Maria Popova · Poetry Space
You are here. The chances of you being here were millions to one. You could have been a poet, a scientist, a composer, a great leader or someone far worse. You could have been millions of other people and yet you are here. Life is fragile. It can be over before you know it. Loss will feel like parts of you are being ripped away unapologetically and violently. But you are here. Live! For the poet, the scientist, the leader that could have been but never was. Live!
Darkness lives in you. It lives in all of us. We develop it after a certain age. Our greed, our vanity, our ignorance, our jealousy, they all feed into it. We grow it with time and try to numb it out. You can for a little while. But look inward and acknowledge it. Become fully aware of it. Don't be scared. It's not a demon, it's your own self. Face it and accept it. Take it by the hand and master it. It is a void waiting to be filled with kindness, compassion and love. There's light in you and you are stronger than you think you are.
Seek solitude. Do not be afraid of the deafening silence in it. Let it engulf and obliterate you. When you come back from it you will realise you do not need the ocean for its calmness because the core of the ocean will be the same as the core of your own soul.
One day I sat down to have a talk with my heart. It had a tendency to care for all the wrong people and that caused me a lot of pain.
— Tell me, silly little heart, why do you always do this? You jump up and down for someone that doesn't even look in your direction properly. You make all these efforts and end up broken over and over again. When will you learn?
My heart listened and we were both silent for a while. Then it spoke.
— I am here to love. The same way the sun is here to rise each morning and set each night. That is my only purpose. Love doesn't need a reason to be here. It simply is. You are here to decide where to channel that love. I'm just the engine and you are in the driver's seat. Tell me then, silly little human, where do you want love to take you?
Love changes you. In all its forms and shapes. Regardless whether you want to or not. It holds bliss and joy but brings loss and grief. But would you know one without the other? Every attachment you form during your life — family, friendship, romance, pets — every soul you let inside your heart will have power over you and you will give that power away freely. The stronger the love, the bigger the bond and the deeper the pain. Love itself will not hurt you. Loss will. Healing will. It can make you strong or it can make you fearful. It can make you brave or cynical. Choose! Choose where you give your heart away. The love you feel will shape the person that you are. Whatever choice you make, whatever shape your heart takes, I hope it's all worth it for you in the end. And yet I hope you choose to be brave and strong. I hope you choose to love.