and other power in loving and being loved
Strength turned toward a bond and kept there on purpose. What it takes to keep choosing the same person.
COMMITTED. The bond chosen on purpose. You choose the relationship every day, with eyes open, and the choosing itself is the love. Brené Brown's frame: commitment is the active, recurring act of choosing.
LOVING. The act of caring while caring. The body doing the work of love, continuous and present-tense. The verb form of the feeling.
INTIMATE. The bond at the threshold. The places where this relationship is different from any other: how the two of you fight, the gestures only you make. The particulars become the love.
DEVOTED. Committed with sacred coding. DEDICATED. The body showing up regardless. BONDED. The body tethered to the person. ALL-IN. The body not holding anything back. ENAMORED. The body falling. AFFECTIONATE. Loving that reaches across. TENDER. Loving at its softest. VULNERABLE. The body unprotected on purpose. KNOWN. Intimate from the inside.
This arc asks what power is for. It starts as raw drive, learns direction and follow-through, and ends given away to something larger than the person holding it.