When the darkness slowly surrenders all it has so it can let the sun rise to its mighty height; when the moon kisses the rays of the sun to gently submerge into them: that is what love is. Love is not all kisses and flowers or hashtag goals. Love is not all poetry and beautiful words sewn into rhyming sentences. Love is sacrifice and surrender. It is not giving up or giving in, but giving — giving all for that one thing or person  you love. An “emotion” is an understatement for something as strong and powerful as love. It has the power to make a person, block by block; or, it can break you, gradually and slowly like the domino effect.

Healer? Yes. But also, the pain that comes in goes hand in hand with love. There’s a romantic edge to the sadness that attaches itself with love. A sweet pain in the center of your ribs that for once no medicine can heal but the touch of love. Many of us, no matter how strong and independent, need someone we can collapse into at the end of a tiring day. Running away from love is running away from the basic chemical makeup of our bodies. We’re not made up of flesh and bones or blood and cells; we’re made of faith and love. Had it not been love, why then would the sea treasure every drop of tears that the heavens shed? If it weren’t love, why does death keep the gifts life sends to it, forever? Love — love is the oxygen and nitrogen and oxytocin; it’s everything.

Running on the edges of paradise, it helps humanity get back up.

And what most of us forget is that greater than every love is the love for self. If there’s no radiance shining within our souls, it’s highly difficult to catch hold of the love of others fluttering here and there like a butterfly. If we learn to fall in love with ourselves, the dependency and crave to attain another’s love becomes secondary, and when others’ love becomes secondary, our happiness becomes primary. So learn to love yourself. Stand in front of the mirror and look at your body; caress the bump in your stomach, fall recklessly in love with the stretch marks near your thighs. Give yourself the pampering you need, sleep in an extra hour, and cry when you’re full to the brim. Don’t be afraid to love yourself for who you are, never. The gods have fashioned us humans in the most perfect way that we could be in, yet we self-loathe. If we hate ourselves, how can we expect someone to love us?

Once we learn to accept ourselves, we’ll see how easy it is for others to do the same for us. And acceptance is the secret key to love.

Yet somehow if you get heartbroken, don’t stop believing in the magic and fortuity of love. It’s an elixir in our mundane lives — an elixir of healing and care, of warmth and home. Now that you see how love works, it’s not a question as to why it’s synonymous to pain. There’s a thin line between love and pain, and there’s no way of having one. Where there’s love, there’s pain and hurt and ache, but in the end it’s all as worth it as it could be.

That’s what love is all about.

Feel. Fall. Foster.