ON love soundbites

Listening to them talk, I couldn't help but compare. Successful business, blossoming careers, amazing homes, celebrities for friends, elegant parties, solid relationships. I didn't realize it then, but my brain was storing these things away. By the time we got home, I was spinning in my mind.

"It just makes me feel like.. what am I doing with my life, you know? But at the same time, if I look at me from an outside point of view, I just up and moved across the country, am following my dreams, have been pretty successful, am already doing volunteer work here, having a life.."

"Exactly! That's how you should think. Don't get caught up in all that."

And this morning, a different conversation, a different person, reminded me of a powerful truth:

"Don't waste your time comparing. Things are not always what they seem or how they sound. Think about how long it took us to get where we are."

And these words settled into the space that had been created by fear, filling it back up with Love - for the words, the reminder, and the people who care enough to call me out, shake me out of my uncertainties, remind me of my journey.
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We were getting into the class, past the warm up but not yet into the thick of it, the bikes churning along, the sweat starting to drip off of our bodies, and she started to speak.

"Your health and your happiness are within you. Let me say it again: your health and your happiness are within you. No one else. Take care of these things, take responsibility for them."

And these words slammed into the space that had been created by blame, filling it back up with Love - for the strangers who affect us so much and will never know, for the rush of the moment, for the power that comes with owning this responsibility.
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They were up on the stage, the people who had just been sitting next to me, one of them the friend who had brought me, and they were addressing the hundreds sitting in the audience. Each spoke briefly, one of them saying words her father had told her as a child:

"Be still, Behold, and Be True."

And these words danced into the space that had been created by all of the distractions I create for myself, filling it back up with Love - for the comfort of this simple thought, for the settling back into my roots, for the people who have done all of this before me and their bravery to share their stories so I'm brave enough to face mine.

Keep going, friends. xo