Thousands of poems have been written about it, millions of songs sung in its honor and atrocities committed in its name. Love. The intangible, irresponsible, irrepressible sensation that drives us to the heights of the human capacity for nobility and beauty, while simultaneously dragging us down into the darkest pits of despair imaginable.

There are many languages to love. From the woman who feels loved when the garbage is taken out, to the teenager who just wants to be reassured that yes, happiness can be found in a warm embrace. I have struggled through my marriage to not only learn the language of love that my wife receives and gives, but to become a master at it.

To really become a creator of the right kind of love for that person closest to you, the one to whom you have given permission to not only fulfill you, but wound you deeply, is one of life's greatest challenges, and quixotically, greatest pleasures I believe life can provide.

Heather, my wife, is pregnant with our second child and it is only now that I see the true value of learning to love your wife or husband well. It isn't grandiose gestures, accomplishments in the field of the marital arts or expensive presents. Its holding your wife's hand as she is emptying the contents of her stomach, again.

It is, without pretext, going back out into the night one more time, even though you are so tired you can't even begin to see how you will do it, to get her something to drink and something sweet to eat. It is not only putting yourself after her but losing sight completely, if even for only a moment, that you even matter.

The poets were right to sing its praises, it is a transformational emotion. One that can so thoroughly infuse itself into your very being, that you become an embodiment of love radiating it to all that come into contact with you.

Or at least that is what I hope for. It hasn't happened yet. There is always tomorrow.

Looks like I got a little delete happy yesterday and deleted Jeff and Colin's comments on this post. Sorry guys. Feel free to come back and comment again, I promise I won't nuke them this time.

My good friend Colin posted a new Random 60 today that is actually quite profound:

“It seems that people are spurred on to talk about the bad more than they are about the good. If your cable goes out, your car won’t start, or your cell phone loses coverage — you complain. This is understandable. I do it too. But all that does is spread that negativity. Lets stop spreading as much negativity and try to be positive now and then. Lets be real (don’t be fake-positive) but lets try to keep it balanced at the very least.”

What Colin has touched upon is how susceptible we are to the allure of the mob. Looking at social behavior, it is much easier to create an angry mob, than a joyous mob. Mobs appeal to the need to be "treated fairly" we all have, whatever that means to each person.

Passions such as anger, hatred and indignation are like a field of grass that has sat languishing in the blistering sun during a drought, brittle and dry. It take a very small spark to set the entire field ablaze.

I think that on many levels we know this as authors. Add to this fact that being positive and happy is looked upon as passe and naive in todays society and you can see why the trend is to complain on blogs, tweets, etc.

Colin is right though, we are better than this. The most beautiful, positive and moving things ever brought into existence were created specifically to capture joy, whether it be on canvas, film, stone or paper, and give it to the rest of us.

Added to all this is the fact that we are in the beginning of what most experts believe will be a long recession where many people will be fighting to just survive, let alone get the newest Apple product and then complain because it only came in silver and black. We will be surrounded by negativity from the media.

Lets all take a moment and join with Colin to start making a Joyous Mob. Take 5 minutes to say something positive in a public forum. There is never a time where there is a complete absence of light in our lives, spread that light around a bit, you will be surprised what can happen. Here's a place to start:

REPLACE THIS WITH A POSITIVE MSG - #r60 http://bit.ly/19r0Vm

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