In praise of broken hearts.

This photo is from 2014 on the TEDx Encinitas stage after I gave my talk: Changing the World One Love Note at a Time.

I had taken my kids out of school for our road trip to Southern California so they could spend the day in the TEDx community as I shared the #GetLoveGiveLove story. 

This week is the anniversary of the talk, and as I receive the automated reminders online, there are so many thoughts of all that has changed and the truths that remain unchanged.

Revisiting this milestone event has me reflecting on one of the central themes:
 

A broken heart has much more surface area from which to radiate and receive love.

At that time, I had come to embrace the nuances and crevices of my broken heart rather than feel embarrassment around the hard things that had happened or the tenderness of my abundant feelings. In the decade since, my heart has broken a few more times and has continued to radiate and to receive love.

While I don't relish the onset of a broken heart, I have come to appreciate the ways I notice the pending heartbreak.......attuning again to the kindness of strangers, renewed wonder in nature like the colors of the sky at golden hour, and gratitude for small consistencies.

During the heart-breaking phase, I now wonder what new capacities I'll grow, what surface areas will be revealed that will allow me new ways to radiate and to receive love. With each heartbreak, I note the strength of my heart, which is otherwise taken for granted. My heart's innate resilience to carry on. The way it beats and the way I find life inside life as it goes on seeking to love and to be loved. 

From time to time, bored with the status quo or wanting to shift the stale dynamics at play, I wonder if it is possible to break my own heart -- so I can reap the benefit of becoming alive again one more time.

While I've not yet cracked that feat, I've become adept at drastically changing the routine and what I expect so that I can find my way again to the pieces of my heart, all bare for giving and receiving love. It's one of my antidotes to these times, to be sure my heart is open and ready and I am fully alive to connect and build community so we can take good care of each other. 

How has your broken heart revealed your greater capacity for love? I'd love to hear your reflections.