#Unconditional Acceptance

[imaginal-ai]

"When the Soul Moves"

If you're feeling overwhelmed and need to talk to someone, dial 988 anywhere in the United States. Or visit National Suicide Prevention & Mental Health Crisis Lifeline to chat online.

[mewhenthecat]

is it too much to ask for a relationship where we both love each other unconditionally and totally with all of our bodies and souls?? to want to spend all our time together just being silly little guys? idk but i always end up as the only one who got the memo 😔

[ddlc3177]

Lesson I need to learn asap. Star my accepting.

[wordsofwisdomandsoul]

[beforetheamen]

God's Unconditional Love vs. Conditional World

Have you ever felt like you need to earn love from everyone around you, constantly performing to prove your worth?

We live in a world where love often comes with conditions. Romantic relationships demand chemistry and compatibility. Friendships require mutual benefit and shared interests. Even family love can feel conditional based on behavior, achievements, or meeting expectations. This performance-based love leaves us exhausted, constantly trying to be good enough, smart enough, successful enough to maintain the affection of others. But God's love operates on an entirely different system – one that our hearts desperately need but our minds struggle to comprehend.

Romans 5:8 declares the revolutionary nature of God's love: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Notice the timing – not after we cleaned up our act, not when we finally deserved it, but while we were actively rebelling against Him. This isn't love based on potential or performance; it's love based purely on His character and choice.

The parable of the prodigal son perfectly illustrates this unconditional love. The younger son demanded his inheritance early, essentially wishing his father dead. He squandered everything on wild living, ending up feeding pigs and longing to eat their food. When he finally came to his senses and headed home, expecting to be treated as a servant, his father saw him from a distance and ran to embrace him. The father didn't wait for an apology, didn't demand proof of change, didn't impose a probationary period. He simply loved and celebrated his son's return.

This kind of love challenges everything our culture teaches us about relationships. We're taught that love must be earned, maintained, and can be lost through poor performance. But God's love isn't a reward for good behavior – it's the foundation that enables good behavior. When we truly understand how deeply we're loved, it transforms how we live, not to earn that love, but in response to it.

Many Christians struggle with this concept because they've experienced conditional love their entire lives. Parents who withheld affection when disappointed. Teachers who showed favoritism to high achievers. Friends who abandoned them during difficult seasons. These experiences create deep wounds that make it hard to believe God's love is different.

But God's love isn't based on your performance in prayer, your consistency in Bible reading, your success in avoiding sin, or your effectiveness in ministry. His love for you is the same on your worst day as it is on your best day. You cannot make Him love you more, and you cannot make Him love you less.

This doesn't mean God approves of all our choices or that sin doesn't matter. A loving parent doesn't approve of their child's destructive behavior, but their love for the child remains constant. God's love is the secure foundation from which He disciplines, corrects, and guides us – not to earn His love, but because we already have it.

Understanding unconditional love changes how we relate to others. When we're secure in God's love, we stop demanding that others fill the void only He can fill. We can love others without keeping score, forgive without requiring payment, and serve without expecting recognition. We become conduits of the same unconditional love we've received.

The world will continue to offer conditional love based on what you can provide, how you make others feel, or what you achieve. But God offers something radically different – love that pursues you in your mess, celebrates you in your brokenness, and never gives up on you even when you give up on yourself.

[thewhumpcaretaker]

Horror Villains as Vessels of Untended Pain: An Essay

Okay I know I made a joke post about the haunted house last night, but I have more serious, writing-inspiration-oriented thoughts as well.

A theme throughout the haunted house, and a lot of horror in general, is the concept of a person who is desperately in pain being inherently frightening. We had creatures who were begging us not to leave because they were lonely, clowns who were crying, people who were in cages or tied up and being electrocuted screaming for us to let them out. Villains in horror tend to be people who have literally died, or lost a child, or witnessed mind-breaking amounts of violence.

