A Day to Honor Love

Happy Valentine's Day.

A very dear friend of mine recently expressed the view that she 'hates' this holiday.  It is an understandably popular sentiment. In fact as far as the commercialism behind it, I can agree that this holiday is largely phony and disgustingly forced.

However, I thought we might go back to the Greek origins, or even the pagan ones, for a moment, and celebrate something I think we all should cherish above all: Love.

To quote the post modern stylings of the bohemian ideals in Baz Lurhman's Moulin Rouge:

Love is a many splendored thing, Love lifts us up where we belong! All you need is love!

Yes, yes, yes.  I know.  You'd think people would've had enough of silly love songs.... NOPE!

So yes, Valentine's day has become a machine of meaningless tokens, gaudy stuffed animals, and vomitous pink & red decor.  It seems designed to make the unattached ones of us feel miserable, lonely, and depressed.  TV, movies, and media flood the collective conscious and highlight with over-bright, glaring clarity the seemingly fiery chasm that separates the couples from the singles.

But.

But let's just forget all that hallmark, lifetime, Nora Ephron baloney for a moment.  And let's think about love.  Romantic love, sure, but let's not pigeon hole or narrow our scope unnecessarily.  Let us take a day out of our busy, bustling rutines and give pause, and honor that marvelous force, LOVE.

Much has been written about Love over the centuries, and I'm certain I have nothing pithy or earth-shattering to add here on a backwater blog.  I would however, like to share with you some of the ideas I have cultivated over the years; some of the philosophy I have come to hold as true, and some of the wisdom Aaron and I would like to employ when we raise our children.......

*****

Love is the greatest power in the world.  It is primal, it is visceral, and it is real.  Love is instinctual, it is within all of us, it is universal and enduring.  

Love knows no bounds.  It knows no restrictions, it heeds no man-made rules or conventions.  Love who you love regardless of gender, race, color or creed.  

There are many forms of love.  Friendship, Romantic, Familial, and basic human compassion.  All love is invaluable, and without it we are lost.  Cherish all forms of love that you find in this world.  Protect love, defend it, sing its praises and virtues.

Love can heal.  It can save.  It is as essential to the soul as breathing is to the body.  It gives us strength, it gives us courage.  Love gives and gives and gives.

Give yourself over to love.  Love completely and without regrets.  You may get hurt; don't put up sheilds and walls around your heart for fear of getting hurt.  Pain, heartache, loss?  These are all part of the experience of loving fully and completely.  It has been said ' 'Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all'  and this is absolute truth.  It is better, by far, to open yourself to love without hesitation, to allow the soaring ecstasy of it, the pure golden joy of it, then to reserve aall or a portion of your heart for fear of inevitable pain and end up not fully experiencing the entire breadth and depth and height and expanse of LOVE.

Learn what the artists, the poets, and the songwriters have to say about love, but don't let it give you tunnel vision!  There is no 'right' way to love.  If the love is honest, if it is true, then it is real, and it is no less valid than any story, however famed and revered.  Just because your love story does not look like anyone else's, does not make it any less a love story.

Love breeds inspiration, it gives us wisdom, it teaches us daily.  It is a spark, it is a hearth fire, it is a tempest and a warm hand in ours, on our back, cupping our cheek.  Love is truth, it is beauty, it is life, it is history and future.  Love links us to humanity and to the gods, both.  It is earthy and real, and it is heavenly and ephemeral.  It is as permanent as it can be illusive.  As enduring as it can seem fleeting.  Love will triumph over any and every other force in this life.

Above all, be honest in love.  Be generous with yourself.  Abandon pride, but never lose yourself in obsession or subjugation.  And trust.  Trust in love, trust your heart, trust what instincts nature gave you~ but do so honestly.  Don't be fooled by the stuff Valentine's Day force-feeds us.  Look for true emotional connection.  For intimacy, not just physicality. 

Believe in love.  Nurture it.  Gift it to others and be grateful when it is gifted to you.  Honor love and those you love and those who love you.  

******

I am so very fortunate to love very deeply and fully.  I have so much love to give, and want to gift it to some remarkable people.  I hope I do this every day, but it can't hurt to take one day out of the year and really stop to tell people how much you love and value them.  

So, my friend, I hope, today, this year, that you find a little room in your heart to love this day afterall.  Because you are full to brimming with love and passion and warmth.  So, in that context, let me say:  I love you very much, and Happy Valentine's day.  XOXOXOX