Love is a collaborative work of art
(include) effort, compromise, patience, shared goals
If love is a collaborative work of art, then love is an aesthetic experience
So when I was younger, it never occurred to me that I was allowed to demand more of love that I didn't have to just accept whatever love offered. This version of love is not about winning or losing someone's affection. Instead, it requires that you trust your partner and talk about things when trusting feels difficult, which sounds so simple, but is actually a kind of revolutionary, radical act. This is because you get to stop thinking about yourself and what you are gaining or losing in your relationship, and you get to start thinking about what you have to offer. The version of love allows us to say things like that "Hey, we're not very good collaborators."
The beautiful thing about the collaborative work of art is that it will not paint or draw or sculpt itself. This version of love allow us to decide what it looks like.
