How open are you with your love?

This could be taken in so many ways…. In this case I mean it from a place of generosity, particularly with yourself.

I believe that I have a deep, loving, respectful, appreciative, collaborative relationship with my wife, one that lives in complete freedom to be ourselves and to support each other with living the best life possible.

But it wasn’t always that way!

Although I grew up in a very loving household, sometimes the love felt conditional. It was very easy for me to feel loved when I was accommodating my parents’ wants, but when I wasn’t playing that role, they would lose their patience and then punish me in some way, typically through yelling or disappointment.

This taught me to be conditional with my love, to hold back or restrict love when I wasn’t being accommodated. I was not completely open with my love. This not only affected Tara but, ultimately, it affected me. It closed my heart to others and left me stewing. And I perpetuated this behaviour for years. Each time I did it, I was practicing, and getting better and better at it.

One day I realized that this is not the human I want to be! I want to be open with my love. I want to love myself and my people for who we are, free from expectations. Loving myself openly leaves room for foibles, in fact sometimes I now find them endearing.

What foibles to you present that you may now be able to see as endearing?

And if you were to love yourself and your people more openly, what might change for you in your life?

“Love lifts us up where we belong.” —Joe Cocker