Bonnie Raitt is an incredibly expressive and soulful singer.  One of her saddest and most beautiful songs is “I Can’t Make You Love Me.”  It speaks to the pain of love gone wrong.  It’s about loving someone who doesn’t love you back.  It’s about saying your last goodbye.  It’s about “giving up the fight”.  This song has wisdom.  You can be beautiful and wonderful and amazing in a million different ways, but if someone, for whatever reason, doesn’t want to be with you, your only choice is to walk away.  You can tell them what you feel.  You can tell them what you want, but if they don’t feel and want the same, you only lose by hanging on.  You lose the opportunity to be with someone who can love you.  You lose the opportunity to be happy, to be joyful and to be free.  Feel the sadness of losing someone you love.  Grieve your loss, but have the strength and the courage to let go and to start over.  Leave the door open for someone to love you fully, completely and with their whole heart – the way love is supposed to be.

Lessons Learned:    

• If someone doesn’t love you and want to be with you, walk away.  You can’t make them love you.  Leave the door open for someone who can.