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Happy Valentine’s Day! Today we celebrate love from all angles. Whether it is a 45-degree or 90-degree angle, take a moment to sense all the love that surrounds you—our families, friends, colleagues, pets, our planet, and within ourselves—with the help of Cupid’s arrow guiding the way.
Last year I spent some time learning about love languages and how we express and receive love. Developed by Dr. Gary Chapman’s book, The Five Love Languages include:
#1 Words of affirmation
#2 Acts of service
#3 Receiving gifts
#4 Quality time
#5 Physical touch
And more recently, two additional love languages have been added:
#6 Intellectual
#7 Emotional
What was interesting to me during this learning experience was self-discovery. The way I show love to others may or may not be the same way they want to receive love because we are all different. This is a good thing. It helps us understand how we can build and strengthen our relationships with others by the touch points that resonate with us most.
My initial thought was to discover how I express my love to others. How can I help others feel special, loved, and appreciated? As a poet and author, I gravitated most to words of affirmation, followed by acts of service. But honestly, I feel I give a part of me to the relationships in my life that support their needs, so this changes. Many times, it is being the listening ear after a long and hard day. Other times, it’s the emotional connection of understanding what someone is going through and how I can lift their spirits through a difficult time.
On the receiving end, I thought about how I treasure love. This immediately got me thinking about what brightens my day.
For Valentine’s Day this year, my husband surprised me with a single paper rose in a plastic case with LED lights that twinkle. It reminded me of the galaxy of stars and the endless possibilities that love shows us. While this is a gift I appreciated, what made me cherish this more was not the gift in and of itself, but the special meaning behind what he wanted to convey. There was no card included. He didn’t need to use words. I remember at one point he told me I’m the bright spot in his day.
Love shines from within and if we look hard enough, love is located around every corner. Love is self-compassion, being kind to ourselves in times of stress, knowing we are doing the best that we can, not comparing ourselves to others, embracing and learning from our mistakes, forgiving, letting go, and pressing forward to future opportunities.
I realize the possibilities for love to exist are endless, maybe that is why there is a little hole in my big heart—to capture love but let it escape often.
Today I invite you to think about how you express love to the world around you and how you receive love. Is it the same or different? Think about how you show love to yourself.
Whether you feel the sting of Cupid’s arrow from any direction, remember love is like the cosmos—it knows no boundaries. No matter near or far, the love you give others can make a positive impact on their lives.
I’m cheering for you!
