Recognizing and Practicing Love

"Of course I'll hurt you. Of course you'll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence means accepting the risk of absence. "  | The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I absolutely adore The Little Prince and I think a lot about the lessons and principles it teaches. The above quote is one of my most favorite quotes of all time because it reminds us that love is scary, but also invaluable because love is existence. It reminds us that in order to love, we have to open up and accept the chance of getting hurt. So often we prefer to hide behind the fortresses we've built up around ourselves. We never let our guard down because we think we're protecting ourselves. How gallant and smart we think we are for never letting people know us. For never letting them see us. But in the end, it's really nothing more than glorified loneliness. 

And I think to myself, 'how sad,' but then I don't do anything about it. I accept the sadness and push forward. The other day I went for a walk and observed a young kid hold the door open for an older couple without any prompting at a restaurant and then I realized that love is hard for me because I don't practice it enough in my daily life, or rather, I don't recognize it properly.  It's like I'm saving what my idea of love is in the back of my closet for a special occasion, which never comes because I fail to recognize the opportunities to use it. I'm making love harder than it needs to be, and I have a suspicion that others are too. 

 And it is hard. Because we don't practice enough. 

I've learned that in order to truly let someone into your heart, you have to start with letting in smaller things first. A black cat you meet and pet in the street. A smile shared with a stranger in a post office. A hug from your close friend at midnight when you're too stressed to sleep. Saying something nice about yourself in the mirror. Pretty soon these small opportunities to participate in love add up to form something truly beautiful. It turns out that the more you love, the more pure it becomes; it's not something that wears out, or something that should be gathering dust in the back of your closet.