true love | David M Masters

In Seven Cycles of Love, What Is True Love?

What is true love? The question itself seems simple, yet it opens a portal to the deepest mysteries of the human heart. True love isn’t a destination—it’s a journey. And on that journey, love transforms. It deepens. It reveals. It stretches us in ways we never expected. It calls us higher. And just when we think we’ve grasped its meaning, it evolves once again.

As I often teach, love has at least seven distinct cycles. And in each cycle, your definition of true love will shift—because you are shifting. True love is a living, breathing energy that reflects your own personal growth, beliefs, wounds, and awakening. The way you define true love today will not be the same as how you defined it when you first fell in love, nor how you will define it years from now—if you commit to evolving through love.

And perhaps, if there were an eighth cycle… it would be when you or your partnership awakens fully to Divine Love Consciousness—a love beyond conditions, expectations, or need. A love that is, because you are.

Let’s explore this idea together.

The Evolution of True Love Through the 7 Cycles

Cycle 1: Attraction – “True Love Feels Like a Spark”

In the beginning, true love looks like excitement. It’s magnetic, passionate, and addictive. You believe true love is about chemistry and the thrill of desire. And it is—in that cycle. That spark can be real. It awakens something primal, something beautiful. But this cycle often tricks us into thinking that love is purely emotional and sensory.

Example: “I knew it was true love the moment I saw her. I felt it. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. That must be what true love is, right?” — Cycle 1 thinker.

Cycle 2: Connection – “True Love Means We Just ‘Get’ Each Other”

As attraction deepens into emotional intimacy, the definition evolves. True love now feels like connection. It’s about being seen, understood, and accepted. You start opening your heart and sharing your story. You believe true love is someone who understands you without judgment.

Example: “We talk for hours. It’s like we’ve known each other forever. That’s how I know it’s real love.” — Cycle 2 insight.

Cycle 3: Commitment – “True Love Means Loyalty and Choosing Each Other”

As the relationship progresses, true love becomes a conscious choice. It’s about showing up, making sacrifices, and creating a shared path. At this stage, true love is seen as reliability, stability, and a mutual vision. It’s the cycle where many couples solidify their bond.

Example: “I don’t care what life throws at us, I’ll choose you every day. That’s what love is.” — Cycle 3 partner.

Cycle 4: Challenge – “True Love Is Tested and Refined”

This is where many relationships falter. But it’s also where true love gets real. In the face of betrayal, disappointment, or trauma, your idea of love is tested. Can true love survive conflict, imperfection, and pain? Here, the definition of love shifts to forgiveness, growth, and resilience.

Example: “Even when you broke my heart, I still saw the goodness in you. I knew love had to be more than just the good times.” — Cycle 4 survivor.

Cycle 5: Awakening – “True Love Reflects My Own Inner Journey”

Something profound happens here. You begin to awaken to the idea that true love doesn’t come from someone else—it flows through you. You start doing the inner work, realizing your partner is your mirror. The definition of love becomes more spiritual, more conscious.

Example: “I used to blame him for not loving me right. Now I see… he was showing me the parts of myself that still needed healing.” — Cycle 5 reflector.

Cycle 6: Transcendence – “True Love Is Without Conditions”

Now love becomes sacred. You see your partner not just as your lover, but as a soul on a journey. You love them as they are, not for what they do for you. It’s not about control, or fixing, or receiving. It’s about presence, grace, and radical acceptance.

Example: “Even if he never changes, I will still love him. That’s not weakness—it’s strength.” — Cycle 6 sage.

Cycle 7: Purpose – “True Love Is Our Shared Mission”

Finally, love becomes a vehicle for service. You and your partner become co-creators of something greater than yourselves. Your relationship becomes a healing force in the world. You live in alignment with your calling, and true love becomes a way of being, a legacy.

Example: “We’re not just lovers. We’re lightworkers. Together, we raise the vibration of others.” — Cycle 7 partners-in-purpose.

But What If There Was an Eighth Cycle?

If there were a Cycle 8… it would be Unconditional Divine Love.
A love that requires no reason. No reciprocation. No attachment.
A love that pours from you endlessly, like a river returning to the ocean.
You are love. And your partner is love. There is no separation.

This kind of love often arrives not just in relationships, but in spiritual awakening. Some couples rise into this together. Some individuals arrive at it on their own. Either way, it is the ultimate state of love—not something you fall into, but something you rise into.

Why the Definition of True Love Must Be Revisited—Regularly

One of the most dangerous assumptions in relationships is believing you both define love the same way—and that it will always mean what it meant in the beginning.

But we grow. We evolve. So should our love.

That’s why it’s essential to regularly check in with your partner and ask questions like:

- “What does true love mean to you now?”
- “Has your definition of love changed since we met?”
- “What does love feel like when you receive it from me?”
- “How can I love you better based on who you are today?”

These conversations build emotional safety and spiritual alignment. They open the door to deeper connection and help prevent resentment, assumptions, and miscommunication.

You Are Always Becoming Love

True love isn’t found. It’s awakened. It isn’t perfect. It’s divine in its imperfection. It grows as you grow.

Whether you’re just starting your journey in the first cycle or you’re feeling the call toward something higher—know that love is meeting you exactly where you are.

And if you’re blessed to walk the path of love with someone willing to grow beside you, nurture that gift. Let it evolve. Let it expand. And together, you just might awaken to a level of love you never dreamed was possible.

