A very fitting subject for the month of February, matters of the heart. To find love on the outside, we need to first awaken the love within us.
In the face of pain, all we wanted is to stop the pain in any way possible, run away, shut down, forget. It is not the shutting down or the running away that do us in, but the forgetting to re-open afterward. When our heart is closed, we are unable to live at full capacity. It is like having a re-chargeable battery that is no longer capable to get fully charged.
Pain comes and goes, it is the avoidance of pain that get us stuck in the suffering. It doesn't have to stay that way though. While pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. Find the courage to face that pain, going through it fully is the only way to get past it. Only then can we open up again. The more open our heart is, the better we become at truly seeing the beauty in the world around us.
