Here it is Valentine’s Day, a day to celebrate Love, and the sweethearts in our life. Celebrating Love, now wouldn’t that be a great thing to do each and every day, not just as an opportunity to purchase cards, flowers, chocolate, although they are all nice to receive from time to time. For me, Love is something I want to wrap my head around, not just my hugging arms, exploring all the ways I can be more loving, more compassionate, and kind. I notice that I ‘m not feeling the Love, every time I get snappy, or nudgey as my husband would say. Every time I judge another’s thoughts, actions or choices, I’m not feeling the Love. Every time my ego says I am better in some way than someone else or every time I don’t love myself and respect how I care for my body, mind and spirit, I’m not feeling the Love. I physically, mentally and in my soul, know that I’m out of sync, when I lose touch with the needs of my community, as well as the global needs of my sisters and brothers everywhere in the world. Where is the Love?
Last year on Valentine’s Day, I had my 3 year old grandson with me. We made a bag full of pink and red paper hearts. We glued them onto garden sticks and paraded around the house and I taught him the Beatles song, “All you need is Love.” He had a blast and got to sing it for his Mom, my daughter, when she came to get him. Sounds so simple, all you need is Love. With our full schedules, our consumer driven society, our neediness and feelings of scarcity, love would certainly be a quality to welcome into our day to day experience. Actually, I would like to notice the Love around me in every moment. I imagine in my mind how wonderful that would feel.
So while many people probably got thrown off by the snowstorm yesterday and weren’t able to purchase the beautiful card with inspiring words about Love, it is an opportunity to practice being more loving. I want to parade around the house singing, “All you need is Love”, I want to do something kind for another human being or tell my husband, kids and grandkids how much I Love them, even though they drive me crazy at times or break my heart. I want to be more loving to myself, caring for my body with good food and playful movement, thinking loving, peaceful and positive thoughts. I want to be of service to my neighbors, near and far, with the smallest acts of kindness. I want to LISTEN more deeply to the needs of Mother Earth, Love her more sincerely. I want to practice Metta, the meditation of loving kindness which reminds me that we all deserve to be loved. But really, honestly, at the beginning and end of the day, it all begins with me loving myself. From that place of self-love, I find the resources to Love this beautiful world and all the precious people in it.
