LOVE is a choice.

Each of us has our own experience and meaning when it comes to love. And rightly so, because there are so many different ways to experience, express and channel it. Love is limitless.

What I've discovered along my journey is that we all have love within us. It is the most powerful energy we have and are, and when manifested in our relationships and work, has the power to move mountains.

While there are many experiences and expressions, what I know for sure about love and connection, is that we cultivate it when we allow our most vulnerable selves to be seen. Mustering the courage to express our deepest feelings is a risk. And so is speaking up and asking for what we need. But these are the essentials of self love. Simply being ourselves is a risk, but we will always be free to be ourselves in our relationships.

The right people will love us for who we are. I've realized its not worth holding back who we are. Ever.

We must choose to open up to love. And this begins with opening up to the love within ourselves.

Brene Brown sums it all up powerfully in these lines..

“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.” 

We make the choice to open up to the love within ourselves each day. When we learn to love ourselves first, honor our needs and boundaries, embrace our vulnerability and see that regardless of where we are and who we are with, we are worthy.

From this place, we know how to love another. Our love is free because we don't look for it from someone else, we simply share what we already have within us. Without the attachment and dependency, we love without expectation.

 And in the space and freedom, our love will grow in ways beyond what we can sometimes conceive until we experience it. It will extend into every area of our life and to everyone around us.

And its when we give ourselves the permission to rise up and shine, regardless of our circumstances or what other people tell us, that we also give others the permission to express their own limitless source of love.