It’s about three weeks until that dreaded Hallmark consumerfest known as “Valentine’s Day.” Some of my consumer clients for whom I write newsletters have already begun to use the holiday as an excuse to get people to buy Buy BUY! There’s nothing wrong with that inherently; I’m a firm believer in capitalism, and after all, if someone provides a service or consumable that you use, you’d want to pay them for it, right? I thought so! That’s why I have the Patreon Page, after all (just joking) (well, mostly).

But the idea behind Valentine’s Day – the idea of a day spent with a focus on the feeling of love – is a pretty neat one. Why not? We have days for patriotism, days for giving, days of remembrance for all sorts of things. The thought of a day dedicated to love is actually kind of neat.

Let’s speculate: if we were going to use the next twenty-one days to get ready for our own love celebration, how might we divide up our time and efforts?

Week 1: It’s About You

I’d spend time getting to know my own relationship with love, first. I’d spend time looking at photos of myself and my loved ones, both past and present. I’d read my own journals, go through my music collection, pull out all the old Love posts from the past like this one and this one and this one. I’d take the time to remember what it feels like to experience the different kinds of love, and start to get an idea of what my own Lover’s Day would look like. Maybe it’s familial; maybe it’s romantic; maybe it’s communal, filled with volunteering for the community and doing random good deeds.

I’d spend time meditating, listening to what my monkey mind had to say about love. Seeing where the fears were, where the blocks came, where I was avoiding facing something. And maybe, perhaps, I might want to think about using Lover’s Day as a send off for that.

Next week we’ll tackle part 2 (working title: It’s About Them). But meanwhile, if you had a magic wand and could turn February 14th into the Lover’s Day that you wanted…how would you start? What kinds of things do you keep inside that might want some attention on this one day in February?