Sunday 6 July 2014

Are you free to love?

Love is simple. Love is kind. Love asks for nothing in return. Love is always around us. We are all worthy of love. It's just whether you are willing to let it in. Would you? 

Sharing a poem I came across about opening your heart to love, by Christine Arylo.

ARE YOU FREE TO LOVE?

Many of us say that we want love
We spend tons of energy
Sometimes even money
On trying to find it

But then I wonder
Are we really open to receiving it
Once it shows up on our doorstep

Or do we actually shut the door
On the very thing we want most

Does your heart open wide when love knocks on your door?
Expanding and opening to let the love flow in.
Or does your heart contract, recoil and pull back
Peer out the window, want to open the door so badly, but is too afraid
Of what would happen if it let love in again?

Does your heart rush in with open arms to find and embrace connection in this world
Expecting to receive love back
Knowing that love is everywhere when you know where to look
And when your heart is open to receive it?

Or is your heart cautious, having been hurt before,
So it doesn’t let itself open too wide or let too many people in
Instead of skipping through life freely and joyfully
Is your heart walking safely and securely never risking too much?

It’s okay you know,
We’ve all been hurt
We’ve all had our innocent pure loving hearts smacked around
Stepped on
Looked over
Rejected
Abandoned

And as a result,
You may have built big walls around your heart

So you’d never be hurt again
Or you may have taken all the walls down
Hoping you’d be loved again, if you just gave more of yourself away.

And although you were doing what you needed to do
To protect yourself at the time

The truth is that what actually protects you most is not walls or the giving of yourself away,

THE BIGGEST PROTECTION YOU HAVE IN LIFE IS LOVE.

But love can only protect you if you let it in.
Love can only serve you if you let it.
All love needs is permission to open the door of your heart again.

Think of all the ways that love comes knocking on your heart’s door today:

When a stranger smiles
Do you smile back and let the love permeate your heart
Or do you give a fake obligatory smile or pretend you didn’t notice?

When someone approaches you with the offer of a hug
Do you let the embrace fully envelope you
Letting all your body parts touch, chest, belly and arms
Or do you politely offer a few pats on the back, never touching hearts
Or do you go for the A frame hug, letting your upper chest touch but the hug stops there.

When someone offers to help you or pays you a compliment
Does your heart open wide to say THANK YOU! YES! I will receive that
Or do you push back their gift
Saying you can handle it on your own
Or “this old thing, I’ve had it for years!”

When someone offers you a chance to connect during your ‘busy’ day
Do you stop and make time for love
Or do you skip by the moments in life in which love is offered
Putting it on hold for when you have time,
But those times come far and few between?

When you wake up in the morning
Do you look around and notice the magic and splendor of the beauty of this world?
Do you fill your heart with all that you are grateful for
Or do you jump out of bed without noticing much of anything
Except thinking of all the things you have to do or all that you haven’t yet done?

When you find yourself in relationship with an intimate partner, a lover, a mate
Do you let down your walls of protection
And show them the truth of your heart and soul
Even in the times, especially in the times, when you are afraid?
Do you lean in with an open heart to create the intimacy that you desire,
Or do you use love as a weapon, or say you want intimacy but then don’t offer it?
Do you settle for less than the deep emotional connection that only two open hearts can create
And tell yourself that what you have is enough.
When your heart knows that it is not?

What if today, you let your heart speak freely.
What would she or he say?
What one daring act of love would you be willing to take
To risk letting love walk in your heart’s door?
To set your heart free
To do what it does best
To love.
And in return allow you to revel and trust in that love forever.

Love makes the world go around. Whose life will you touch with your love today? =)

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