“So, every day, exercise your heart by taking in life’s little pains and joys — that kind of exercise will make your heart supple, the way a runner makes a muscle supple, so that when it breaks, (and it surely will,) it will break not into a fragment grenade, but into a greater capacity for love.”

I read this excerpt from Parker Palmer’s commencement speech at Naropa University. It beautifully captures a topic I’ve been reading up on this weekend. 

The exercise of love is deliberate. It is not just about whim and fancy nor is it wasteful and careless. It could be frivolous at times if you choose it to be. And wanton and wild if you so desire. But it is a practice of everyday showing up for the other and for one’s self, taking in all the bits and pieces of each other’s being and brokenness. It is about putting your heart out there and opening it to its full capacity knowing that you open it to greater vulnerability. There is no other way towards wholeheartedly loving and living.

Have a loving Sunday everyone!