Photo by the absolutely amazing Cliff Brunk.

our vows

Steve and Sierra, do you pledge to help each other to develop your hearts and minds, cultivating compassion, generosity, ethics, patience, enthusiasm and wisdom as you age and undergo the various ups and downs of life?

Recognizing that the external conditions in life will not always be smooth and that your own minds and emotions will sometimes get stuck in negativity, do you pledge to see all these circumstances as a challenge to help you grow, to open your hearts, to accept yourselves, and each other?

Do you pledge to avoid becoming narrow, closed or judgmental, and to help each other to see various sides of situations?

Understanding that just as we are a mystery to ourselves, each other person is also a mystery to us, do you pledge to seek to understand yourselves, each other, and all living beings, to examine your own minds continually and to regard all the mysteries of life with curiosity and delight?

Do you pledge to preserve and enrich your affection for each other, and to share it with all beings? To take the loving feelings you have for one another and to radiate this love outwards?

Understanding that you will sometimes wound one another, do you pledge to keep your vision of each other's potential at the forefront of your mind, to give each other the benefit of the doubt and to trust in the good intentions of each other?

Do you pledge to remember the disadvantages of ignorance, anger and jealousy, to apply antidotes when these arise in your minds, and when you must fight, to fight fair?

Do you pledge to work continuously for the welfare of others, with all of your compassion, wisdom and skill?

Do you pledge day to day, to be patient with yourselves and others, to know that change comes slowly and gradually, and to seek inspiration from your friends and family not to become discouraged?

Do you pledge to continuously strive to maintain the awareness that you are each responsible for your own happiness, that though you will be partners, friends, and lovers, you are ultimately responsible for your own needs being met?

Do you pledge to prod each other to swing at every curveball, to say YES to your adventure, to jump off cliffs with both feet?

Do you pledge to create a home and family where laughter is encouraged, respect is mandatory and everyone is welcome?

Do you pledge to encourage each other to follow your passions; to help each other find ways to integrate them into your lives and the life of your marriage so that you will never lose your connection to yourselves and your source?

Do you pledge your super-secret vow?

Do you pledge to let the losses you have experienced in your lives be a tender reminder that life is both fragile and fleeting, so that you may be generous with your love and gratitude, making its expression a daily practice toward each other and all whose lives connect with yours?

Understanding that life is as much a wild, outrageous poem, inviting you to play, as it is an ordered piece of prose, requiring your earnest efforts, do you pledge to seek out adventure, magic, wonder, joy and beauty?

Do you pledge to accept one another’s being, and at the same time, with lightness of heart and not a heavy hand, encourage each other’s becoming?