We get back what we send forth.

On November 17, 2022 I posted “Liberated“:

“I feel more liberated lately to say what I think, freed to be totally honest, boobs out (figuratively), suddenly and significantly more than before…
“What am I saying/telling more?  Usually it’s observations and assessments, syntheses of conversations, how I know people, how I see them in their contexts, and of course my relationships with them.  When I see (feel) power, love, vulnerability, strength, connection, growth, evolution, light—anything that grabs my attention and moves me—I name it.  I don’t let it pass by without catching and holding it a while, showing it, shining it.  Do you see how great you are?  Do you feel your worth?  Here, let me show you, help you stand in it, own it.  I have done this for years with my close friends.  Maybe I’m just more generous with it now?”

So it’s been over two years of elevated effusion (more on this tomorrow)–amplification of an innate desire and affinity for deep, meaningful connection. I am who I am, and apparently ever more so with age.

Today I was almost tearful at realization of the reward. Speaking and acting love and appreciation BOOBS OUT, no reservations, has yielded more than I could have imagined or anticipated. Love begets love; tightening of connection brings closeness. I see you. I tell you, show you; you feel seenheardunderstoodacceptedandloved, we connect, and we are both exponentially better for it. Our conversations get deeper. We know each other better, feel each other’s experiences, empathize, relate, and settle peacefully into each other’s ethereal, transcendent embrace. I am surrounded by this energy nowadays, and the elation simply defies expression.

I do not effuse love to get it back; this is not quid pro quo. The origin of this kind of connection may be the furthest from transactional that I can imagine. I’m driven by the intuitive certainty that any expression of love simply amplifies it, strengthens it, puts that much more of it into the world for us all to revel in. Love, in all forms, saves us. Writing Smile Jar love notes lifts my spirit long before anyone else sees them. And yet, when the spark that I initiate lands, completes that arc of love energy emitted and received, it charges both our batteries and powers us all.

Effusing love can be risky. It’s vulnerable. Sometimes I get strange looks; outright rejection is always a possibility. The intrinsic and extrinsic benefits, though–oh my friends–so very worth the effort.

Wishing you all to feel this kind of deep reciprocity of love, my friends. “Agape on,” I want to say. The world needs y/our love so desperately. See if you can withhold a little less–consider it? What would that take? What could be your reward? I will hold that whatever you emit returns to you in spades, uplifts and encourages you to continue, as it has for me.
Peace, friends. xo