I’m a romantic, I can’t hide that. I love the idea of love and all it’s permutations and articulations. But lately I’ve been thinking about the love letters we write to ourselves. This love letter comes from the soul and points us in the direction of our heart’s desire. Reading this love letter leads us to the things we do, think, and feel that make us whole. Sometimes we open it and sometimes we don’t, but it is always there and ready to be read. This is where the most important truths of ourselves are written and awaiting discovery. If we are extra lucky we find someone who can decipher our love letters as well. That is a rare kind of miracle that doesn’t happen that often, mostly because we don’t take the time to read our own letter first.

Sometimes we are busy living but not the life the soul has any interest in. We can easily spot what puts the soul to sleep, it will bore us. Maybe we do these things just to fill the void that is left by forgoing what it is we really do want but are afraid to pursue. Our dreams may seem unrealistic or don’t fit the norm. The momentary thrill of new, bigger, or better wears off quickly and we are left again feeling the lack. When we begin opening our love letter we may find all the things we’ve been striving for aren’t the things we’re really interested in. We may find we don’t want the big house but a camper, or we want to read Shakespeare and not fluffy romances, or want to live on the other side of the country. These are the questions that can only be answered if we are willing to look truthfully inside of ourselves and not be afraid of the answers that may come. The answers will always come, and usually they weren’t what we were expecting.

Here’s the question that opens the letter, what is it you really want? Ask this about everything that is in your life and then patiently listen.

If we don’t understand who we are at our core, the things that inspire us, move us, and give meaning to our life, how can anyone else know them. That is always where love leads isn’t it, to another who sees and understands us. The thing about love letters to ourselves is that they are meant to be shared with the world. All of the world, part of the world, or just another person in the world, it doesn’t matter how many, what matters is that what’s inside of us finds a home out there in the world. As we live the love letter the soul writes to us we may find someone else who has done the same, that’s a powerful meeting of clarity and quality that redefines our reality. But that may be another story of love for another day.

So go ahead, the letter has been sealed for too long, what is it you desperately want to say to yourself?

Now listen.

kb