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Hi James
Do you think I can achieve what I mentioned above, without exposing myself to possibility of getting rejected or hurt by others?
Based on my understanding of Love I would say no.
“Every time we make the decision to love someone, (The same is true when we make the decision to love ourselves.) we open ourselves to great suffering, because those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain…. Still, if we want to avoid suffering we will never experience the joy of loving. And love is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking.” – Henri Nouwen
For the majority of people, pain is the most dreaded enemy, and so when they experience pain, they try their best to fight against it or run away from it, as if it’s an evil monster that’s after them. The reality, however, is that pain is there for our good, if we pay close attention to it and understand why it’s making its presence in our field of consciousness. If we’d really want to overcome pain, we first need to understand what it is and why it’s there. Then, we need to address its root causes, and not merely avoid it or treat it on a symptoms-level.