My loves,

Happy Valentine’s Day! On this day, we are reclaiming love as a vibrant, revolutionary force in our lives and for our futures!

Think of a person in your life who embodies revolutionary love. Send them this TED talk and say: Thank you! I see you. I believe in you. You are not alone. Keep going!

I have fallen in love a few times in my life. My high school sweetheart. My partner Sharat. My beloved dog Shadi. And the moment my babies were born. And oh, each time was delicious and delirious!

The moment my son was placed on my chest, I remember shaking and sobbing and laughing. This is it! I thought. I am falling in love! And I was! In the meantime, my mother was taking out the dahl she had cooked for me. Right there in the hospital room, my mother began to feed me — feeding her baby as I fed mine! I looked at her in wonder. I realized she had never stopped laboring for me, from my birth to his. Love is not just about the falling — it’s about what follows.

This is how I define love:

Love is more than a rush of feeling. Love is sweet labor: fierce, bloody, imperfect, and life giving – a choice we make again and again.

Love is not any one emotion. Love is all our emotions: Joy is the gift of love. Grief is the price of love. Anger is what we harness to protect that which we love.

Revolutionary Love is the choice to labor for others, for opponents, and for ourselves — to transform the world around us, and within us.

I believe revolutionary love is the call of our times. And that we can move through the world, and each day of our lives, with love as our compass! This is why I built the Revolutionary Love Compass — to help us put this into practice.

Each week, I get to meet communities who are bringing revolutionary love into their lives. In the last few days, I met with a group of elders at Sage-ing, faith leaders at the Charter for Compassion, and students at Tufts University. Each are using our Revolutionary Love Compass to practice dignity for themselves and others. They inspire me!

Imagine if we could ignite a critical mass of people across the country and around the world to build communities anchored in revolutionary love. In this era of grief and crisis, this is our vision. This is the movement you are part of. And I’m so grateful to be in this with you.

Today may you know that you are beloved. You are not alone in your heartbreak. We grieve with you. We ache with you. We rise with you. We are by your side. We love you.

Yours,
Valarie


We want to know:

Who embodies revolutionary love to you?

Who is the first person you thought of, and why?
What do they do?
How do they show up?
How do they make you feel?
What do you want the world to know about them?

Click here to share your responses with us!