We do a lot of things without a whole heap of restraint; we drive too fast, we eat poorly, we social media like crazy, we abuse substances, we’re impatient, we’re unkind and we’re just plain negative (see what I did there?).
What we don’t really do so freely, is Love.
Our actions, emotions and feelings, the above being no exception, come with potential consequence to one degree or another; some more graver than others. Yet, we liberally, and frequently, partake without much thought or concern as to what can potentially befall us. At the same time, our actions, emotions and feelings come with potential benefit. If they didn’t, most of us wouldn’t do the things we choose to do.
If you speed in your car, you’ll probably get where you’re going quicker, but you run the risk of a traffic ticket, an accident and even personal injury. If you don’t take care of your health, sure it’s probably easier day-to-day, you’ll eat more treats and exercise less; but, the long-term (and short-term) effects to your health will lead to a diminished quality of life. As for being impatient, unkind and just a plain ol’ jerk; I don’t know what one stands to gain – perhaps some sense of false power? Nonetheless, that one I can be sure results an energy and frequency drag to yourself and anyone around you.
With the consequences easily apparent and clearly not commensurate relative to the potential short-term “benefits”, we freely partake in many of these practices regularly. It, somehow, seems like we fallaciously convince ourselves that what’s to gain is greater than what’s to lose….or, maybe we just don’t even think about it at all?
Then there’s Love. Love – the one that we can’t help but over think. The one that we prophesize, we prognosticate and we agonize over what the consequences could be if it doesn’t work out the way we want it to. The one that we all know and want the benefits of, yet can’t get past what the risk is. And, I get it. At one point in life, we didn’t over think it; we didn’t play out the “worst case scenarios”. We gave our Love freely; the way it was meant to be given. Then came the time we were hurt. It changed everything.
Does it reckon that this speaks to Love in the capacity of romantic relationships? Yes, it does. But, it’s really just about Love. All kinds of Love. Any kind of Love.
Love is this really vulnerable, really powerful force. No matter who you offer it to, there’s always a chance of consequence. There’s always the chance it’s not reciprocated; there’s always a chance it doesn’t meet your expectations; there’s always a chance you can be hurt. With friends, family, romantic partners and even strangers; it’s no different. There are always potential consequences. And, in fact, the likelihood is that you will experience some form of hurt, if you haven’t already. Most have been there before, I’m sure. Love, though, is also that one practice in life that creates infinitely more strength than any sort of pain. It’s the one that truly creates meaning. It changes life.
Love makes us shy; it makes us nervous; we build walls because of it; we put our guard up. We do this because we don’t want any of the pain that can come from this very raw form of vulnerability. We rarely, if ever, think of silently offering Love to a stranger or someone less fortunate or to the jerk that just cut you off on the road. We don’t really make it a habit to let our cherished friends know we Love them. We probably don’t view a challenging co-worker as a just a person that too desires the emotion that accompanies a feeling of Love. And, certainly, our “loved” ones are the ones that we can treat more harshly than anyone else in our lives.
In its true essence, Love is the only thing that when we give it, the gift is to our self. Love is not responsible for hurt, we are, our expectation is and our dependency is. Love, truly, does not come with consequence. It is our choice to throw Love under the bus when what we want to happen, doesn’t.
Love wants you to do two things; give it away and have a short memory for when you “think” you don’t get it back. Love is something that you just have to let the Universe keep track of. And, it will. It, totally, will. Vulnerability is not weakness. Vulnerability is faith. Faith in the Universe, faith in your Heart and faith in Love.
You’ll experience a lot of what your gift of Love does. You’ll also not experience a lot of it and probably wonder what the point was. Probably feel pretty crummy about it, too. But, those are the experiences where you just have to trust Love. Love trusts you, after all. Why else would it let you choose what you do with It?
Make the choice.
Be Love.