And that… might just be your 8th cycle of love.

What Is True Love in a Relationship?

There’s a moment in your evolution when you realize that most of what you’ve called “love” has been a rehearsal. A beautiful rehearsal, filled with passion, lessons, heartbreak, and growth—but still, a rehearsal. Then comes something deeper. Something resonant. Something real.

This is true love.

And it doesn’t just happen to you. It happens through you.

True Love Is an Energetic Alignment

True love isn’t just chemistry. It’s not even compatibility. It’s something more primal and more divine—an energetic alignment between two souls walking a similar frequency.

This doesn’t mean you like all the same movies or foods. It means your intentions, your vibrations, and your spiritual commitments are moving in the same direction.

Example:

Jason and Maya met in their 40s, both after divorces. They shared similar wounds but had done the healing work. Instead of projecting old patterns onto each other, they offered presence. They didn’t fall in love fast, but true. It was less fireworks and more like two rivers quietly merging, flowing together toward the same sea.

True Love Reflects and Refines You

True love is not about perfection. It’s about authenticity and transformation. Your partner in true love will hold up a mirror—not just to your greatness but to your hidden pain. And they won’t run from it. They’ll stand beside you as you grow.

Example:

Ana used to shut down during conflict, a wound from her childhood home where emotions were explosive. Her partner Chris noticed this and, instead of demanding she “talk it out,” he gently said, “I’ll be here when you’re ready. I love you whether you speak or stay silent.” That safety became her doorway to emotional freedom.

That’s what true love does. It creates safe containers for growth. It doesn’t shame. It understands.

True Love Has Healthy Boundaries and Open Hearts

True love doesn’t mean endless tolerance or sacrifice. It honors the self as much as the union. It says: “I will not lose myself to love you—but I will love you so deeply that you never feel alone.”

Example:

Leo was used to caretaking in relationships—until he met Priya. She showed him that loving someone didn’t mean burning yourself out for them. When he skipped a weekend trip to rest, she smiled and said, “Good. I want the best of you, not what’s left of you.” That, for Leo, was a revolution.

True love allows each person to be a full human being, with space for their own journey. There is room for interdependence, not co-dependence.

True Love Is Both a Sanctuary and a Catalyst

A true love relationship feels like coming home—but it also launches you. It inspires you to become the best version of yourself—not because you’re pressured, but because you’re loved.

Example:

Vanessa had always wanted to start a wellness business, but her fear of failure held her back. Her partner, Miguel, believed in her more than she believed in herself. He didn’t push. He just held the vision for her until she could hold it for herself. “Even if you fall,” he said, “you’ll fall into my arms.”

This is the sacred paradox of true love—it challenges you and comforts you at the same time.

True Love Is Built, Not Found

We live in a culture obsessed with finding the one. But in truth, you become the one to attract the one.

True love isn’t discovered. It’s created, moment by moment, by two people willing to keep choosing each other, even when it’s hard.

Example:

After 15 years together, Dawn and Eric still have disagreements. But their fights are fair. They don’t weaponize past mistakes. They don’t try to win. They both try to understand. After every rupture, they rebuild—stronger.

They built their love like a cathedral: slowly, deliberately, with faith and forgiveness.

The Mission of True Love

In the 7th Phase of Love, love becomes a mission, not just a feeling.

You and your partner begin to understand that your relationship is not just for your own joy. It is also a beacon—an example of what is possible for others.

Example:

Carlos and Yasmine host monthly dinner circles for couples. Not to give advice—but to simply model love. Their presence gives others permission to soften, to open, to try again. They’ve made their love a force for good in the world.

That’s the higher calling of true love. It doesn’t end at the edges of your relationship. It radiates out—transforming everyone you meet.

True Love Is a Choice and a Practice

Every day, true love asks:

- Can you be honest without being cruel?
- Can you hold your partner’s pain without absorbing it?
- Can you grow in different directions and still walk hand in hand?

True love isn’t a one-time decision. It’s a daily one.

Present Love

True love in a relationship is not perfect. It’s present.

It’s not about how little you fight. It’s about how you repair. It’s not about the high—it’s about the depth.

If you’ve ever wondered whether true love is real, let this be your sign:

Yes, it is.

But only if you’re willing to become it first.

When you become the frequency of true love, you won’t have to chase it. It will find you—because it’s been looking for you too.

Still Believing: A Monogamist’s Hope in a Polyamorous World.

Here I am again. Single. Not broken. Not bitter. Just… here. With my heart still open. Somewhere along the road of this life, I found myself standing in a place that many never speak of, yet so many know intimately: the quiet space between relationships. In this place, I’ve grown stronger, wiser, and, despite everything, still believing. Not in the fairytale kind of love, mind you, not in some Photoshopped fantasy or Disney-fueled delusion, but in the kind of love that two people, fully awake and aligned, co-create through intentionality, trust, and truth. That’s the flame I seek, not the spark, but the sacred fire.

The Monogamous Soul in a Non-Monogamous Culture

Some of us were simply born monogamous. Not out of obligation. Not out of fear. But because it is the truest expression of how we give and receive love.

I’ve spent four decades helping others repair the broken pieces of their hearts and their relationships. I’ve counseled the confused, comforted the betrayed, and witnessed the many shades of coupling, successful and otherwise. I’ve also stood on the same stages as anthropologists who made compelling arguments that human beings are not biologically wired for monogamy.

And maybe they’re right.
But I’m still wired this way.

