Sitting on the meditation cushion this morning, the lyrics to this song paid me a visit, but rather than just listening, I felt the need to argue with them:
There's a danger in loving somebody too much,
and it's sad when you know it's your heart you can't trust.
There's a reason why people don't stay where they are.
Baby, sometimes, love just aint enough.
No #1: I don't agree that you can love someone too much -- only that you can, in the process of loving someone else, forget to love yourself enough to make sure that your needs are being met.
No #2: I don't agree that it's ever your heart you can't trust -- the problem is that we're sometimes too afraid to hear what it's saying. (Later in the song, that lyric morphs into "and it's sad when you know it's your heart they can't touch" -- now she's speaking my language -- yes it is. But this we can control by keeping our hearts open.)
No #3: I don't agree that love is sometimes not enough -- and this closely echoes No #1 -- only that it's sometimes not distributed in a way that serves everybody involved. But it's always enough.
How does one love another without losing oneself? I think this song came to me this morning because I'm contemplating stepping back into a professional role similar to one where I almost completely lost myself. The prospect scares me, and leaves me wondering if it is possible to be super passionate about something but still remain sane and grounded. To want an outcome, and work tirelessly toward it, without taking on the stress related to trying to control that outcome? To sleep peacefully at night even while embroiled in difficult situations during the day?
I feel like what I've been learning, recently, when it comes to love, is that to refuse to engage when my heart is saying yes is a recipe for unhappiness, even if it means having to deal with a greater level of vulnerability. Perhaps the same is true of my work in the world?
Sarah, I like the last part especially. What a great realization to have about listening to yourself-about listening to your heart. You've got to do what makes you happy and if it stops making you happy (you'll know this once you've been made vulnerable) then you stop doing it. Thanks!
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