There is some notion that when a person is desperate enough to relieve their pain, they become dangerous. At that point, ethics are forgotten - suffering must be relieved by any means necessary. There is the notion of "hurt people hurt people" and it's true. In that state of total desperation, there IS an inherent danger. This is how cycles of violence form, too. A person is hurt and becomes desperate to relieve their pain by any means necessary...including inflicting pain on others.

But I can't say this is the whole story, because what about the character from the haunted house who was just laying on the ground, bleeding out, calling for a medic? He wasn't trying to hurt anyone, he didn't threaten us in any way, and he couldn't have done so even if he wanted to. Yet he was supposed to be horrifying and to most people, he was. Why? Because he demonstrates the suffering that it is possible for the human body to undergo. His presence inflicts pain via empathy. It's secondhand pain. We can't bear to look at him because we imagine ourselves in his position, and it's devastating.

So what do we do, in either case? We run. We fight. We kill it. That is the premise of horror - the villain is too hurt to be saved, and often too powerful to be overcome. But if the exact same situation were presented in a non-horror context (in whump, for example), there would be a conversation about how to help this character. It's so easy. They're desperate enough to do anything to get help, so just...help them? Even if there is some risk involved in getting close enough to do so? It breaks the premise of horror entirely.

I was going to say that it requires a willingness to face that secondhand pain, that we have to love ourselves as well and take that risk and bla bla bla. But actually, it doesn't even require that. No, you don't even have to feel empathy for the suffering figure, and it's probably easier to get things done if you don't. You just see a problem, a person crying out for help, and you fix it. It's so simple. I solved horror, ya'll, I promise. Just tend to the villain's pain, and the entire genre shifts. Break the narrative. There's always a way.

[always-tilting-at-windmills]

[slut4poets]

Love flies

My love flies with the wind

It travels the skies and reaches

I hope it reaches you wherever you are

The whiskey you’ll bring to your mouth

The taffs you’ll take even when you’re trying to stop

I’ll be there with you all along

Guiding with one hand the path of who you’ll become

I won’t be there physically but I hope a part of me stays mentally

My portrait may fray someday, but

That’s just a sign that I existed

At least in your mind

I stayed

[lookmeinmys0ul]

what if we took advice from the flowers,

blooming flawlessly and falling fearlessly

maybe it’s when we are consistently and continuously ourselves no matter what’s thrown at us

𓈒 𓂂𓏸꒰ঌ🤍໒꒱𓏸𓂂 𓈒

[crystalsenergy]

our small but immense contribution every day 🌏🌹🩷 what have been your actions towards the Whole? let there be more love, starting with me

It's from them: music, music.

Early I am awakened, by the prayer It is the heart that is tight To see a different world From the repeated news on television

I ask myself where it went Someone explain to me

Please, where did we unlearn to live in unity? I want to see change, but if I just wait here I am one of them, I am just one of them

My prayer is only real transformation If it starts in me Let there be more love, starting with me

Love that I so much want to see Starting with me

Those who notice me may they first recognize me Describe me in Your love

And if there were more forgiveness, If instead of pointing out so many mistakes More hugs were extended More looks of acceptance

If not so much time in vain If our most precious asset was not lacking when to listen, to understand my brother

I can even dream, but if I just wait here, I am one of them, I am just one of them

My prayer is only real transformation If it starts in me

[unconditionalcaretaker]

I practice forgiveness as an extreme sport

[thewhumpcaretaker]

"I wanted to get somebody for him. I wanted to go into the room where he lay and reassure him: ‘I’ll get somebody for you, Gatsby. Don’t worry. Just trust me and I’ll get somebody for you – "

- The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

I never liked The Great Gatsby very much. There's plenty wrong with it, and Gatsby is a pretty bad person by design. But I think about this quote a lot. Nick thinks this when he's trying to find attendees for Gatsby's funeral. And no one will come. In the end, it's only Nick and two other people (besides the servants). Gatsby's own attempts to fill his life with love destroyed every relationship that he had. His fatal flaw caught up to him and now he's too broken even to be honored in death. But there is this longing, an uncontainable longing, to see past that.