I’ve tried. I’ve waited. I’ve healed. And I’ve been hurt. I’ve seen partners pledge fidelity with their words while living infidelity in their actions. And each time, it cuts deeper, not just because of the betrayal, but because I believed them. I saw the best in them, and I wanted so deeply to share the journey toward a shared destiny.

So, I spend long stretches in singularity. Not because I can’t be with someone. But because I won’t settle for being with someone who doesn’t match the frequency of devotion I bring to the table.

Why We Keep Looking

I know the question: “Why keep looking?”

Why keep hoping, if the odds are stacked against us?
Why keep believing, when the world around us says “just hook up and move on”?
Because… some of us are built to love deeply, one person at a time. We don’t want to divide our affection. We don’t want to fake our way through life. We don’t want a revolving door of novelty. We want roots. We want growth. We want the real thing.

And yes, I’ve also seen the fire fade.
That initial magnetic, primal heat, it’s intoxicating. It’s the fuel of new love. But what happens when it turns to coals, or worse… goes out? That’s where the real test begins. That’s where love shifts from emotion to devotion.

I’ve coached couples back from the brink. Some have rekindled that passion with new adventures, vulnerability, and honest communication. Others… not so much. And often, I’ve seen that the pursuit of that “first-time fire” leads people down the road of betrayal.

Not because they’re evil. But because they’re chasing a moment that can never be duplicated.

And so the cycle continues.

When You’ve Seen It All… But Still Believe

Even though I’ve seen the damage, the hollowed-out hearts, the broken trust, the faked affection, I still believe.

I still believe there’s someone out there for me. Someone who isn’t perfect, but who is perfect for me. Someone who values trust over titillation, presence over performance, growth over games.

And I believe the same for you.

Even if you’ve been lied to.
Even if you’ve lost count of the false starts.
Even if your heart has been shattered into a thousand pieces.

There is still something sacred about believing.

Tips for the Weary Heart

If you’re tired… take heart.
Here are a few reminders that may help you along the way:

1. Being alone is better than being with the wrong person.
  Don’t trade your peace for pain. You’re not missing out. You’re preparing for someone who truly fits.
2. Recognize the signs early.
  If their words say “monogamy,” but their actions don’t align; believe their behavior, not their promises.
3. There’s no shame in believing in love.
  The world may laugh, but stay soft. Stay open. Real love is rare, but not extinct.
4. You’re not broken for wanting loyalty.
  You’re not old-fashioned. You’re not delusional. You’re simply tuned into a frequency most have forgotten exists.
5. Heal, don’t harden.
  Use this time to become the kind of person your future partner will be grateful to meet. Whole. Healed. Honest.
6. Hope is not weakness.
  It’s your superpower. It’s the light that makes you magnetic to the right person.

To the One Who Still Believes

Maybe you’ve been burned.
Maybe you’re still healing.
Maybe you’ve sworn off love more than once.

But if there’s a quiet whisper in your soul that says, “I still believe,” don’t silence it.
That whisper is the signal. That whisper is the call.
That whisper is your heart reminding you that you are still alive.

You are worthy of a sacred kind of love.
A love that holds you through your seasons.
A love that honors your soul.
A love that doesn’t make you question your worth.

You’re not crazy for waiting.
You’re not weak for hoping.
You’re not alone in your longing.

You are one of us.
And we still believe.

With love, in truth,
~ David

Sex is Creational

Sex is creational. When you have sex, this is the act of creation. There is potential to create a new life, introducing an extension of yourself to the world. The sex act (when pleasurable) aligns human biology, promoting good health, increasing immunity, healing the body, and encourages weight loss. What’s not to love about sex?

Then, in the world where we live, there is also the dark side of sex, where it can be used as a weapon, to manipulate, and dominate. When used negatively it can cause deterioration and destruction to an unwitting victim and may even result in death.

Sex is far more powerful than you might imagine.

What you might not know about sex being creational is that every time you engage in sex acts, you are building energy within yourself and your partner. This is a higher form of communication and energetic sharing between two beings than is possible otherwise, and when you orgasm you create and release an energetic pulse or entity which influences the world around you.

When two people are sharing sexually in awakened true love, the energetic pulse or entity that is released is of the highest powerful love vibration and this energy is added to the growing energetic field of love which will lead our world and its people into the next evolutionary phase. This powerful love energy promotes all good things.

Recreational sex is still creational sex. There’s no way around it.

When sexual energetic pulses are released without the authentic love component, the resulting energies are still released. Only without the love component, the energy supports the default setting of the planet and therefore could support anything, and if nothing else will not contribute to our evolution. This energy could be used to promote negativity, bondage, and victimization.

The world as it is, is centered around this lower vibrational frequency where the few are able to exploit and profit wildly from controlling the masses. This is the default setting of our planet at the moment in its current evolutionary phase, but things are changing, and you, and everything you think, say or do, either promotes the evolution, or not.

This default setting embraces the idea of non-love-based sexuality. The energetic releases from non-love-based sexuality help to maintain the energetic vibration frequency of the world as it is, and our societal structure supports and promotes the right to do so because it benefits the profiteers.

These truths are coming to the awareness of those who are in the process of awakening, and they are finding themselves awakening to true love.

In the awakening process, you discover that things are not as they appear, and you take full responsibility for your energetic contribution to the evolution of our world and its peoples. We are in a phase of metamorphosis, each of us individually, and as a collective.

