Lately and seek some life advice or some perspective. I had 4 people just last week…a lot of them are usually going through a faith crisis and want to talk to me about my faith journey and not be judged about theirs but this has been different. And yeah it’s been mostly about pain in relationships. Just as an example…The last guy I talked to (who I haven’t seen or talked to since high school) wanted to ask me about the philosophical concept of love and how he believes it to be a very powerful and ideal expression of something he is trying to comprehend but finds that some of his siblings tell him that they love him but he doesn’t believe they know what love is and doesn’t feel comfortable with them saying it to him. *one* of the things I told him on this point is that love is built upon one principle but expressed and felt in a variety of ways. There is a higher pure love that exists out there but by rejecting the lower more simple forms of it when offered by other people we limit our capacity to understand and experience the higher forms of love. Yes, the lower and more simpler forms of love act as a dynamic vehicle to experiencing the more ideal form. Anyway…he genuinely told me he would go and think about it. He came back yesterday and said he’s been practicing on accepting expressions and offerings of imperfect love from very imperfect people and had felt a degree of pain diminish. I’ve thought about how much love we reject or refuse to accept because of how imperfect the people that give it to us are or how perfect we believe or ought to be and this causes tremendous pain.

On top of that, as someone who talks with a lot of people about pain and heartbreak I can just say - please, PLEASE be kind to one another. You just never know what someone is going through and how your simple kindness can impact others in their lives. It doesn’t require anything complex or profound … just be kind.