Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?

There are strands of love and loss etched through the woven tapestries of our lives. So much growth comes from a willingness to lean into those things that make us vulnerable.

Loving isn't easy. Most of the best things in life aren't.

Sometimes lost love or cruel love leaves us scarred and torn. Some of us are left with rough edges. All the while, In spite of (or because of our wounds) there are others out there waiting to receive our love with warmth and reciprocation. Love always seems to find a way in.

Romantic love can be torture and greatness all at once.

My love and I have ripped into each others souls, hurt and healed and oh man have we ever loved with passion and vigour. When things get bumpy one of us has the sense to hold on tight.

I know this might sound terribly hard but I'd do it all again. We've pulled one another other out of our comfort zones, healed old wounds, and discovered so much more about ourselves along the way. We can get stuck thinking about our own needs but when we focus on helping someone else find what they need, it's a really profound expression of love.

Sometimes grief that comes from loss such as death can seem unbearable. Sometimes it is.

What of couples that die only weeks apart, one not able to continue to go on without the other. It is such a profound expression of how deeply love runs through us, how we become or always were part of one another. When loved ones die, I still feel their love, parts of them are still present inside of me. This sadness is awful but also beautiful because of love.

The world can feel so dark at times. Sometimes I curl into a ball and sob at all these things I can't control. Unspeakable atrocities are going on as I sit here and write about love.

The world can seem like a very unloving place and our efforts for change can seem futile but I have hope. We can love by educating ourselves on the ways of the world and firmly changing how we support those things we don't like. We can make careful and continuousness choices every day about what we buy, what we use, who we support. We can choose to care and that is love.

If we read the teachings of Buddha, Rumi, and so many other wise ones, poets, writers, philosophers and dreamers, the consistent answer that we are all seeking is boldly and simply stated by all those we admire: love.

In the end LOVE is what will save us.

So in answer to the question posed to me: YES! Tis Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. I would be a much paler version of myself without having both loved and lost. We all would.

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