We will be seeing a reduction of infidelity, promiscuity, pornography, and extracurricular sexual activity of all types (including astral varieties), as the awakening evolves. This is the new sexual evolution.

So, there is a higher form of love connection which two can share, and the resulting sexual energy which is released can be a powerful contribution to the love-powered evolution which is eager to be revealed.

To get a glimpse of this new sexual evolution, you might consider attending an Awakening to True Love Workshop.

All We Need is Love

You are taking your love relationship to the next level, and you’re convinced that, “All we need is love,” but you’re going to need more than love to truly bond with each other in this critical phase which moves you to the most meaningful of romantic relationships. You’re willing to say to your partner, “I love all of you,” and mean it with all your heart, and if your partner loves you just as much, how do you grow together even deeper? Is it possible to, in a sense, become one flesh? Can you break the boundaries of a normal relationship and potentially become more connected than other couples?

You’re ready to take your love relationship to a whole new level, and you know, as a couple all we need is love. Not the sophomoric, “All You Need is Love”, like the Beatles promoted, or the immature, “We don’t need money, we can live on love,” that parents have heard from their children who have fallen head over heels in love. <sarcasm>Yes, two can live on love… half as long.</sarcasm> Young love can easily forsake the responsibility and reason which should also accompany true love as well, and just let their emotions run rampant.

Not to be confused with young love, you know you’re ready for something more meaningful. You can see love all around you and you’re willing to let go and love with all your heart. You’re willing to set aside your pride and let the protective walls fall down, as you reveal your true self to your partner in unguarded openness, and brutal honesty, tempered by compassion.

This is a two-way street. Don’t even think you can survive this kind of relationship, if your partner is not reciprocating. You do need to proceed with caution when taking your relationship to this deeper more mature phase of love.

Why?

If you really want to make a go of this and move into greater relationship, it takes two, baby, and if you’re partner is onboard, it is possible to entertain the idea of unconditional love.

Unconditional love sounds good at first blush, because it’s what we all want. But when we’re challenged with the idea of giving it, that is a completely different proposition.

Unconditional love means I love you no matter what. You know that’s how you want to be loved. I want you to love me no matter what. Regardless of what I do or say, I want you to love and respect me anyway, because I am just doing the best I can. My intentions are good, and I would never intentionally do anything to compromise our relationship.

And it’s easy to see this from your perspective, but when your partner feels this say, you are suspicious, your feelings are easily hurt, you take it personally, get upset, and accuse your partner of disrespecting you and the relationship that you share.

This is love, but it is not unconditional love.

This is that immature, “I love you if,” kind of love. I love you if you do this, I love you if you don’t do that. But to love someone unconditionally, means, “I love you no matter what you say. No matter what you do.”

When most people hear that initially, they recoil and burst out with a resounding, “Oh, hell no!”

Because you feel like you’ve dome that before. You loved. You let your guard down. You trusted your partner, and where did that get you? Likely you were hurt, betrayed, you suffered and your heart was broken.

But the desire for true love still lingers within the recess of your heart, longing for something more deep and meaningful, a soul-to-soul heart-to-heart connection with that special someone.

If you think you’re ready, you might consider attending an Awakening to True Love Workshop, which represents that kind of love that surpasses Hollywood’s love, or any other type of love that you might have experienced in the past.

Be forewarned, this expanded type of love is not for the weak. In fact, when you emerge on the other side of this workshop, you will be an entirely new you, ready to take on love and the world in an entirely, more empowered way, full of happy expectation and pure love.

7 Steps to Attract Your Soulmate

First, you’ve got to be able to agree with me, that what you’ve been doing up to now has NOT been serving your best interests, right?

7 Steps to Attract Your Soulmate

1. LOVE AND FORGIVE YOURSELF

If you’re with me and you’re feeling like you’ve totally blown to this point, I want you to put your hand over you heart and apologize to yourself, and repeat after me, and I’m gonna warn ya, you’re going to refer to yourself in this little exercise, just get over it, and take a deep breath in, hand over your heart. Exhale. We’re gonna take another breath in, this time see your breath going into the area of your heart. Hold it. Breathe out. Hand over your heart, repeat after me,

“I love you baby

And I’m sorry I let you down

From here on out,

I got ‘choo, baby.

Please forgive me

For not taking better care of you

Thank you for not bailing on me

You’re my world

I love you baby

I love you. I love you. I love you”

Understand what’s the difference between love and attraction.

“Attraction” is the default method that draws prospective lovers to you and its rooted in some really deep sh… stuff, that reaches all the way back to when you took your first breath, and maybe before. I know this might sound like BS but hang in there for a minute.

Attraction is that magnetic field which is influenced by everything that appeals to you and operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, while “love,” on the other hand, is something REALLY different. To complicate matters, attraction can feel like love and may have romance in the mix as well.

But love is something else, it develops over time, and is the deepening of the relationship which enables two people to have a co-creative union. Love does include attraction, but you can experience massive attraction with no love, and you already know that o’ too well. Right?

READY FOR A CHANGE?

2. BE WILLING TO CHANGE

Who needs a change in their love life? You? Who? You?

Yes, you.

You know you can’t keep on going on like this and expect things to magically change, not gonna work. If you want to have a chance to find a healthy love partner, you gotta stop being the you that you are, right now, and start being the you that’s gonna attract that healthy lover.

You have to break the cycle. You. If you want a different love life, you gotta start being the love you want.

LOOKING FOR A SOULMATE?

