How can we show up for ourselves and others as love?
As I've sat with this,
I've realized how often we try to put love in a box.
We tell it that it should be soft,
Kind,
Gentle,
Nurturing,
As if even love has been split from its wholeness by our human conditioning.
We often mistake love for performance rather than truth.
But love was never meant to fit inside our definitions.
Love is fierce.
Love is fire.
Love is the mirror that reflects everything we've hidden.
Love is stepping towards someone.
Love is stepping away.
Love is becoming more fully ourselves.
Love is making food for the people you care about.
Love is sticky note messages.
Love is honoring how you deserve to be treated.
Love is standing for justice and equality.
Love is carving out time for yourself every day.
Love is nourishing your body.
Love is movement.
Love is rest.
Love is laughter and joy.
Love is pain and tears.
Love is a piece of dark chocolate and a warm cup of tea.
Love is allowing yourself to be held in hard moments.
Love is asking for what you want and need.
Love is showing up as your grounded healthy adult self and owning what is yours.
Love is showing up for your inner child who needs support and to know they are not alone.
Love is the earth beneath our feet.
Love is talking to the neighborhood chickens on your morning walk.
Love is looking into the eyes of another.
Love is saying what needs to be said.
Love is forehead kisses.
Love is a cold shower.
Love is a warm bath.
Love is leaving an unhealthy relationship.
Love is grieving.
Love is letting yourself feel.
Love is having the courage to be alone.
Love is having the courage to trust another.
Love is the animals who love us so effortlessly.
Love is telling the truth.
Love is repair.
Love is accountability.
Love is boundaries.
Love is beginning again.
Love is choosing what makes you come alive.
Love cannot be reduced to one expression,
One emotion,
Or one way of being.
It is fierce and tender,
Quiet and roaring.
It opens doors,
It closes them.
It grieves,
It celebrates,
It burns away what isn't true.
It cannot be boxed in.
It is vast,
Always evolving.
It is everything.
Perhaps our work isn't to become more loving.
Maybe it's simply to return to love's wholeness.