To me, this quote defines what I want to do with tragic, broken figures. Particularly evil ones whom no one mourns. I want to get somebody for them. I want to make everyone see that they deserved salvation - or better yet, that "deserving" does not enter into it at all. To hell with what is or is not deserved. This is the domain of mercy. It's such an indulgent, amoral impulse. But I don't care. I'll get somebody for you. Just trust me. I'll get somebody for you...even if it's only myself.

[danbisroom]

Ep. 11 - Hey You! I Long For You…

My beloved fellow souls,

welcome back to Danbi’s Room, your weekly dose of safe space. Go grab a cup of something warm and get yourself cosy.

I hope you had a nice and fulfilling week where you learnt a lot of interesting stuff, whether is was about the world outside of you or the world within you.

My intention for today’s piece is to dive deep into our souls maintaining a delicate touch. Being soft when approaching situations or feelings doesn’t equal being weak. It’s often the strongest answer. Most of the time, the best way to respond to hardness is not with other hardness, but, in fact, with softness. Softness is capable of taking the hit, of welcoming it and then to gently ponder which action should be taken next: retaining and grooming the newcomer or urge them to leave our secret garden immediately?

I believe that in the majority of cases both will happen consequentially. It is indeed challenging and burdensome to usher in “bad feelings”, but they, more than anything else, are in dire need of being loved unconditionally, until we learn to understand them so that we can finally release them. They must be given their rightfully owned dignity and regard. We must acknowledge their immense generosity: “bad feelings” teach us so much! If only we were willing to attentively listen to them with an open heart! On the contrary, we’re just so quick in shushing them off…Poor things are just looking for a warm shelter! A balmy haven to snug into while gifting us hints, on everything: what do we need to work on? Why do we fear certain things? What does actually matter to us? Do we feel listened? Do we need to move somewhere else? The list is endless. I know, you might be wondering how an enormous pile of uncanny questions could ever be seen as a stack of presents.

It’s because we really need those questions, but we would never dare to ask them without the help of those tumultuous feelings. Avoiding any pinch of discomfort is something deeply ingrained in our human nature. But we can learn how to love even that. To the point where we miss feeling those storms coming at us, as frightening as they can be. We long for that turbulence crushing our synapses.

Feeling everything so very deeply might be a curse, but it’s the breath of life. Sometimes we lose it and we become indescribably numb, almost non-exhistant, dry, like a faded photo. Our soul doesn’t even have seasons anymore. Everything has withered away, even silence. Now, that, I believe, is the most terrifying circumstance a human being can ever find themselves into. Wistfully, this condition is much more widespread than you would think. In my opinion numbness is the most pervasive pandemic of our time. It has various faces: at times we are so overwhelmed we turn blind to our surroundings, or maybe robotically complicit, or we just shut down any type of sensitivity hoping it will be enough for it to stop. But it doesn’t stop. We just become number and number, resorting to meaningless noise.

Is it possible to come out of it?

Is it possible to light up again?

Is it possible to ignite our little flame again?

Is it possible to slowly turn it into a bigger fire that it had previously been?

Yes, it is. It’s possible. As always, my precious fireflies, there is the community, there is the pack, where we can share our lives and talk and walk together and know love. We can share the same breath and love unconditionally, without a reason, swimming in a happy, tepid pond. We can share love and pain.

You never walk alone, yes, we can love.

Today we have two song recommendations since a certain prince worked so much lately: Long For You and Hey You by Hyunjin. Let’s show him a lot of support for these endearing artworks.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and that you have a beautiful week ahead of you!

I’ll see you in the next one, big hug!

With love, yours,

Danbi

[ddlc3177]

[loveandthepsyche]

2024 PREP ✨ REFINING/RE-DEFINING 💖

[darkpoeticsoul]