Are you looking for a soulmate?

If you’re looking for a soulmate, what does that look like to you?

3. MAKE A LIST OF WHAT YOU WANT

Make a list of all the positive attributes of your soulmate, and when you start including negatively-influences, like, “I want someone who doesn’t have and affairs,” that’s negative, so flip it. Reword it positively, something like, “I want someone who is faithful to me.”

Make a list of everything, all the characteristics you want in your soulmate.

TRUE LOVE

Now you’re looking for true love.

Instead of wondering, “Where can I find love,” you can attract your soulmate, that special person who is uniquely matched to you, by changing your love vibration to match that which you seek.

Any ideas where you’re going to find your true love?

You have the list which represents your one true love. Right?

LOOK IN THE MIRROR

4. BE THE LIST

Look in the mirror. There’s your one true love looking back at you.

Remember, you told yourself you’d have your back, right?

Take another look at your list of love characteristics. When this list represents every aspect of you, you will be ready to attract your soul mate like a magnet.

Why?

LOVE IS ENERGY

Love is energy, an energetic a vibrational frequency, and you attract the relationships that resonate with your current frequency. That’s the way it works every time. If you want to attract someone who’s more to your liking, then change your vibration.

5. STOP DOING WHAT DOESN’T WORK

And for God’s sake, stop doing what you’re doing now. Stop looking for love where you’ve been looking for love, because you’re not going to find love there. You already know that.

Whatever you’ve been doing, wherever you’ve been looking, bars, restaurants, grocery stores, online dating sites, if those are not working stop doing that.

Take another look at your list of love characteristics. Where is the person who is like that going to be?

6. BE WHERE YOUR TRUE LOVE IS

In brick and mortar business, the three most important things are Location, Location, Location, and in love, it’s twice as important.

Be someone who is also in those kinds of places and you will find your frequency changing to the frequency of your soulmate, and when they match?

You will look in the mirror and see your other soulmate (because you’re your first soul mate) in the mirror standing beside you.

7. RELAX AND LET IT BE

Stop exerting effort to find or create your beloved. Just relax, be open, and bathe in the vibrational frequency of your perfect mate. Be okay with who you are, raise your vibration, be what you want and your one true love will be attracted to you like a magnet.

Worldly Love vs Awakened Love

We all want to be loved, and there’s nothing better than being in the throes of love and passion.

With many years consulting in love and relationships, it’s generally accepted that when two people get together there are going to be problems. All this relationship drama contributes to the bottom line of so many industries in America, it’s not just the relationship coaches, keeping their caseloads maxed out, with the constant struggle of helping couples with their constant struggle.

In the office, there are issues that show up regularly, and every once in awhile, you are truly surprised or shocked by something new. But the struggle remains. My book, 7 Phases of Love, depicts a general path of growth amidst the romantic love spectrum and offers assistance to those on such a journey, as well as tips, tools, and techniques for the people who work with them, assisting couples to navigate the treacherous waters of romantic love.

Oh, yeah, I am David M Masters, Lead Coach, Trainer, and Transfiguration Specialist at St. Paul’s Free University, and you can find out more about me at davidmmasters.com. The word on the street is that St. Paul’s Free University is looking for teachers, trainers, and instructors. If you think you might be interested in joining us to help make the world a better place. Feel free to contact me or talk to any of our presenters here, today.

The 7 phases of love follow the path from hormonal, horn honking, drooling, lust-driven love, all the way to the harmonic love frequency fully honoring each other in positive partnership.

No matter where you are on your love journey, there are bound to be some challenges along the way, and at any time, either you, your partner or both of you can call it quits and walk away.

Call it quits?

That’s worldly love, and you know what I’m talking about. The kind of love that’s like a disease that eats away at your heart until there’s nothing left. No love. Love is a heart-eating disease.

Love is like a poisonous virus that spreads the highly contagious disease of love’s toxins that promote possessiveness, jealousy, envy, suspicion, bitterness, dishonesty, controlling, abuse, and the judgment of others and yourself.

You’ve loved, stood there in faith, totally open and naked to your partner, and where did that get you? Far more misery than pleasure, that’s for sure. It’s no wonder you want to bail out of the love boat. Who wouldn’t?

Especially in our present-day society, where relationships are disposable, and in worldly love, “the world” profits when relationships thrive, and even more when they fail.

It is easier to walk away (and far more profitable for the powers that be) than it is to do the work necessary to create a sustainable relationship. So, at the first sight of something you don’t like in a relationship, you start looking for the EXIT sign.

Anyone want to know what the Top 10 Reasons Relationships Fail are?

Top 10 Reasons Relationships Fail

basic compatibility
communication styles
disinterest
abuse
lack of trust
betrayal
unmet expectations
unfulfilled obligations
money issues
infidelity

Of course, this is an over-simplification of what is really going on behind the scenes because you have a lifetime of accumulated pain, wounds, and emotional triggers, that cause you to recoil at the first hint of trouble (even if there is no actual trouble at hand).

Your friends will counsel you to, “Run, David, run!” because they don’t want to see you suffer needlessly (or again), plus, they miss your uninterrupted attention. There’s a good chance that your best friends see their relationship with you as far more meaningful than that of your mate, and in those times when things are not looking good, they can taunt you with, “See, I told you so.”

You might be surprised that your friends are really not looking out for your best interests in your partnership relationship as much as they are their relationship with you, and there may have been some building animosity since you’ve been distracted by your love relationship.

