It is not hard to wonder when at the end of a chapter in your life what is coming up on your journey of happenings. We often want to save the memories that brought us joy, recall the space that we shared in lasting loving moments and truly maintain them in safe keeping. How do we preserve a love that will last? For some it is a very natural process, but for others there is a sense of failure and disappointment associated with everything pertaining to love. As we move away from negativity to self-preservation we may actually take the time to lace all fond moments, lasting feelings and magical experiences that also contributed to containing the love.
Like canning or preserving fruit, preserving love may require adding some sugar (affection), stirring (friendship), stewing (romance), and/or increasing natural ingredients (unconditional love). Maybe the heart is the place where the love preserves are jarred and certainly like glass breaking, hearts go through their share of ruin. The thing is, shattering a glass jar filled with preserves is messy, like love and life, plain ole messy. Learning to love and create tools for ourselves while in a mess are some of loves best lessons. Honestly, it is not until many of us experience the fractured heart, the messy ruptures or the shattering misfortune that we acknowledge the process of conserving or protecting the desired elements that created harmony, assurance, stability and freedom.
We preserve history, culture, furniture, and homes while taking great pride from the process as we maintain and repurpose. The preservation of love can be haunting in each of us if we are believers of course, but it is healing and freeing as our hearts contain the loves of affection, friendship, romance or unconditional love. And if our preserves vanish and our jar feels empty, deep within we can reach inside our hearts to recreate, refill or replenish.
As we learn to safeguard love, we learn self-preservation. Our asana practice allows for self-preservation, learning about ourselves, accepting ourselves and uniting with ourselves. All of which permit us to connect with others and can more love preserves along the way.
Bea Abascal 