Pain. It is something so sublimely human to experience pain. Pain is a baptism of sorts, if you will – it transforms us. Think back to the times you’ve experienced the most pain… it is likely because of how much you loved and it likely brought you the biggest lessons/gifts. The mind likes to seek pleasure and run away from pain but there’s a way of being beyond that construct that elevates us from the rollercoaster.

Years ago, I was having drinks at a chill cocktail bar with some colleagues after a big campaign photoshoot with locations all over San Francisco. The shoots that week were INTENSE and I was working long hours. I had been getting maybe 3 hours of sleep each night and was at an emotional wall where my sensitivity wasn’t cooperating with my mind. I was going through some stuff personally and trying to make sense of it all. The executive producer ordered us Pappy Van Winkle bourbons and I sat down in a barrel chair in a snug little corner in front of a round table. Being curious, I opened the drawer in front of me and found this note: “Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.”

It woke me up. Everything was beautiful. The “nothing hurt” piece is what took me years to understand because at the time I was hurting. Pain is an experience. Hurt is physical. We can heal from physical hurt but pain HEALS us.

When your heart is in pain, say thank you. Thank you… thank you.

Pain always teaches us. Accept the pain. No, welcome the pain. Feel the pain. It’s a reminder that we are here, we are real, and we are alive and growing.

When you feel your heart bleeding from the inside… when it extends and radiates out all the way to your fingertips, feel it. Feel it fully. This feeling is a gift. It isn’t to be denied nor ran from… it is to be leaned into and bathed in. The pain is a lather for your soul to rise into your tender heart and stretch it bigger.

Don’t be afraid of a bigger heart – it’s your biggest gift. It allows you to open your love. The world needs more love right now.