So, things are not going as well as you might like them to, and that’s when you find yourself in my office, or the office of any of my contemporaries, asking, “Is there hope for us?”

Relationship counselors make bank on your struggle in relationships. The more dysfunction, the more money the therapists make. When you come in as a couple, we get a hundred bucks. When you drift further apart and come in separately, we make twice as much.

We do our best to coach you through the 7 phases of love, and the further you progress, the easier it gets.

And we expend our greatest efforts to help you negotiate as we mediate and try to help you discuss and argue about your relationship endlessly, making agreements, and promises to each other in our presence, knowing that as soon as you leave the office, all bets are off.

It’s just deteriorated too much for far too long. You’ve tried to fake it till you make it, and you just can’t take it anymore.

But totally bailing out is hard, and frightening. I mean, take a look around at all the other relationships you can see self-destructing before your very eyes, and you’ve heard the horror stories. The heartbreak, the battles over this and that.

It’s no wonder you feel helpless, hopeless, like a victim, or a prisoner in your own life.

Can you make it work?

Yes, with enough hard work, if both partners cooperate, and pay a relationship coach to help level the playing field, you can find a way to make your relationship work.

Let’s face it, you’re two different people, and you’re supposed to aspire to becoming “one?”

Is that possible?

Yes, you can each remain to be fully yourselves, and combined, the two of you culminate in another entity, as a couple, your relationship is expressed as another being, not unlike a corporation, and incorporation of two souls into one entity.

But rarely does this happen naturally, usually, it is due to patience, sacrifice, and lots of hard, sometimes painful work. And amidst all the hard work and pain of trying to work it out, it’s easier, to say,

“I’m out.”

And if you bail out, the system profits wildly from your decision.

The system profits from two households being supported when there used to be one. Everything from toiletries to insurance rates and taxes go up.

There is hope?

And there is. And it can be summed up in these two words,

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Which sounds so wonderfully romantic.

What does it mean?

It means your partner will love and respect you 24/7. Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what we all want?

You want to be with someone who trusts you. Who doesn’t question you? Who allows you to be the person you really are?

You want this unconditional lover not to question your underlying motives, constantly asking about your whereabouts when you’re out of sight.

You want someone who loves you no matter what. No matter what challenges you may face in life. Just to be there, supporting you, in the knowledge that everything will work out okay.

If you need help, he or she will be there for you, supporting you, loving you, without accusation or judgment.

When you boil it down to its simplest form, you want someone who loves you unconditionally. Someone who will hold your hands tenderly yet firmly, look you in the eyes, and say to you from the bottom of their heart,

“I love you no matter what.”

No matter what you say, no matter what you do, I love you.

No matter what happens, what challenges you may face, I will be here for you, loving you, no matter what.

Wow! That’s it!

THAT is unconditional love, and we all want that.

Do you want that?

If you do, say it by declaring a resounding, “Yes!” (Yes.)

In order for you to get what you want, that unconditional love, you need to define what that looks like for you.

Take three minutes and write down at least 10 ways that you know you will feel like you are loved unconditionally by your partner. Ready? Go…

What are the ways you know you can feel totally loved and accepted unconditionally by your partner? Write them down.

Some ideas: Believes me, doesn’t argue, challenge or debate with me. Does not lay down the law. Doesn’t threaten the relationship by threatening to walk out. Loves me just the way I am, warts and all. Cherishes all the little things I do for us. Listens to what I have to say. Negotiates with me, so that we both can have what we want out of life. Wants to support and work with me for the greater good. Never raises his or her voice, threatens, or abuses. Wants to show me love when I need it, when I want it. Loves and respects me, my family, my hobbies, my potential.

Whatever it is for you, write it down.

This list represents how you know you are loved unconditionally.

You say, Oh, yeah, baby, I want a man or a woman, like that.

And if you’re in a relationship with someone, right now, unless you are our hosts today, Mark and Lynetta, you’re thinking I need to find someone, like that because my partner is not capable of being what I want.

And this is the one biggest key in a sustainable loving relationship:

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

If you really want it, let me hear it from you again, and say, “Yes!” (Yes)

Now, keeping all that in mind, here’s something that you might find as interesting as I do:

When I ask a client if he or she wants unconditional love, they enthusiastically declare how much they really want to be loved unconditionally, no matter what.

But when I ask them if they are willing to

LOVE THEIR PARTNER NO MATTER WHAT

Their response is a resounding,

HELL NO!

We want it. We want it more than anything, but we’re unwilling to give it, and therein lies the rub.

And that is why I developed the Awakening to True Love Workshop.

In these workshops, we take the love relationship to a whole new level, far beyond the 7 phases of love, where we work with people in traditional relationship counseling.

In traditional or “worldly love,” unconditional love is not possible because we get in the way of giving it. It’s not that we don’t want it, because we want it desperately, but, for the most part, we do not have the ability to give it within ourselves.

In awakened love, in contrast to worldly love, the couple is encouraged to focus more on truly loving one’s self, more than trying to impress or serve the other person in the relationship.

Once they’ve done the work of cleansing, removing blockages, and healing wounds from the past, they are in a far better place to truly love themselves.

Following this sacred work, the couple is able to fully open up and allow their love to overflow to the other partner.

The competition fades away and the two can truly become one. Both individuals, completely separate but together unlimited possibility and extremely powerful in the world working in perfect harmony.

