Love at 16 years old?

The time between the age of 16 and 18 years old is crucial to prepare the ground for love so that it can really be a masterpiece. How? In which direction? Simply by growing into becoming a person able to love. It is time to learn to love!!

1. Grow in the relationship and in the respect towards your parents as well as in a real independence from them.

2. Strengthen your personality in order to become a person able to assert your ideas, carry them through, compare them with others. Make your personality soft where it’s difficult, strong where it’s weak. Learn to have a unique word in your heart and to express it in any favourable or unfavourable circumstance.

3. Grow in the ability to truly listen to others, friends, acquaintances, adults, beginning with listening to words and including the discovery of non-verbal signs. Brotherly advice connects you to reality.

4. Learn to spend time with everyone, even with those who do not satisfy you, those who have different opinions from yours, those who are different: you will learn to accept differences.

5. Strengthen your ability to think out of yourself, to observe other people’s point of view, by doing so you won’ t see yourself as the centre of the universe. Do away with selfishness and egocentricity !!

6. Grow in your ability to physically sacrifice yourself, doing away with indolence, laziness , comforts, but becoming able to give away a bit of your energy, of your nerves to help someone else; wake up early, fight against sleep, weariness, hunger, the heat, the cold, don’t complain about petty things; instead take advantage of physical exercise, sports, training, constancy.

7. Learn to take care of yourself, of those around you, of the things you love. Purify and cultivate your passions.

8. Improve your ability to look deep into your heart. Devote time to understanding emotions, feelings, thoughts; don’t become superficial, feed your heart, treasure silence.

9. Grow in your relationship with others; grow in patience, in giving freedom, in learning to leave space, in growing in trust towards your partner.

10. Cultivate the art of communication; learn to speak well, clearly; check that you have been understood, learn the art of agreeing on something, of mediating, of finding a common ground. Don’ t keep everything to yourself.

11. Learn the art of empathy and kindness, learn to put yourself in other people’ s shoes and to be the first to give what you ask from others…

don Fully