Practicing Love

We cultivate love
when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves
to be deeply seen and known,
and when we honor the spiritual connection
that grows from that offering
with trust, respect, kindness, and affection.

Love is not something we give or get;
it is something that we nurture and grow,
a connection that can only be cultivated between two people
when it exists within each one of them--
we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal,
and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. 
Love can only survive these injuries
if they are acknowledged, healed, and rare.

Are we practicing love? 
Yes, some of us are really good at professing it--
sometimes ten times a day. 
However are we walking the walk? 
Are we being our most vulnerable selves? 
Are we showing trust, kindness, affection, and respect to our partners?
It's not the lack of professing that gets us in trouble with our partners,
it's failing to practice love that leads us to hurt.

To love each other in the process of becoming real
is perhaps the greatest single act of daring greatly.

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