Love costs something.

There are so many different types of love; romance, friends, family, mother/daughter, father/son, platonic relationships, best friends, between lovers, between strangers, the love we have between people and animals and the love of fame or money. In all of these loves, there are valid feelings that create bonds. Some stronger than others, and some just exist in the subconscious. There are emotional pulls that happen in every love relationship that we have. Sometimes on one side more than another, and sometimes the give and take is equal. This equal love is the goal in successful, unconditional relationships.

My goal in this season of my life is to find relationships in my life that are an equal give and take. Doing that, I can find freedom from performance, from striving, from emotional pulls on my heart, and I can find full expression in who I am, to be the best person that I can be. In doing this, I am loving myself. Unconditional relationships are where love is truly known. In the forgiveness, the grace, the communication, and the joy that is found in just being.

I truly believe in people coming into your life for a period of time. A lot of people have fear about not wanting to give themselves to that relationship because they may not be in their life forever. We all have this sense that we are waiting for people that will be in our lives forever. That = very few. So then we keep ourselves from being fully us, not allowing that freedom, and missing out on the possibility to find new paths and goals for our lives that we could never have dreamt of. This love = an equal surrender to a joy and living that is vital to a wholehearted lifestyle.

People miss out on the chance to experience so much love when they choose not to enter into “give and receive” relationships. These are the relationships where you love the person for who they are, not for what the future may or may not hold, or who you guys may or may not become. These are present relationships, living in every moment, and giving and receiving love from each other without the expectancy we put on people to fulfill our needs or to try and change or “fix” each other. You don’t have to worry about losing them from your life because you understand that what happens happens and they are so perfectly in your life for a reason.

I’ve had a few relationships like this in my life, but for the most part I don’t believe a lot of people understand the freedom in these relationships. If they did, the vulnerability it takes to create these relationships wouldn’t matter for the freedom they would receive. True love in relationships requires sacrifice. A dying to yourself in way by losing the persona you have created for yourself and showing somebody the side of you that hurts to reveal because it’s a you that you may not believe to be who you “should” be.

Love costs something. Will you sacrifice your image for honesty?

-Mak