Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine was a third-century Roman Christian who died on February 14. The poet Geoffrey Chaucer and his circle probably invented many of the romantic legends about Saint Valentine, in the fourteenth century. 

Valentine made by a student of mine.

After that, it became a custom for a man to write a romantic poem to send to his beloved on St. Valentine's Day. Very fancy paper cards, with lace and ribbons, became popular in the 1840's, and that custom expanded into sending cards to Mom and Dad, and friends of all kinds.

Agenda today:
1. True Love

2. Brainstorm generosity practices
3. Make Valentines

1. True love:

I'm reading "Compassion is the Key to Everything; Find Your Own Path", by Alexandra Chauran (2016). The first chapter is Getting Along with Others Without Beating Yourself Up. S

he talks about loving everyone, especially strangers, with "true love and a warm heart." 

"Love for everyone should be honest and authentic, but it certainly doesn't have to match the intensity ... of love for one's child, parent, or spouse. ... True love must be carefully nurtured, as it can be damaged easily by something like a breach of trust".

The goal of loving everyone flirts with impossibility. She suggests we start with loving our neighbors, acquaintances, and colleagues. Start with smiling at people. Think to yourself, "I like this person," and then think about the things you do like about people - the directness and honesty of a neighbor, or the gentle shyness of the mail carrier; begin to replace these loving thoughts with all the negative, judge thoughts that fill your brain.

2. Brainstorm generosity practices:

Not quite 3-weeks old!

Generosity is one love habit I need to constantly remind myself to practice. When we are generous we share what we have freely - money, food, help, or time - without expectation of reward or return. We put full effort into looking after people. We are open-minded, give people the benefit of the doubt, and grant them our attention and life force. We are of service to the world.

Generosity begins in your heart. It requires extravagant love and alertness to other’s needs. Consider your growing edge with respect to generosity: What is holding you back? How can you increase the flow of blessings in the world? You might need to push past feelings of reluctance and fear to a place where generosity is spontaneous and fun. Or you might need to get creative with generous acts that fit into your schedule.

Every month, sometime after the full moon, I take some time to plan ways I can be intentionally open-hearted and open-handed in the next weeks. Queries:

How can I be more generous of spirit in my everyday conversations and interactions?

What do I have that I could share - money, help, or time? How can I use my natural talents to express love and care for people?

What is my role in the world around me? How can I be of service? How can I grow?

 

I make a list of small generous acts I might do this month, that will challenge my growing edge - starting with myself, then my household, my family, my neighborhood, community, and the earth. I might decide to give money or a gift, or simple acts of helping and sharing my time.

2. Make Valentines:

I like to make fancy valentines (instructions here), but his year I made two other kinds of valentines:

I made a collage-mixed media valentine that I worked on in Pixlr to add words, and sent to family and friends by email.

And I stamped a lot of hearts with my grandson that we are going to cut out and hang on trees as love notes to the earth.

1. We stamped on a paper bag, because the brown paper is earth-friendly and also strong enough to take abuse from a pre-schooler. Stamping with a not-yet-3-year-old is messy. We got a lot of ink on our hands!

2. We drew with oil pastels over the stamps. His attention wandered so we will finish this today.

3. We will cut these out in strips and punch holes, tie on string, then hang them around the neighborhood on our walks.