We have a ceremony at the conclusion of the Awakening to True Love Workshop where we release all those things that stand between us and the authentic true love we desire, and send it off in a burning love lantern, and those things that held us back soars off with the glowing lantern.

And I’ve done this often enough to know, the question that is on your lips, right now:

“What happens, if it doesn’t work?”

It always works, 100 percent of the time.

Your lives can grow apart, and in an awakened love relationship, you can both agree to go your separate ways, no harm, no foul. Without guilt or blame, only love. True love.

This is the nature of true love.

If we are meant to be, then fine. If not, then, fine. God bless you, and God bless me, as we make our own way to our destiny, wherever that might be.

It’s a little like dropping your partner off at the airport.

I love you no matter what.

In awakened love, love is unconditional. I love me so much I can love you no matter what.

I love you no matter what you think.

I love you no matter what you say.

I love you no matter what you do.

And if we’re no longer meant to be? I love you then, too.

I love you enough to let you do whatever you need to do, even if it’s without me.

That is unconditional love.

My name’s David M. Masters, and you can find out more about me at davidmmasters.com

Awaken to true love, if you dare.

Drama or Dream

You have been charged with living out your journey as a human being on this planet. Yes, you came as a divinely inspired being with a purpose, plan, and your own song to sing, but likely have lost sight of this through the process of living your life to the best of your cognizant abilities.

With every breath you take every step you make in every moment of your life it is up to you to decide to experience episodic

Drama or Dream

The Choice is Yours

Any time you feel poorly, when you feel slighted, misunderstood, shamed, ridiculed, threatened, or victimized, it is up to you whether you will see this feeling and the scene that follows play out as drama or dream, the choice is yours.

If you feel, for any reason, your life is one with consummate drama, you will respond to any ill feeling in a way which charges the impending scenario with negative energy which will play out in a dramatic scene. Your response will feel justified in the outset but will have you feeling worse once the scene has played itself out.

On the other hand, if you respond to ill feelings with love, love will find a way to turn the scenario in a more pleasing direction. The charge in the Bible’s Matthew 5:44 supports this advice divinely, “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”

This concept is nothing new and was previously noted in Proverbs 15:1 with, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Simple social science at work, even thousands of years ago.

Let’s face it,

Life is a bitch

More like a drunk ass

Life will throw all kinds of opportunities for you to choose drama or dream, it’s a bitch, or more like a drunk who’s had one too many, who is invading your space or pushing your buttons.

If a drunk bumps into you, causing you to spill your drink (chocolate milk), it’s up to you to make a decision. Will you put a negative spin on this, or will you approach the situation with love?

Want drama?

Your initial reaction would be to push the drunk back, and no one would blame you for asserting yourself in the defense of your personal space. When you look into the drunk’s eyes, you can see a lifetime of pain welling up which turns to rage, and now you’ve got a fight on your hands. The repercussions of which could tarry on for some time depending on how the fight goes.

How about the dream?

Or, when the drunk bumps into you, you can smile, put your hand on his should and say, “Whoa, Nelly! What happened to your sea legs, sailor?” As you look into the drunk’s eye, you can see a lifetime of pain. When he looks back at you, seeing eyes filled with love and you’re smiling at him, he feels loved, even for the slightest moment, and this simple gesture, you’re showing a bit of kindness, may be the bright spot in the drunk’s day (possibly his entire life). He might even offer to buy you another chocolate milk.

Does it work every time?

Though it may look like it doesn’t, or it may look like an utter failure at the outset, your kindness is remembered. It may take time and some other kindness shown by others to break through the thick walls which people who have experienced a great deal of pain in their life have built around their hearts to protect themselves from ever being hurt again.

So, they may respond inappropriately. They may reject your kindness.

Instead of being offended, maybe you could muster enough love in you to have compassion for someone in this condition. For God’s sake, don’t point out that you are aware of the drunk’s condition. Just remember that if it weren’t for God’s grace, you might be in the same place as the drunk.

Even if you do not see the immediate rewards for your benevolent act, it does work every time. After all, he’s doing the best he can with what he has, and aren’t all of us just doing the same?

Just love him and bless him as he makes it through another day. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day for, maybe not, but we are no better than he, for in our own ways, we can be a little reckless and bump into things in life which catch us by surprise, too.

It’s on you, whether you live your life in drama or dream by simply choosing love over defense.

When Love Dies in a Marriage

You got married with the best intentions. When you got married you vowed to love each other for life, but something happens after you’ve signed your affirmation of love on the dotted line, the love you had begins to fade. What can you do when love dies in a marriage?

Love is like an ocean, with ebb and flow. There are good times, bad times, and most of the time you just sort of modulate within the “okay” sense of being neither good nor bad, just somewhere in between, finding the marriage somewhat tolerable.

Like incoming waves, your marriage is visited by incoming waves of love which nourish the relationship. Every seventh wave (as each relationship is different so is the time differential between waves of love) is good enough to make you feel good and strong enough to stay in the love cycle for another round.

The only problem as you stay in this cycle of love waves, the incoming waves of love decrease in their volume as your ocean of love evaporates and can dry up completely. This is when love dies in a marriage.

When your love has died, what’s the point of being at the beach at all? You think both of you would be better off just to cut your losses and go your separate ways, and the thought of revisiting another love beach is either vastly appealing or sounds like an ominous devastating idea inviting dissatisfaction and broken heartedness.

If you choose not to throw in the beach towel of love, you could alternatively choose to love again.

