Valentine’s Day is hard for many of us. Some call it a Hallmark Holiday, and some are left feeling empty, or left out altogether.
I say that the problem isn’t the holiday itself, a day dedicated to love. It is the commercialization and, just as damaging, the fixation on one type of love. Romantic.
Those two aspects of the modern celebration are a recipe for disaster. So I thought I would take a few minutes and expand the concept.
We all get the romantic love thing. Even if we are “still single”. Even if we have been continually disappointed. Even if we just broke up. Even if we just lost our beloved to death.
And if any of these are true for you, please consider these other ways for love to enter you consciousness.
Love of family, if you have one. Especially the elders and the children. Maybe they too are lonely today. Reach out to the cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and siblings. And your parents if you still have them.
Love of friends, near or far. Today is a lovely day to acknowledge the ones that make you laugh, or go out with you on Saturday night. The ones who cheer your success and comfort your sadness. And you do the same for them. Friends are the family we choose for ourselves. Tell them you love them. It will come back to you.
Love for your own kids, grown or not. They will always need to hear your love and your pride. Today is a good day to let them know.
Love of our critters, sometimes the strongest love in our lives. I stopped saying I live alone years ago when I realized I was ignoring the 3 purring roommates. I would rather spend the day with critters I know love me than a mediocre date. Maybe you would too.
But love goes beyond our private world.
Love of community. There are people you interact with every day but perhaps don’t know well. Does the barista at your local cafe make you smile? That is love.
Do the people in your community get together and offer mutual aid? That is love.
Love of country. This has become fraught in the United States in recent years. But is still exists. And people all over the world love their country, and perhaps more, the land and culture that make up the country. Our common culture ties us together. This is something to meditate upon.
And, finally love of nature. Biophilia. We are undoubtedly in big trouble here. But as alienated as we are from the earth we live on and the trillions of species we share it with, and as much damage as we humans have done, there is nothing about this that love won’t make better.
We are hardwired to love the natural world, and it loves us back in a million different ways.
If you want to feel the love, go out for a minute, even if it is cold. Listen for the birds. Look at the trees or waters or mountains. You are a child of the earth, made of star dust, and connected to all that lives or ever lived.
And you don’t need dinner out, a box of chocolate, or a dozen roses to tap into that. We are in relationship to all that is, all the time. Just close your eyes and feel it…
Beautiful!