Gamble Everything for Love

Featured Heart to Heart Interview:  Malek Houlihan (51:15)

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Featured Article:  Gamble Everything for Love

Gamble everything for love,

if you’re a true human being.

If not, leave this gathering.

Half-heartedness doesn’t reach into majesty.

You set out to find God,

but then you keep stopping for long periods at meanspirited roadhouses.

Don’t wait any longer.

Dive in the ocean, leave and let the sea be you.

Silent, absent, walking an empty road, all praise.

~ Rumi

So often in love and relationships, we get stalled by fear and insecurities.  Reading Rumi’s poem (that inspired Malek’s song “Gamble Everything for Love”) reminded me of a story told by Alex Mandossian of cliff divers in Acapulco.

One of my favorite events was the Acapulco cliff divers. These guys would scale a steep, rocky, cliff side about 120 feet in the air and then perform beautiful “swan dives” into the crashing surf below.

Before each dive, the divers watch the surf below rise and fall…rise and fall…rise and fall…sometimes for several minutes before taking their leap of faith.

They have to time their jumps perfectly to hit the water at the precise moment the surf is at its highest point.

That way, they have a nice cushion of water to plunge into … one that is safely far from the jagged rocks beneath.

But perhaps the most interesting thing of all is this: Because an Acapulco cliff diver dives from so high up, he must jump when he sees the rocks, not the water! It’s a “leap of faith” if you start to think about it, right?

If an Acapulco diver jumps when the water tide level is at its highest, he’ll hit rocks because the tide moves out again by the time he hits the water. But if he jumps when seeing rocks, he hits the cushion of water as the tide rolls back in again.

Similarly, when we wait for the “right” moment to invite love in, explore a potential connection, or make the leap into a relationship, we’re hoping to see the safety of the water below.  The gamble, then, is the jump — there is no guarantee that we will not be hurt, no certainty that the relationship will last forever…  What’s important to remember is that the jump can be made even if you don’t see the water below.

Coming Up…

RYH Magazine: Issue 2 features a Heart to Heart interview with Maya Fulcher.  I heard about Maya through an article in Glamour Magazine.  Maya lost her husband to a serious illness.  At just 32 years old, she now shares six important questions she and her husband, Jack, discussed that brought them closer.  Her goal is to help people create those connections in their lives before it’s too late.  Tune in next month to hear Maya’s story.

Restart Your Heart…

Because Love is Worth the Risk