Love is work.

Love is practice.

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke

Lately, I’ve been thinking about love not as a feeling, but as a form of work.
Something we practise. Something we choose, again and again.

Not just love, but relationships, the ones we have with ourselves and others.

Today, a familiar song caught me off guard, made me smile, made me think. Hey Jude, played softly and unexpectedly by two boys busking on clarinets. I could hear the lyrics in my head. Two lines stood out:

“Take a sad song and make it better.”
“Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders.”

I believe they were there as reminders.
That we’re allowed to work gently with what’s here, rather than harden against it. To be patient and compassionate.

Love isn’t passive. It asks something of us.
To put in the effort. Because it matters.

When we’re at low points in life, it can feel safer to close our hearts.
To protect ourselves. But protection has a cost.

I think we’re taught to keep the pain to ourselves.
That any problems we have are ours alone to carry.

But what if, at our most vulnerable, we let others in?
What if kindness offered or received mattered more than we realise?

And what if the person we most need to open up to… is ourselves?

It’s been a week of signs. Kindness and generosity gave me an invite, to see Walk With Open Eyes — a screening and collection of life advice from the wonderful Ian Sanders. It all seemed to point to the same thing: notice. Pay attention. To yourself. To what you need. Make the most of what life gives you.

As I reflect on the last week.
What I know I need is space and time to write a letter to myself.
All the words I need to hear.

The noise feels loud right now.
I find myself craving a simpler life.
More quiet. Less distractions.

What conversations are you having with yourself right now?
What do you need to hear?

“Love is an action, never simply a feeling.”
— Bell Hooks

I wanted to leave you with the words I needed to hear this week.

“Hey Jude, don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain,
Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders…”

— The Beatles

I write to learn, I hope you learnt something too.

With love,

One idea. Once a week. That’s the promise (And a promise to myself).
(Some weeks, you might hear from me more — always with intention.)

A gift for self, buy my book Wonder Journey Joy - A simple guide to live with intention, clarity and confidence.

P.S. From my notebook.