Risk Everything for Love

Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and rather than participate in the faux devotion of candy hearts and flowers, maybe some of us can give the greater gift, our tender open hearts.

This is from a new-to-me blog I have been enjoying, The Art of Intimacy:

Risking Everything for Love

Erica Jong once wrote, "Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. . . . It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more."

A healthy relationship certainly is that about which poets have written through the ages of time; it is that for which wars have been fought, lives have been sacrificed, and a world has been altered.

But this sort of intimacy includes risking everything.

It means risking being known. It means taking the risk to share one's heart. It means being vulnerable.

It is not always easy to risk in this way. There is certainly nothing more scary than being known... truly known, because it means opening our very soul to hurt, pain, and rejection.

It is also the only way to experience the depth of love possible in the human.

I agree with the premise of this post. Truly surrendering to love, and to the beloved, can be risky, frightening, and overwhelming. But the only way to feel that passion that comes with surrender is to risk our tender hearts, to be as open and vulnerable as we are able.

I've learned this lesson the hard way, as I'm sure many others have as well.

So, this year, if you are going to celebrate Valentine's Day, do so by sharing your heart with your partner. Be open and present. Allow your partner to feel the love you hold, that holds you. Risk everything.

Tags: Risk everything for love, intimacy, relationships, being vulnerable, Valentine's Day