About this quote

A few words about someone else's love can wake up something inside you that you didn't know was waiting. That quick pull often pushes people to look outward for a match before they ask what they actually need. Notice the first action you take after that swell of feeling and ask whether it moves you toward a clearer choice. Try naming one real quality you want in a partner, then take one small step this week that tests for it.

When to use it

• At a campus poetry night, after a narrator closes with a love line, I whisper to my friend, 'Hearing that made me want to find someone who listens like that.'
• At my sister's wedding, while the couple tells how they met, I text a buddy to set up a real date because I realized I'm ready to try again.
• In therapy, after an old romantic song comes on in the waiting room, I said, 'Hearing that story just made me see I'm chasing an image, not the person.'
• While writing a song in my apartment, a neighbor's childhood love tale pushed me to write honestly about first longing instead of aiming for a chart hit.