Believing in Love Even When You’ve Been Hurt

Whether you’re currently heartbroken, wrestling the in-between season of soul-searching, or happily in love, this episode is for you. It’s a gentle reminder that hearts get hurt and there’s always hope for healing.

In this episode, you’ll hear three original poems, written by Lia Girard, in three different seasons of navigating heartache and love. Lia explores how anger, grief, and loneliness can all refine how you define love. She also offers encouragement to believe in love that’s meant for you. 

Today’s episode invites you to: 

- explore your raw feelings and their purpose

- listen for your own heartsong

- honor the kind of love that honors you

You’ll also be given a word, inspired by the poem, to ponder as your week unfolds. 

Lia Girard is a poet, writer, author, wife, and mom whose feature articles are found on iBelieve.com, Crosswalk.com, and other inspirational platforms. 

You can explore her poetry, often inspired by the wonders of nature, on Instagram: @wildpeace.poetry. 

If you love the show, or any episode resonates with you, please rate or review the show on your favorite platform, or email your feedback to lia@wildpeacepoetry.com.

Transcript

Speaker 0:03

Hello, and welcome to Heart of a Wildflower. This is a space that invites you to slow down, reconnect, and find beauty in every season. I'm Lia Girard, your host, and I'm so glad you're here. In each episode, we'll consider an aspect of love, longing, or life, such as heartache, healing, or hope, by reading and exploring poetry together. We'll end with a thoughtful word or phrase to contemplate as your week unfolds. Today's episode is for anyone who's had their heart broken, or maybe I should say anyone. Because if you have a heart or you've ever loved deeply, there's a chance you've felt what's often called heartache, but you and I both know it can be a total body disaster. However, I want you to believe there's always hope. So I'd like to share three poems I wrote in three different seasons of love. The first one expresses the pain and anger you feel when someone is hurting your heart. The second unpacks the desire to know yourself better so you can be at peace. And the third is about how healthy love, even after devastating heartbreak, can feel. Let's unpack our first small but fierce poem titled Torn. Torn. Some lovers will pluck you like a honeysuckle, bite, extract all sweetness, discard. Has this ever happened to you? Someone who you gave your whole self to seemed to just suck the life out of you, maybe even intentionally? It's a sad fact that some people can pretend to love and choose you, but only while you're attractive, fun, young, rich, available, helpful, or whatever their own needs were, and then throw you away. Sometimes this happens over a long, excruciating season where the letting go is a slow accumulation of mistrust, neglect, betrayal, or even abuse. Sometimes it's a whirlwind fling that leaves you feeling run over, and sometimes the way and reason they leave you with your heart trampled remains a mystery. But know this, if you can allow yourself to be rightfully angry at actions that seriously wound you, you're on your way to figuring out the kind of love that's right for you. It can take years, decades, your whole life perhaps. But the gift of being discarded is distance from a person who meant you harm. Getting your heart broken also suddenly opens doors and windows for you to discover your own needs better, or to tend to your own health, or dig deep to transform despair into forgiveness and gratitude. Our second poem today explores the season between losing and finding love. If you've been in this cloudy space in the past, feeling rather alone and often soul searching, it's likely you now understand why it was so worthwhile. If you're in that season now and hoping the loss will ever make sense and the anguish will ever fade, please have faith. When I say from my own messy experience, it will it will all become clear, and you can heal your own heart. Our second poem today is titled Heart Song. Sometimes she ran from the smoke of dreams, from cinders bleeding and splitting seams into a tangle of blue and green. And although she carried a cavern of pain, she laid with the flowers and stood in the rain, kissing the moonlight and counting on stars to teach her the song of her own wild heart. Are you running from heartache right now? Please let me assure you that's natural. It's hard to stop, cry, face it, because it's like jumping into an abyss of sorrow. That's why this poem is woven with words like splitting seams, cinders, and smoke, because even two joined in marriage can split apart, or a fire of what looked like love can burn down to cinders. And dreams that no longer include someone who damaged you can go up in smoke. This poem took shape when I was trying to make sense of my own relationship wreckage. For years, I literally ran, often and far, into the deep woods on a tangle of trails. I was physically shaking off the grief, so I could hear God's guidance and my own inner voice. It taught me that people will mess up because we're made to. But the one who actually created the song that only you hear in your own heart will love you forever. No matter what, you are always beloved. Let's enjoy our last poem together. This one surfaced late in life when I'd learned a lot more about what love actually does. And I met my wonderful husband who shows me again and again. Whether you're in a painful season, in between, or happily healed from former heartbreak, I wrote this poem to encourage you and celebrate with you that a love that feels right to you is real. It's titled Promise. He holds a cup of knowing in his soul, pours it out on shards that once were whole, whispering a peace that feels like flowers, showing you his patience, not his power, tilling in the dirt you try to hide, staying, as he promised, by your side, offering the kindness of his skin, and covering the scars you hold within, planting seeds that root and rise above until you finally realize this is love. Heartbreak invites you to define and honor whatever real love looks and feels like to you, and whatever phase of loss or healing you're in right now, I hope you're believing that true love is possible. As we close, I'd like to leave you with a word from our poem to ponder, and that word is kindness. Heartbreak will teach you many things, not the least of which is how valuable it is to be kind to yourself, to those you love, to the world around you. Because once you've been shattered, you have a heightened awareness that everyone needs compassion, including you. And when you've been left alone, you realize it's no one else's full-time job to ensure that you're treated kindly in the special ways that delight you. That big job is yours. So start with yourself. How can you show yourself kindness today? Whether it's meditating on affirmations, going for a walk, singing your favorite song, cooking a healthy meal, snuggling up in a soft blanket, meeting with friends, making something new, or just getting to bed early. Remember, it's important to give yourself kindness. It's the best way to make sure you always have enough to give others. Thank you for spending this time with me today. I hope it offered you room to reflect and reconnect with yourself. If this episode spoke to you, please share it with a friend or drop me an email at lia@wildpeacepoetry.com. You can also find my poetry and message me on Instagram : @wildpeace.poetry. Until next time, keep blooming in your own wild and wonderful way.