February is the month of love. And while greeting card companies push romantic love this month, I urge you all to look at things a little differently. Sure, it’s nice to receive cards, chocolates, and flowers from a partner, and to give those types of gifts, but perhaps love should not just be reserved for the handful of close people in your life or for one Hallmark-card holiday a year.
Love exists in many forms: the love you have for yourself, your husband or wife, your children, your mother and father, your family and friends. But I think it’s important, too, to have some degree of love for the stranger standing in line behind you at the grocery store or passing on the street. And love for animals, your own and those waiting at the shelter to be adopted. A love for nature, the fallen leaves, the morning mist, and even the gray, rainy days.
Living life with love at the forefront has the power to transform your days — the power to place you in the present moment, to feel empathy and compassion, to better be able to lift up and support those around you, to better understand that we humans all suffer at times and that a smile or kind word can turn around a not-so-great day.
I say this not at all to diminish the importance of giving love to those closest to you. That’s love of a different kind. If you’re married or in a relationship, that’s the bond that carries you through each day. That type of love morphs over time — from stars-in-your-eyes, melty-heart love to love that looks like helping out with dishes, watching the kids for a few hours so your partner can have some “me time,” or just listening to them vent when they’ve had a rough day. If your romantic love doesn’t always feel so romantic, give “Keeping the Spark” a read. In that story, local relationship counselors weigh in on ways to fan the flames.
If you’re alone this Valentine’s Day, remember that you aren’t actually alone. Remember that love doesn’t always look like a heart-shaped box of chocolates or a red rose. It can be a slobbery kiss from your dog, a laugh shared with a stranger in an elevator, an appreciation of a cloudless, starry night, or an acceptance of yourself just the way you are. There’s a lot of love in this world — you just have to be willing to give and receive it.
Shara Clark
Editor