Which rides have you tried?

Have you rode on a pendulum ride before?

Pendulum rides are a little like the swing sets you might remember from your childhood. Swings give you a feeling of weightless flying in a controlled manner. You pump your legs to provide enough force to increase the height of the swing's arc, and enjoy the increased velocity of the downward swing. When you stop pumping your legs, the swing gradually slows and then stops.

Pendulum rides tell us about the amount of effort needed to keep relationships going. Stop pumping and Love loses its momentum; and once it stops, it'll take more than pumping your legs to get it started again.

Have you rode on a Ferris wheel before?

Propelled by a motor, the wheel revolves at a slow and constant speed, so much so that the people onboard do not feel its ascending or descending motion.

Ferris wheels teach us about the subtle futility of unrequited love which its protagonist often deny; full of ups and downs, going round and round, and often ending up nowhere. Fortunately, unrequited love does end somewhere, and that's where we learn to get off and try other rides.

Have you rode on a free fall ride before?

Free-fall rides are really made up of three distinct parts: the ride to the top, the momentary suspension, and the downward plunge.

Free fall rides remind us of the transience of relationships; the blissful climb to beautiful heights, the free-floating weightlessness of being suspended in love and the forceful spiral downwards. Free fall rides remind us of this stark reality, especially when it hits you breathless on the way down.

Have you rode on a roller coaster before?

What you may not realize as you're cruising down the track at 60 miles an hour is that the coaster has no engine. The car is pulled to the top of the first hill at the beginning of the ride, but after that the coaster must complete the ride on its own. The conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy is what drives the roller coaster, and all of the kinetic energy you need for the ride is present once the coaster descends the first hill.

We ride roller coasters in our relationships too and it's not the conversion of potential to kinetic energy that keeps them going, its Faith. We may be uncertain of the direction we're headed sometimes, or whether we can surpass the obstacles that lay ahead. But somehow, once we're pushed up the first hill by Faith, all other hills are nothing.

Have you rode on a carousel before?

With its beauty and seeming simplicity, the carousel is a delicate balance of motion and forces. All the horses move in one complete circle in the same amount of time and yet the horses on the edge appear to be going relatively faster than those near the center.

Is the relationship spinning out of control for you? Carousel rides teach us to stop and take notice of the forces in our life; that all is not what it seems. If we gather up our courage and move away from our comfort zone towards the edge, we'll see much more clearly. And if the relationship becomes unbearable, we know we can always get off and try something slower.

Have you rode on a bumper car before?
Bumper car rides are designed so that the cars can collide without much danger to the riders.

Love should learn a few tricks from the bumper car; we should be allowed to crash into relationships and emerge unscathed, enjoying the whole bumpy ride with big smiles on our faces.

Life is indeed wonderful. We should be happy to "shit". Just shit whatever you like.

Like this! You gonna feel so much better!

Appreciate every single litle thing you've done to others. Appreciate how ppl much people dislike you. Appreciate how much ppl treasure you.