Guest Post: Heart vs. Heart and Soul

Hello, folks! Well, I'm somewhere in Missouri right about now! But, I still have a lovely surprise for you guys! My long-time friend, Bailey, agreed to guest post! Gee, how can I even describe her? Bailey is easily one of the most bubbly, optimistic, compassionate and utterly adorable people I know. I am so honored to have her as a friend. Today, she's going to be sharing her thoughts on the difference between loving with your heart, and loving with your heart and soul. I think she does a great job addressing such a complicated topic, and it's definitely worth a read. Enjoy!

**********

Greeting people of the internet! My name is August, I am 17 years old.  I have known Gillian for about, oh goodness me, 7 years? I think that is about right.  Like Gillian, I live on a small farm in NH. I enjoy photography, music, playing guitar, the ocean, and hanging out with my amazing friends.

My topic to add to this lovely blog is what does loving with your heart vs. loving with your heart and soul mean?  Now, I admit to nothing more than a little something about love.  All of this is just my thoughts on the topic, and all of this can be applied to someone special, a friend, a new acquaintance, or a family member.

To begin with, we will start with loving with just your heart.  I believe this is a much more simple kind of love.   The kind of love that is like “Aw, their cute, they are funny, they are sweet. Aw aw aw look at them I just love them. I want them to say something cute to me and ask me out”.  A first love kind of love, a kind of love that you will never quite forget, or get over. 

Or if it’s for a friend, it’s like:

“Oh I have a major friend crush on this person. I want to be their friend so bad.  I want to get to know them better, because they are really funny and cool”

This kind of love teaches you a lot of stuff. What it means to love, have it returned, or have it not be returned.  It sets you up for being able to love with your heart and soul.

  

So now this is the part where I make things all gross and personal. Sorry, but I am trying to give ya’ll a “real world” example.

Last year, I had my first “love”.  I liked this guy for about a year and a half all together.  I told him I liked him, which was a first for me.  I thought he was just too cute, too good to be true.  He played instruments, he was very talented, and gave killer hugs.  I was completely head over heels.   As a result, I didn’t really listen to people when they said “Eh, yeah he’s a bit of a player”. 

A.  Because I was in first love with him.

B.  Because I didn’t know any better.  All my experiences with him were a first.

Long story short, it didn’t work out the way I wanted it too, but that’s all water under the bridge.  We still maintain an “A-Okay” friendship of sorts.  Even though sometimes I still want to punch him the throat.

Now we come to the heart and soul part.  Loving someone with your heart and soul is so much deeper, so much more.  It’s a best friend, someone who has been there for you always, someone who can get you out of your worst mood in matter of seconds, and someone who you would do anything for.  If this love is one based on romantic attraction, how attractive they are is only a small part of the story. Who they are as person is a much bigger part of the story.  If it is a friend, you want to know their entire story, you want them to trust and open up you.  You love their family, and them, and everything about your friendship (even the parts you don’t like).

My example for this is more about a family then one person.  I became really good friends with a sibling pair I met through some of my extracurricular activities, and immediately clicked with them.  One night after we went out with a bunch of friends we went back to their house to sleep over.  I have never felt so at home with a family that wasn’t my own before.  They’re the quirkiest, oddest, coolest, craziest, funniest, family ever. I love them with everything I have, my heart soul. 

The mother is hilarious. She was warm and friendly towards me, but at the same time has a very sarcastic “Ain’t nobody got time for that” crass sense of humor (which I love).  The father, not only has a super cool past, and he is witty and knowledgeable.  The two kids that I know best, are just the best sibling pair, they complement and know each other so well.  As individuals they are just as, if not more cool and both super talented. They have 3 children all together, one of whom has special needs.  At first, I didn’t know how to act about this, but both he and they made me realize I didn’t have to act any different.  They are so comfortable with the fact that their son/brother is autistic that they have a level of understanding and communication with him that blows me away. They have taught me so much, and I have had my disagreements with members of this family, and may not be friends with some of them anymore, but that doesn’t stop me from loving them.  They stick by each other, don’t judge, don’t care, yell at each other, but still love each other. That makes me love them.  It doesn’t matter to me that I might not understand them sometimes, or that they may appear to be weird and sometimes really dysfunctional.  That, to me, is loving with your heart and soul. When it doesn’t matter what it looks like or feels like, when it doesn’t matter if you get angry, or get hurt, you still come back to a place of love. 

On that note, I leave you.  I hope this post makes you think a little more about love, especially that which is unconditional.

Love, Always.

August.