For me, it’s harder not to express love.

But when I do express it… I do it through a million small things. My words (essays, entries, poems, letters… (the ones you all get to read here, and the ones that are meant for the eyes of a few, or only myself and one other)… I write with more clarity, more understanding, more inspiration.

The presence of others, especially the ones I love so dearly… is the core of my creativity. Through my relationships with these wonderful beings arises everything I have to share. Without them, without this love, without this care… I would have nothing to share with you.

They are my inspiration, and my muse.

I do it through my actions, a glance. A kiss. A look. My hand on someone’s shoulder. Giving – time, lots of time, and lots of energy too. And occasionally gifts; I love giving them. It’s a shame in our culture that so many use gifts as a system of barter – to earn favor from another, to set up a system of expectation or debt; I don’t want those dynamics in my relationships.

And I express love through seeing and hearing you, and through understanding you, as much as I can.

But when my heart is full and I love, I’m not even sure i’d call it ‘expressing love’… I feel like it just shines out without my effort or thought at all, and trying to shape it or force it only occludes that light. My challenge is just letting it come forth, without restricting it due to doubt, fear, impatience, unknowing. My challenge is just to be the channel through which this care flows freely.