09/02/2026
As I re-read my upcoming book, The Heart Truth, for what feels like the millionth time, I’m revisiting some of the more personal passages: stories that remind me how I came to understand love more fully, and without which I’m not sure I could teach or practice the way I do today.
I cannot overstate how profoundly our lived experiences shape the way we engage with the world. Whether at work, at home, in our communities, or in the relationships we hold most dear, we are continually being shaped by the people we encounter and the relationships we build.
This chapter is about the importance of friendship and community in our romantice relationships, but rereading it reminded me of something even bigger: some of the most important things I know about love were not learned from a textbook, a research study, or my clinical training. They were learned through the experience of being known, understood, challenged, accepted, and loved by other people.
Perhaps that is part of what makes us better teachers, clinicians, leaders, and human beings: not simply what we know, but our willingness to remain students of our own lives.
I’m still learning. And I hope I always will be.
