A Fearless Heart

"Brazilians flirt on the buses. Africans share rides in vans. Europeans comingle on subways and trains. Cars, though, separate us from the masses. Instead of interacting, we listen to talk show hosts lecture about interacting. Around the world, we're becoming that man who knows ways to make love to a woman, yet doesn't know any women."

(Franz Wisner, How the World Makes Love)

Today, a good friend of mine shared a story with me regarding her last days in India. Even though we've seen each other practically everyday since I've been back in the U.S., she opened up regarding something that deeply moved her those remaining days. What she said pierced my heart like an arrow, going right for the center, shattering everything with it. A shattering that broke my heart open, and has haunted me ever since I heard the tale.

Even though it isn't my story to tell, what strikes me to the core is how life and love is all there is. We are only given a number of days, every day is precious, and no day is ever certain. We get caught up in our little wants and desires - a continuous feeding of our little self - and, forget the one thing we take to the other side, and that is Love. That is real. That is all there is. The love we have held and nurtured in this life is all we have.

I think to myself, what could be more important than the love that is given? What could be more important than that? We fear not getting what we 'want' in return. When in reality, isn't it better to love even if we loose?

I'm seeing that it doesn't matter if I give every single piece of my heart away to be left with nothing, for when coming from a place of Truth what I am can never be diminished by what I am made of, and that is Love.

Is standing in a place of righteousness better than simply loving? I highly doubt it.

Every piece given away beats in the heart of another and lives on. Forever. In the act of blessing another we are ultimately blessed. Love. An act we do, not only say. We love because it is who we are, not because we want or expect anything, and freedom and expansion explode from this place, shattering us into nothingness, and in the nothingness, we are everything.

We never know who will touch our lives. We never know what impact it could make, but to deny we are all connected is a denial of our self. We turn to every possible external to search for meaning and completeness, and yet we forget what is undeniable and gives meaning to everything. It is just that simple.

When reflecting, I think of all the times I've given my heart away on a whim, never thinking twice about what I could loose, and I have no regrets. The only regret I have is when I didn't love out of fear. Instead, I chose to be small instead of trusting the bigness that is Love.

Love doesn't always look how we think. There is union in love, there is letting go in love. However, what is held in the heart is True.

I'm forever thankful to have friends that bring it all back to me in perfect light. What is felt in another, I feel too, and share the heartache, because those who soar to the highest reaches of love, also feel the depths of pain when faith is shaken and then revived.

As I learn, I find it's in the softening...it's in the melting of ourselves that we find strength, and connectedness. That is where the potency of life is.

Yielding, giving, loving...