There is more pleasure in loving than in being beloved.

Being loved is pleasant, but it happens to you. Loving is something you do, and the doing is where the life is: the attention, the noticing, the small acts that have no audience. Waiting to be chosen keeps you checking whether the feeling is being returned at the right volume. Giving the affection puts you in charge of the one part you actually hold.

Spend some care this week where you are not measuring the response. Call the person who rarely calls first. Notice how much of the warmth was yours all along.