“The bravest are the most tender; the loving are the daring.” ~ Bayard Joseph Taylor
How can we protect our tender hearts, whilst fighting for their freedom? How do we remain soft amongst tall walls and sharp arrows? How do we find the courage to love in a world which tries to keep us small?
It can be disheartening to operate openly and unapologetically, with our hearts on our sleeves, in a world that encourages us to keep barriers up and emotions unavailable.
We are told to suck it up, grow a thick skin and hold our chin up, when all we want to do is let our passions, anxieties, ecstasies, joys and dreams cascade into the world like water tumbling over a waterfall.
For those of us whose complexity of feeling cuts deep like rivers through mountains, I believe that to feel so intensely is, paradoxically, what sets us free. To experience the ecstatic joys and the bitter lows and everything in between is to live from the heart.
To swim in the oceans of our emotions and sensations is to experience all there is to be alive.
Remember that there is so much strength in kindness, courage in connection and bravery in tears; these qualities are the elixir that feeds our wild spirits — the fire that burns brightly in our beating hearts and breathes life into our weary souls.
In order to survive in this world, instead of surrendering to its sharpness, we must stay soft by loving and living, fiercely yet gently. We can’t let others’ swords cut the words from our mouth or extinguish the fires in our heart.
We don’t have to play make-believe or hide behind masks of indifference in order to be seen as strong. We must rise in the warmth of our passions like the phoenix, out of the ashes of discomfort and spread our wild wings in a display of defiance and beauty.
It is the open-hearted, the ones who feel so much, who can heal this world, because they have the strength and courage to heal themselves first.
If we find ourselves in a balancing act between outer strength and inner peace, it is often because we mistake our expressions of emotion for limitations, rather than opportunities for growth. We forget that the fragility of crystal is a fineness, not a weakness.
“I have always appeared to be fragile and delicate but the thing is, I am not fragile and I am not delicate. I am very gentle but I can show you that the gentle also possess a poison. I compare myself to silk. People mistake silk to be weak but a silk handkerchief can protect the wearer from a gunshot.” ~ C Joybell C
Are we not all, really, a little bit in awe of what lies within us? Do we hide away our feelings, not because we’re afraid they make us weak, but because we are afraid of their power? Are we not all alchemists who can transform stone hearts into gold?
If we share the sacred act of feeling openly, by showing others we are capable of, and comfortable with, loving, hurting, grieving, following our passions, breaking and mending, by doing so, we give each other permission to do the same.
Our true freedom, our wildness, lies in our ability to recognize ourselves as perfectly imperfect, wonderfully flawed yet ultimately magic.
It lies in our ability to own our shit, whether that be loving so hard that you think your heart may burst, time and time again, or accepting that you will cry tears of joy or pain, often and unashamedly. Because that’s how you own your emotions.
You aren’t afraid of them, you’re not afraid of your heart and its messy ways, or your ability to recognize your own pain, or your delicious enthusiasm for wanting to make the world better and brighter and more real, somehow. That’s what you bring to the world. And it’s beautiful.
The moment we let go of our fear of being seen for who we really are, in all our glory, we give ourselves permission to step into our strength, and let our hearts open just that little bit more each day.
To me, the most beautiful thing you can own in this world, and the most faithful ally, is an open heart. An open heart allows total freedom and wildness of spirit because it is comfortable with its expression. There is no fear, only love.
And we all know what happens when we are in a state of love; magic happens, dreams become realized, synchronicities abound, and life unfolds effortlessly.
If the only way out is through, then the real journey of life is one of the soul; to navigate the depths of our deepest longings, desires, pains and fears and listen to their wisdom, to feel them deeply and express them confidently; to not be afraid of where they will lead us because where they will lead us is where we’re destined to be.
It is possible to be both tender and wild, soft and strong, full of passion and full of peace. We simply need to give ourselves permission to be this way — a beautiful mix of yin and yang, of masculine and feminine, of light and dark.
We can weave ourselves between softness and fierceness, remaining kindhearted and gentle, whilst our spirits soar wild and free like birds, finding their way home.
Tender Heart
My tender heart, it feels so much.
It fills and flows and leaps and jumps
It surges and pounds and aches and breaks
It determines decisions that I must make
My tender heart, my precious source
My sweet serenity, my deep remorse
It answers questions not yet asked
A house of truth, it wears no mask.
My tender heart, it beats and bleeds
To satisfy the soul it feeds
It loves so much, I’m sure it’ll burst:
An overflowing cup, to quench infinite thirst.
My tender heart I give you peace
On days when hurt appears not to cease.
I offer you strength, a place of calm
A gentle wisdom, amid the storm.
My tender heart, please speak your truth
Your knowledge from within the ego’s sheath.
I’ll offer you sweetly with trust and grace;
So that I may know eternal solace.
