We all love differently. Even if tradition or institutions say otherwise, it is our human right to decide how we want to love and who we want to love.
These are the guiding principles that inspire how I strive to live and how I strive to love.

I strive to live in full truth and openness to myself and others around me.
It is about allowing everything that lives inside of me, whether these are physical sensations, emotions, thoughts, desires, needs or boundaries. Within the landscape of my truth, I shall strive to reach for vulnerability instead of defensiveness. I will honor myself and others by expressing my truth in openness and honesty. This includes expressing what I do not want or need.

It is about recognizing and taking responsibility for the effect I have on others. I recognize that my words and my actions affect other people, and I shall strive to live in a way that is mutually nourishing. I shall conduct myself ethically, making an effort to behave and communicate with clarity and integrity. I recognize that other human beings are autonomous souls worthy of love and respect, such as I am. I make an effort to respect others’ boundaries. It includes knowing that I am not entitled to someone else’s response towards me. It includes asking consent, not demanding. About helping the other person feel safe with expressing their ‘yes’ in words, actions, or simply their being, and helping them feel safe enough to gift me their ‘no’. When I am able to, and when others allow it, I commit to creating safety for those I come in contact with. To not shy away from difficult conversations, but to believe in the possibility of healing for all of us.

I believe in the good of my own being and those of others.
I honor the fullness of my whole being, knowing that I am worthy of love. It is about remaining patient with myself, to look at myself gently, with compassion. This grace that I extend to myself, I extend to others as well. I decide to trust the good in the people around me. I strive to trust the good behind their intentions and I’ll make an effort to understand the context surrounding their actions.
I commit to being curious about other people’s truths. To see people as multi-faceted beings with depth. I commit to seeing someone as more than just their opinion or attitude, especially if I happen to disagree with them. I commit to believing that there will always be more that unites us, than divides us.

I try to embrace opportunities to expand my love.
I shall strive to support the people around me with understanding and empathy. If I have a partner, I shall try to support my partner in getting the best adventure in life that they can possibly have. I will aim to support them as they need, and will do my best to help them feel safe, grow, and be able to express their joy and playfulness, while being mindful of myself. It is a promise to my partner that if they develop love or attraction for another human being, I shall commit to seeing the beauty in this.
I want to listen to my partner’s truth on what things mean to them, instead of being clouded by my own fear, or instead of believing the world’s narrative on what things mean.
I shall try to nourish the awareness of insecurities within me and will commit to distinguishing my own true boundaries from limiting fears that no longer serve me.
It is a dedication to see someone as an autonomous, worthy soul and to know that our love or that what is special between us does not have to be solely dependent on the way we structure our bond.
It is a dedication to celebrate connections happening like budding flowers blooming in a garden.
It is a hope that even if the structure of our relationship changes, we can openly and lovingly reattune to our own needs and can reconsider what shape of relating would now best suit both our needs.
It is a devotion to not think in black and white, nor assign superior morality over decisions I would make differently.
It is a deep commitment to allow everyone to live in full truth and acceptance.

It is about being courageous. A dedication to growth.
I shall not allow my fear to keep me paralyzed, to limit my world or my partner’s world. I believe in the value of going deep into, and straight through my deepest fears and coming out with gold. When I feel jealous or any other challenging emotion, I shall embrace my feelings gently and with compassion. I know that they can lead me to what is important and alive inside of me.
If my partner likes someone else, I shall not see them as personified fears projected, but as another human being.
Human beings on this journey of life, just like me.
‘She’, is me. A sister. My kin. Another part of the universe experiencing life.
It is about loving her as I love myself.
Allowing her as I allow myself.

This is about making my own rules.
Following my own blueprint.
Acting on what feels right to me. What makes sense to me.
Knowing that I have a choice on how to live and love, and knowing that every person alive deserves that choice.

I do not love less when I love more.
Society’s ideas of scarcity do not belong in me –
Giving, sharing, creating, celebrating my love, my attention and my sexuality do not diminish my value, nor the value of my love.
My love isn’t a shallow bucket that runs out when I give from it.
My love is the universe itself unfolding and expanding, endlessly.

 

Living ‘ethically open’, means that I strive to live in a way where I am open to myself, I am open to life and open to love in a way that is nourishing to myself and other people.

I do my best to help open up those people whose lives I touch, amongst whom my partner(s), friends, family and clients to life and to love, in the way that feels the most true to them.

 

As I am a living, growing being, this manifesto is the same. I might learn something new tomorrow, change my opinion, restructure my thoughts. And while I continue growing, today this is my truth.