(All photos by Jade Beall, More below)

Three now. Three times I have been dumped by someone I loved so deeply. First time was my first love, when I was 15, he was 25. He left me for a super cool french woman much older than I and way more accomplished. I think I cried for a month straight after that heart-break. Next was my photography mentor when I was 27. The third was my best friend and the father of my beautiful child at a ripe 35 years old. And each time I have been surprised at how quickly I can spiral into complete overwhelming insecurity and how easily I simply feel unworthy: of everything. Why does this happen? I mean, I know that "it's for the best" each time, but damn my heart feels like it's a trillion little shards of beach glass: broken and scattered all over the planet, but still soft and precious. Have I not learned yet that broken hearts do in fact mend? Am I really that untrusting of my worthiness?

What I do know is this: each time that a beloved has decided to part ways with me, I have had the most unexplainable growth spurts. It's as if the act of being broken open releases the most sacred art, filled with tears and snot and hope and longing and deeper self-love and kindness. Each time I seem to instantly find a previously unknown community which wants to support my broken heart and my dreams. So I cannot help but wonder: Maybe I was looking to be broken, to unleash my full potential by sweeping up the shards...

I doubt I look to be broken by those who I wish to love, but I am sure now, 110% sure, that I will be patient and wait for a beloved who wants to both love and break: together. I want to be able to break open and be held and I want to hold him too! I want to laugh and cry and not scare someone away with my quiet Cancerian ways mixed with my wild extroverted self. I will wait, and in the meantime, I will work on mastering this precious self love and creating even more touching photographs that inspire sisterhood and: LOVE.

So what is the secret to mending a broken heart? Art. Tears. Pain. Hugs. Flirting. More art. Photographing Wise Women who pull me to their breast and say, "Oh honey, to live with an open heart is to live with the blessing of having it broken, to remind you of the beauty of healing and expanding. The body loves to heal."

Thank you to all my Wise Womyn who share their wisdom with me and who allow me to make images of them!