Is Long Lasting Love Dead?

“What if we can capture some of these great, beautiful pieces of history before they are gone? And what if these stories help inspire others to live their own?

There was a time when you fell in love, you made a commitment and you stuck with it. Times are different now. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. We just need to pay close attention.

When travelers go and look at buildings in Europe they know that they are beautiful –they look in awe – because they represent a romantic era when things were different. They will never be built like that again. That’s what has happened to love, in a way. It’s as if  ‘We just don’t build them like that anymore’…

We need to capture our own love’s history in order to help preserve and write our future. And we can’t do it alone.”

~ DJ Pierce, Co-Founder, Global Glue Project

Global Glue Project’s mission is to help communities recognize the value of their great love stories and initiate a love preservation movement.  GGP wants to hear your story, your parents story, your grandparents story.  GGP wants you to go and video the sweet old couple who lives down the street from you and still goes for walks hand in hand.  They are collecting stories, and need to hear yours – because there is someone out there who needs to hear what you have to say, and it just might be the “glue” they need to hear to help them out in their own partnerships.

“Everybody that has somebody, has a story.  Everybody knows somebody with love, and can encourage them to tell their story. When you focus on the struggle people go through and see why some people stick together and some people don’t – that is what makes this unique.” ~ DJ Pierce

I interviewed DJ Pierce on his birthday.  Our 30 minute interview turned into a four hour pow-wow of sharing, laughing and feeling like we had brightened up each others corners of the world a little bit.  I shared with DJ that my parents are divorced.  My mom re-married after a scandalous affair that continues to show it’s ugly face.  My dad also re-married and the state of their relationship is ok, on their best day.  I have been in a relationship for five years and at times I feel a little lost. Where do I look for examples? Who has stuck it out and able to share what it takes to stick together.

Enter Global Glue Project, a call for action to preserve the great love stories of our time before they go extinct.

“This is like the great glacier melt – you see a glacier in 1920 and it is this massive glacier and now it is gone. My great grandparents were married for 80 years. This type of commitment is becoming extinct in our society,” says DJ.

DJ and his sister Gillian have joined forces to record and archive the sweet, rich and challenging tales and truths from the mouths of people who are living it, or have lived it and can share what they have learned. DJ and Gillian, both hailing from Boulder, CO (DJ travels back and forth from Boulder to New York City and works as an Executive Creative Director) have made their mission to find these endangered relationships and create a lasting memory of their story through video and media, so they have a place in history, forever.  The future database will serve as a learning tool for the community at large, to interface with advice from those who have found the “glue”, shared their story and now, through GGP, has found a living and breathing museum of the dying art of commitment.

“There is the component of preserving the wisdom from the 80 year marriages that are going extinct ( such as my great grandparents), that is one piece (of the project).  But, there is also this other component about the people out there that are perhaps newly together and are trying to make it work and could use community support to find inspiration. In terms of relationships, as far as support goes, there is therapy and self-help books, I don’t personally know of a resource of actual experience; how everyday couples that you admire make it work and a place to go to hear the wisdom they have to share.” ~ Gillian Pierce

I asked both DJ and Gillian a question posed to me by Elephant Journal founder, Waylon Lewis, in a recent interview about his thoughts on Global Glue.  He wanted to see what was behind “glue.”  What was the project going to do to support growth that is necessary for a healthy relationship in the individual and not just the “couple.”  Both of the visionaries behind GGP were passionate about sharing the importance of the individual path in a healthy relationship.

Gillian shares, “In my own experience, the only way to have meaningful relationship  by honoring yourself and honoring your partner at the same time.  The mission of GGP is not sticking together just for the sake of to sticking  together.  It is about  doing it joyfully and in a healthy way so that you’re both on your best individual path.  Some of this is in a a response to studies that say we are happier in relationships. For sure, this is a huge part of it.”

Global Glue Project at the Hanuman Festival in Boulder, CO June 16th-19^th

GGP + Hanuman Festival: a match made in heaven.  Come check out the GGP Love Booth in the Vendor Village where you can give a shout out for love, get some GGP gear and go on camera to share your story and the glue that keeps you together.

A Hanuman Honeymoon?  The Global Glue Love Stunt (and a love story)

Jason Magness and Chelsea Gribbon fell in love.  As DJ tells it, “I will never forget when I saw Jason just after he met Chelsea.  You could just tell there was something different about him.  He looked at me and just said, ‘I’m done.  I met the one.”

Jason and Chelsea are two of the forces behind Yoga Slackers, a team of eco-extreme-adventure yogis. They both practice yoga, sometimes on a slack line.  As I write this post, the two are tying the knot in California.  Less than one week after they say their vows, they will take another vow for GGP and the Hanuman Community.  They will vow to maintain physical contact for 36 hours. On Friday evening at the Gratitude Gathering Dinner , they will ceremoniously come together. The stunt is metaphorical illustration of how it can be a challenge for couples to face struggles head on and stick together despite them. GGP and the Hanuman Media team will document the entire 24 hour period from bathroom breaks to the much awaited acro/partner yoga demonstrations they are so well known for. “They have to be in the act of touching – it is about connection and trust,” says DJ of his newlywed friends.

Let’s Build a Love Preservation Movement

Call your Grandma and get your Flip Camera out.  GGP would love nothing more than to begin hearing your stories, from you and by you.  Until the website is launched, you can upload or share videos on their Facebook Page. Lets begin to build, preserve and learn from the great love stories that are around us, while they are still here. Here are a few questions that can help you get started. Just feel it out and watch where the love grows.

1. How long have you been together?
2. What is the hardest thing you have ever been through?
3. What is the glue that has kept you together?

“LOVE is a big industry.  GGP is trying to celebrate the truth about what it takes to stick together and it is really fucking hard.” ~ DJ Pierce

DJ shares of what it is like to work with his sis, “Every brother and sister goes through a period of Divine Hatred – close as kids, then grew apart and are now very close.  She took me to my first yoga conference.  We have a lot of the same passions in life.  She is very much a big reason why I want to do this (GGP).  Both of us having real experience of tumultuous relationships of our own, we both recognized how much it takes to have something successful. I personally feel very lucky to be doing something with my family.  Who is closer than your family?”