of your main tasks in this book is to shed some light on the unhealed corners of your heart. Super Sight helps you to look bravely at the previously unseen wounds that are keeping you stuck in your pain and anger. It allows you to remove the blinders you have put on to shield you from the truth.
If you find yourself complaining that you are always blindsided in relationships or that you keep repeating the same patterns even when you know they aren't in your best interest (or even go in the opposite direction of your goals), then strengthening this superpower will help you. I had to develop Super Sight to see why, even though I felt like a strong woman with high self-esteem, I found Mr. X's love far shinier and brighter than my love for myself. I had to root around in those dark corners of my heart to revisit losses I had previously experienced and shine some light on them as well. I had to have Super Sight to see what needed to be cleared away in order to uncover why I was drawn to Mr. X, and I had to rediscover the sparkle that he saw in me. I had to see it for myself to believe it and own it.
SUPER HEARING
Super Hearing allows you to hear your inner voice and follow its direction in spite of negative, disempowering chatter. You can regularly hear guidance from God, Spirit, your inner knowing, nature, or whatever higher power you acknowledge. This is the one voice that you can always trust—the one that will lead you to your highest heights. Being able to hear it clearly is a priceless gift worth pursuing.
If friends complain that you don't listen, if you have your own inner monologue that distracts you, or if you are always going nonstop, then honing this superpower will help you quiet the noise and recognize clear guidance. It helped me hear the call of love so I could move toward opportunities to love and be loved, and be of greater service to others.
SUPER HUMILITY
When you have Super Humility, you are more able to express gratitude for and acknowledge the perfect way that the Divine works through you in your life. You see as much perfection in the moments that look and feel challenging as you do in those that seem flawless. You can acknowledge the extraordinary forces that are greater than you and allow them to strengthen and open your heart even more.
If you find yourself complaining often or wallowing in self-pity, if you think that you have to do everything alone or are easily frustrated or angered by life, then cultivating humility will change your perspective. I developed my own mantra while working on this superpower: Everything is perfect just the way it is and just the way it is not. When I am swinging through the jungle of crazy emotions, I grab onto this mantra like a sturdy vine to bring me to safe, firm ground.
SUPER SELF-LOVE
Super Self-Love will help you prioritize your heart's recovery, strength, and vitality. Through it, you will be able to tap into feeling supremely loved no matter who is around you or what the circumstances may be.
If you have a pattern of saying disparaging things about yourself, if you bow out of the game of life or habitually deflect compliments, words of appreciation, or love, then you likely need to develop this superpower. And if you feel incomplete without a partner, this power is especially important to develop.
Practicing self-love helped me feel more comfortable in my skin than ever before, to know that I am just as powerful when single as I am in relationship. It taught me that the source of all love is right inside me. It always has been and always will be.
SUPER ALIGNMENT
Super Alignment allows you to tap into your highest truth at lightning speed and transcend that which stands between you and your inner knowing. You become your own divining rod, aligned with your spirit's center at every juncture.
If you think of yourself as someone who is in control, always knowing what is right and wrong—if you can be thrown off your game easily or if you push away opportunities or requests to be vulnerable—this power will serve you well. This superpower allowed me to turn inward and ask the questions that can bring me most expediently to my highest purpose and my divinity—questions like “What is my truth right now?” or “How can I best serve my soul's purpose?” And I always receive a clear answer.
CULTIVATING YOUR SUPERPOWERS
The five superpowers work together to make the Mighty Flame grow. Focusing on one power at a time can be effective, because each power reinforces the next, and each effort feeds the Superhero of Love. When you are feeling out of sorts, let yourself be guided gently toward the power that calls to you. As you do the work to develop all five powers, new traits and opportunities will reveal themselves along the way:
An availability to love more deeply and vulnerably
The desire to veer away from fear, anger, resignation, and apathy, and move toward love
More time to give love to your friends, family, pets, or even strangers
Far less negative chatter
Courage to look at your shadows and dive deep for the gems
The ability to dip into your inner knowing at a moment's notice
An abundance of synchronicities and moments that make you say: “That just gave me goose bumps!”
The absolute knowing that you are loved exactly as you are and exactly as you are not.
And in case you just went through this list with some level of impatience, cynicism, or distrust—believe me, I have been you—I'm going to repeat the last one: You are loved exactly as you are and exactly as you are not. Take a sip of that magic elixir. Let it seep into your heart. That superhero dose of love is just one of many you will receive on this journey.
This book will give you many tools to unveil the Superhero of Love inside you. If you can muster up some courage, open your heart a wee bit, and do the exercises, by the end of the book you will be Love Strong—able to love and be loved more than ever before.
Your love has the potential to make a huge difference in your life and in the world. Every person whose heart we spark with our hearts has the ability to spark another. Imagine a world of superhero hearts. Imagine a world of hearts whose pain no longer informs their words and actions, where saboteurs are tamed and Mighty Flames burn bright. Imagine a world full of Superheroes of Love.
Your Love Strong mission starts now. All it takes is a willingness to tap into your very own superpowers. Trust me, if I've got them, you've got them! You will be shocked at how easy it is to uncover them.
Let's begin.
Chapter 2
ORIGIN STORY
Before fixing what you're looking at,check what you're looking through.
Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
All superheroes have an origin story—the legend of how they came to be and how they ended up with their superpowers. Spider-Man had his radioactive spider bite. Wonder Woman had the Greek gods. I had my Mr. X.
We met online. I was feeling pretty good about myself at the time. I felt as if I were a great catch who had a lot to off er in a relationship. I was blessed with a full and happy life—friends, travel, and work I loved. I had been single for a few years and had worked a lot on myself during that time, stretching my heart and mind as best I could, increasing my integrity so I knew myself to be my word. I had just started taking tap-dancing lessons as a fun way to get out of my physical comfort zone. So, yes, I was even trying to expand the scope of my body's limits. I was excited to get back to learning the lessons that only intimate relationships