Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Where do we find courage to love?

“Love is the most difficult and dangerous form of courage. Courage is the most desperate, admirable and noble kind of love.”   ― Delmore Schwartz, Last and Lost Poems

In a previous post titled 'The Courage to Love", I said that you could contemplate this quote for a year and still not exhaust its endless supply of understanding.  I have another insight to this quote that I would like to share with you.

I recently made the following statement to someone that is dear to me in an email.

"It takes a lot of courage to love but you cannot have courage without love.  Sometimes your heart takes over and you are swept into a raging river that can be treacherous and deadly.  That is when you really need courage to survive.  Balance the boat with love and just go for the ride and see where it takes you.  That is how you survive."

I don't know why I made this particular statement at this specific time.  I even regretted sending the email after I sent it but that is another story.  After some contemplation, I began to gain an understanding of this.  The statement, which ties back into the Delmore Schwartz quote, is that in order to really love someone, it takes a lot of courage to allow yourself that freedom.  To really let go of the controls and give your heart free reign to enter the dangerous waters of love, it takes a lot of courage.

If you need love in order to have that courage, where does the love come from?  Once you are in the current rushing down the river, where do you find the love to balance your boat?  It must come from you.  You must learn to love yourself.

Acknowledge that you are worthy of being loved, regardless of another persons choices.  Once you recognize your own worthiness, you will soon realize that there are a lot of people out there that love you just for being you and no other reason.  Look for that love coming from your friends and associates because it is there.  If you can tap into that, you will soon find that your boat is stabilized and you can maneuver any rapids the river of life takes you into.

Learning to love yourself is the greatest gift you can give yourself.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  Go where the love is.  Go within.


5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw your snarky comment and I appreciate that you chose to delete it. Thanks for pointing out my typo, it has been corrected. This blog is about sharing insight into how we learn to love and celebrate each other as human beings. If you have insight to share, I welcome your input. There are no wrong answers if they are coming from the heart.

      Namaste

      Edward

      Delete
  2. I love you, Edward. Thank you for being you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love you too. Thanks for being part of my life.

      Delete
  3. The greatest gift we can give both ourselves and the world is to love ourselves, which overflows onto the world. I love the image of the river and the rapids--reminds me of "The African Queen", which is a wonderful love story in itself. Finding courage to not protect oneself from getting hurt and surrendering to love...that's one of humankind's greatest endeavors. Kudos to you, Edward, for staying in the boat...

    ReplyDelete