You can infuse your marriage with love just by being willing to step out in faith and recreate the environment of past love and reinvigorating your marriage by acting as if your love never waned.

All you have to do is to remember the way you felt and think about the things that you did when you felt you were overwhelmed by love’s magic spell. Back when you were in the throes of love, you did different things than you do today, You may have done anything for the object of your spouse. All you wanted to do was to express your love and feel the love emanating from your partner.

By doing the things that you did when you were “in love,” even though it doesn’t feel the same or like you’re just going through the motions, you will notice the feeling of love returning to your heart and countenance.

When you feel like love has died in your marriage, remember this…

Love is not dead. Love is, always was, and will forever be. Love is eternal.

You can keep your love ocean full and vibrant by turning on the tap of unconditional love.

Unconditional love is such a high concept and it is frightening for the average mortal to even consider. What? To love someone no matter what?

To say to someone, “I love you no matter what you say, no matter what you do,” just sounds like you’re inviting disrespect, pain, suffering, and abuse. You imagine nothing good could come from that because everyone is always out to get you or take everything from you and victimize you.

Just the idea of giving unconditional love, even though you want to be loved in this way, can make you feel angry.

Sounds like a lot of fear, and fear is the opposite of love. There is no love in fear, but often there is fear in love, and love cannot be raised to its highest form (unconditional love) in fear.

It starts with you. If you can allow yourself to tap into the unlimited source of unconditional love (God), you can have so much love for yourself that it overflows into the world around you.

In this state of unconditional love you can fully love anyone, even your loveless spouse, so much that you don’t require receiving any love in return. One person in unconditional love can sustain an otherwise loveless marriage indefinitely.

A common response of a loveless spouse in a marriage with one partner loving unconditionally is to reciprocate love, leading to a profoundly loving marriage between the two.

Love not only returns to the marriage, but it surpasses any love that has gone before. This is the power of true love which is unconditional.

Think about these things and when love dies in a marriage know that it does not necessarily indicate the marriage is dead. Love is all around and true love is lying in wait, ready to breathe new life into any relationship, eliminating fear, if you dare to release it.

Want to learn more? Consider attending an Awakening to True Love seminar near you

See you at the Soulmate Wizardry event.

Cheaters Have Nothing to do with You

It’s easy to internalize your frustrations if you’ve been with a partner who has been unfaithful. Cheaters have nothing to do with you. If you’re monogamous and committed to someone who is a cheater, when he or she has left, you might start questioning yourself. “What did I do?” or alternatively, “What’s wrong with me?” amongst other self-deprecating questions. When the truth is it’s about the cheater, not you.

Cheaters are gonna cheat. That’s just the way it is. You can change a cheater, it’s just the way they are hard-wired. Can a cheater change into a loving, caring, monogamous, and faithful partner? Yes. But you cannot change them. Only the cheater can change his or her life that drastically. Nothing you can do can change them.

Your first instinct is to blame yourself because you lack the full lovingness for yourself, so you question your worthiness, as all your insecurities rise to the surface, making you feel worse and worse about yourself, while the happy-go-lucky cheater is off on his or her next conquest.

Nothing is wrong with you. You are perfect in every way, only you do not realize it or know that all the love you seek resides within you waiting to be set loose in all its power and glory.

Lacking this true love from within, you will submit yourself to the endless abuse of not feeling as though you are not enough, questioning your authentic beauty, or over criticizing your income, weight, choice of apparel, hairstyle, mannerisms, possessions, family, beliefs, or any other endless possibilities that might make you feel less than worthy.

The choices other people make, the things they do, have nothing to do with you. You are for more inconsequential in the lives of people who have little or no regard for you than you might think. People just say or do stuff because their lives have led them to say or do this or that. That is all.

If it wouldn’t have been you, it would have been someone else.

You are not responsible for the life your ex- has lived up to this point and you can never know what is going on inside someone else’s head or heart.

In most (if not all) cases of infidelity or the inability for someone to make a long-term commitment comes from a lifetime of insecurity, fear, and/or abuse, every detail of which could never be fully known by any other person.

It’s up to you to look after your own feelings and sense of worthiness. You need to not let anyone have control over how you feel. In this way, you can reclaim your power from anyone who has threatened your otherwise sense of wellbeing.

If you let others to be responsible for how you feel, you would be just like your ex- who is constantly needing someone else to make him or her feel good. And when you make someone else responsible for how you feel, it works, but not for long.

If someone doesn’t like you the way you want them to, don’t feel bad. Be grateful that you found out when you did, because it could have been much worse had your relationship been allowed to continue in its dysfunction.

Your value is not determined by anyone or anything outside of yourself. Your preciousness comes from the love within yourself. Allowed to grow within yourself your love can expand and overflow to others and the world around you.

Without this unlimited source of love enveloping you, the best you can do is to mitigate your emotional state, with all its contradictions and inconsistencies, the best you can by applying emotional bandages (other people and what they think of you).

You are perfect, with all your imperfections, just the way you are.

You were born in love, full of love, and worthy of love, for you (in your truest essence) are love personified. Even if no one else recognizes your sacred divinity, it still remains true; you are pure love.

You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone, ever.

You love yourself enough to walk away from any relationship which is not in alignment with your highest and best.

You and your love is all the love you need, and when the right person shows up with a vibrational frequency with is alignment with your highest and best, nothing can stand in your way.

Great love is on its way to you.