in the world, please send them this link which will allow them to sign up (or copy and send: https://ljg.beehiiv.com/subscribe).

Thank you for being here.

With Love, Justice, and Generosity,

Michael Larson