love is not my end goal. i want love in practice. i want love as i live it

"I still love the people I've loved, even if I cross the street to avoid them" - Uma Therman

"It hurts to love. It's like giving yourself to be flayed and knowing that, at any moment, the other person may just walk off with your skin." —Susan Sontag

Now and then when I find myself forgetting to celebrate life, unmindful of the way embracing death can heighten and enhance the way I interact with the world, I take time to think about whether I would be at peace knowing that I left someone without saying what’s in my heart, that I left with harsh words. I try daily to learn to leave folks as though we might never be meeting again. This practice makes us change how we talk and interact. It is a way to live consciously.

But what isn’t romantic about people going to each other’s houses? And not in the “showing up on the doorstep in the rain with a boombox” type of way. I mean, the familiarity, the routine. I mean knowing where the extra toilet paper in the bathroom is, which burner on the stove doesn’t work, where to park when you get there, and where the extra blankets are for when you need to sleep over. To go to another person’s house, to be in their space continuously, is inherently romantic.

"In relationships, trust isn’t a promise to never hurt each other. It’s the risk that we will hurt each other and the confidence that, if we do, we will come together to heal."

Esther Perel

nourish your already existing connections.
make your love known to them, intentionally.
basis of community is love.
love is attention.
pay attention.