Why must we be hard-wired for connection

But struggle so much to find it?

Why do we push each other away

And build walls studded with heartache

Or create artificial rules 

That restrict our capacity to freely stretch out our arms?

All it does is erode trust

In ourselves and others

And makes us second-guess authenticity.

All it does is leave us in a prison of our minds

Rattling the bars with an empty cup

That we haven’t learned to fill ourselves.

They say you must love yourself before you can love another.

But there is no love without ‘other’

Because ‘other’ is just a reflection of ourselves.

So yes, love. Love yourself. Love others.

Please don’t hold back anymore.

The world is shrinking for lack of expressed love

Despite the fact that it swells achingly beneath our feet

Infinite quantities waiting to burst forth and bathe us in its warmth.

We are hard-wired for connection

Perhaps we must shed our shoes to feel the ground beneath us

And open our hearts to the lava flow of feeling

We so desperately fear and crave.

Maybe then the bars and boundaries will melt

And the space thus created

Will be enough for connection to finally take root.