The secret sauce to experiencing unconditional love is when one finds understanding in one's self and is courageous to face the truth with grace…even when it’s painful.
My path to experiencing love and compassion presented itself as an argument with my best friend, boyfriend and mother (at different times). It kept on reoccurring as a pattern. I would brush it off every time, say sorry to keep the peace and then move on. But still, it will reoccur again and again, months in between. I told myself, "Eh, it's just the normal ups and downs in a relationship. Nothing to be too concerned about," which seemed logical and reasonable enough for me to not pay attention to it.
It boiled down to me being frustrated with the situation, making others aware they need to change (but not me...because I have it all together…ya know) and pointing out what they were doing wrong.
It was obviously going nowhere, doing the same thing over and over again 15+ years of my life. And so I thought of Einstein's quote, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
So, I made a choice to do something different this time. Since no one can make me change, only I can change myself. I started writing everything down to be aware of my thought process. I wrote when I was frustrated, angry, uncertain, as well as random thoughts passing through my mind (both good and bad). Allowing myself to be vulnerable with "myself" was the first step to finding love through understanding.
We live in a society that teaches us being vulnerable makes us seem weak, incompetent, immature, and so on… I am here to provide a different perspective on vulnerability and it is as equally powerful and is more powerful than those who lead with their ego in the forefront to gain acceptance. I’m not interested in building my foundation on a pile of sand. Instead, I choose to build it on the foundation of trust and compassion because it will last generations to come.