In the presence of love and passion

I attended a performance of The Sleeping Beauty by Canada's National Ballet the other day. 
By chance, it was Heather Ogden and Guillaume Côté performing for the matinée session.
I have a special interest in these 2 dancers. This interest was triggered when I read in Ballet News that they got married, in 2010. Both young and good-looking, both principal dancers in the company, and both in love and married to each other. What could be more romantic?

I like to watch couples in love. The dynamics of a couple always fascinate me. I have read somewhere that the strength of any relationship is only as strong as the one with the weaker feelings.

I have read an article in The National Post about the 2 lovebirds and how it happened. I tried, through that article to determine who loves whom more. Of course, I didn't find an answer. Watching the performance, that was foremost on my mind. But like I have discussed before, nobody knows and sometimes we do not even know the depth of our own feelings.

The chemistry on stage was undeniable. Both dancers were professional throughout, graceful as ever.  When it ended, Guillaume was gentlemanly and affectionate. *I* was in love. Heather seemed a bit 'cooler' than Guillaume, no over-the-top public display of affection. I can understand that. Nobody else knows how a couple interacts with each other when they are alone, except the 2 subjects involved, but from what I have seen so far, the fascination is here to stay. It is fueled by the passion Guillaume and Heather both have for ballet which is one of my interests. Dancing at a professional level undoubtedly requires hard work and dedication, courage and determination. All of which I would think is a good base for any relationship.

Would have the performance been different if the principal roles were played by two other dancers? Probably! I came out of it, thinking how magical it was. I have never enjoyed a performance as much as that one. Note to self: to create magic, mix love, passion and beauty!

Below is a video of Heather talking about rehearsals for The Sleeping Beauty.

A manual to ... love!

This is what I stumbled on the other day while searching for the lyrics to a song...

A wiki page on how to love: http://www.wikihow.com/Love 

In summary, the 7 steps are:
1. Know that your love for the other person is real.
2. Say it.
3. Empathize.
4. Love unconditionally.
5. Expect nothing in return.
6. Realize it can be lost.
7. Never stop loving.

Let's see if I know how to love.
Hmm...Most people KNOW when #1 is true.
Some people, however, can convince themselves that they love, or that they don't love someone. I have been guilty of doing both. I have found that the control I have over my own mind is quite strong. But when I know, I know. I might convince myself that the love is not real for other reasons, but deep down I know.

#2 is harder. I have written about it before in this blog (These 3 words entry). I have found myself in situations where I was suppressing the urge to say it too. Mostly because it kinda goes against how I was raised, or maybe by saying it, it makes me more vulnerable. Ok, so #2 needs work.

I know how to empathize. I actually do it so often that I sometimes look back and think how stupid I am. The other party would never empathize with me the same way I did and I don't even need to 'love' them to be able to empathize with them. #3 checked.

#4 and #5 go hand in hand I think. If you love unconditionally, you do not expect anything in return.  Sometimes I see how some couples work on the principle that one will love the other only if the other fits into the description of the perfect partner. Modify the behaviour a bit, or one of them being slightly moody for a few days, and you can feel the love tangibly diminishing. The 'expect nothing in return' is actually quite hard to do. Even in our most basic relationships, you expect something in return. You give affection and you expect affection in return. Sure, you can take rejection every now and then, but repeatedly giving without getting anything back in return could destroy someone to the core. Even if you don't expect love in return, you expect your love to be respected if not reciprocated.
I truly believe I can love unconditionally. I am not so sure if I can love without expecting anything in return. Maybe I should suggest a correction to the wiki, that if #4 stays, then #5 should be 'Try not to expect anything in return, have low expectations and you shall be surprised when you get something in return. That in turn will make you love the person more'. Ironic, isn't it? If you love more, and expect less, you will be loved more.

The realization that love can be lost dawns on everybody every now and then, I believe. Only people who are over-confident, conceited and/or arrogant would claim not to ever fear the loss of love. Like I have mentioned in a few of my posts, you never know the extent to which others love you. That is and will remain a mystery. Unless someone invents a machine one day that allows you to read someone else's feelings and actually convert it to your own frequency, there is no way for someone to understand the depth of someone else's feelings. That is why I live in the fear of losing someone's love. As a kid, I listened to my parents because I feared the only people in the world hard-wired to love me will stop loving me. Hell, I still hide some things from my parents in the fear of disappointing and eventually losing their love! #6, definitely checked.

#7: Never stop loving.
Hmm...Whatever happened to 'never say never'? (Known expression, from way before Bieber was born!).
This is probably the one which challenges me the most. Every time I get hurt in friendship or love, I will myself not to care anymore, harden my little heart up, and trudge forward until some kind of balance is regained. Then something infallibly happens. My memory fails me and I open up again and before I know it, I'm friends with the person again. Logically, this is a vicious circle that I can only stop by stopping to love. Emotionally and instinctively though, that goes against my nature. Even though I can control my mind, I cannot control my heart. Damn you, little heart.
#7 checked, unfortunately.


Score: 5 out of 7.
I think I'm doing okay. Maybe I'll modify #2 and #5 so I can check all of them!