Today much of the world is celebrating Valentine's day, with lots o individuals spending their money on gifts, which express their love for their partners. It has become something of a custom now, and even children get involved, making cards to give to someone that they like. There is a romantic side to this widely celebrated holiday, but it is also big business as well.
In Christianity, today is the day to celebrate St Valentine, but their are origins of it dating further back to Roman times, to the fertility and purification festival of 'Lupercalia'. The Church certainly has a long history of claiming festivals and celebrations as there own, in an attempt to convert people, so no surprises there.
Fast forward to today and this day is hugely commercial, encouraging everyone to share their love, by way of purchasing material goods. As you can probably guess, I do not celebrate this holiday. I really don't wish to promote anymore consumerism in the world or to support this idea that you should express your love, by material means.
I am all for expression, I am all for love, but do we really need to cut down huge amounts of tree's, so that cards can be made in order to tell someone that we love them. Do We also really want to support the Rose industry, yes that is a thing. So many rose's are grown in poorer countries that experience severe droughts, leaving people with little to no water, so that this booming industry can survive.
When you look at the bigger picture, you can see that there is little love for people in general and even less for the environment!
I am not here to burst anyone's bubbles and by all means celebrate, but why the need to buy, buy, buy. When our actions, our small gestures, mean so much more. Doing things that come from the heart, are much more meaningful. Now is the time to be creative and spontaneous in the way that we choose to express our love.
It's also important to remember, that everyday is a wonderful day to celebrate love, we really don't need to be told when we should. ( Something that I also struggle with, being told what I should do and when I should do it).
These last two years, we have been told to lessen our contact with others, to abstain from hugging, from having physical contact with people whom we do not live with. We have become more suspicious and weary, at a time when we actually need to be nurtured most of all!
Love is so important, it is at the core of everything, whether it is a lack of it, a desire for it or a result of it. Us human's crave love, but first we must learn to love ourselves! Because those who crave it the most, tend to love themselves the least! So today, love yourself more and spread it out into the world!
(I have published the following poem on here before, but as I am talking about love, it feels right to share it again)
Love
The universal Beat That connects us all
It is bigger than you and I.
Love is the breath we take,
The Air that we breathe,
It surrounds us
and propels us forward.
Love carriers our messages
and carves out our memories
Love is the Earth beneath our feet,
The soil that feeds and nourishes us
It is The pulsating rhythm that drives us and inspires us
that leads to dream big and manifest our reality..
Love is the water that cleanses and anoints us,
the depths of which are beyond our comprehension.
Love is Fire
Fire that Creates, that transforms,
that consumes us.
Love is...........
Love is more than any words,
It is more than any feeling .
Love is the essence of our being,
It is who we are in our purest form.
Love is free and wild, it knows no limits, it has no boundaries.
Love is what LIFE IS ALL ABOUT.
Love is Living, breathing, it is believing.
Love knows no end, it goes beyond death.
It carries Pain, sorrow and frustration like a badge of honour.
Death is but another door way leading onto love.
Love carries us, it makes us, with love we are whole.
Love is the Universal Beat that joins us all together.
It is up to us, to strengthened it, to extend it, to help it weave it's way around.
Love is a force,
Love is a choice
How we live and die depends on how we choose to love.
Do not be afraid to open yourself up to love, to lose yourself to it.
Surrender to the beat and allow yourself to move as one, to be as one, to simply be in existence.
Love can be the simplest of acts,
yet the strongest of statements,
Your choice,
your life,
let love be your way!
