the true experience of love…

i want the true experience of it

love… it isn’t found in
rings and dresses for me, and not in
shared property, or contracts…
that’s just some presentation of material things

for me, love is what you feel in your heart
when no one is looking,
an honor and an integrity that you’re naturally
drawn to in your actions,
an effortlessness, a passionate desire to
treat someone so beautifully,
an energy between you that connects you
to an infinite and magical truth…

i’ve never wanted the presentation of love,
i want the true experience of it

– butterflies rising

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solidarity…

It was the way he just stood there and wore
a badge next to Mr. Carlos and Mr. Smith
as they raised their fists.
Support, but, a quiet and humble support.

He wasn’t “allowing” them to be equal, or “giving” them
some sort of power, he was simply saying…
You are already equal, and I support you as you
step into your own power.

And that felt right to me. Genuine. Pure. Like an
acknowledgment that oppression of others is really just an
illusion of “betterness” built up from some mix of arrogance,
ignorance, internal lack… unconsciousness. And it’s such
a condescending thing, the idea that we “let” other people be
worthy… as if it’s ours to decide.

And it wasn’t just in that moment, he stayed convicted to
what he believed was right and good for the rest of his life,
And he was rejected for it, for the rest of his life.
But he stayed convicted to what was right and good.

So if in my life I have that same kind of privilege
because of something as surface as my skin,
then I hope I carry that same kind of courage and
conviction and humility in the depths of my being.

– Peter Norman / Solidarity

– butterflies rising

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the best of you…

love isn’t about demanding that someone else takes the worst of you

it isn’t always about judgment
when someone else can’t accept how you are,
sometimes it’s about their self-love

sometimes how you are choosing to be
is harmful to others, and it’s nobody else’s
responsibility to just accept that,
it’s your responsibility to grow, and
to treat people better

love isn’t about demanding that
someone else takes the worst of you,
it’s about wanting to give someone
the best of you

– butterflies rising

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because you are

People who are harmful in relationships don’t stay where there is love

People who are harmful in
relationships don’t
stay where there is love,
they stay where people put up
with not being loved.
And they don’t leave your life
because you’re not worthy of love…
they are removed from your life
because you are, and they are not
capable of giving it.

– understanding discard

– butterflies rising

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