Happy Valentine's Day!!

I want us to do a little experiment.

Wherever you are, right now, as you're reading this, I want you to take a moment for yourself and really read my words with intention.

Valentine's Day is a holiday that typically quantifies and commodifies love, from when we're children all the way into adulthood.

How many Valentine's did you get? Do you have a date for a big dinner somewhere? Someone to spoon with, snuggle up with, get freaky with?

It's really sinister when you consider that there's absolutely no reason to quantify love, or turn it into a commodity, other than the world's obsession with earning money. For all its niceties and however pure intentions the holiday may have had in the beginning, now it's a battleground for corporations trying to shovel out the cutest gifts.

Love is a feeling, plains and simple. In most cases, it's given and taken freely, and at its core, it has no agenda; it just is. There's no limit to how much exists in the world, just as there's no limit to how much can exist within you.

Someone told me once, "Your problem is that you have too much love to give, and it scares people." And for a long time after that, I was always careful with how I expressed myself around others. Sometimes I still am. That statement really made me fearful of loving someone and it not being reciprocated.

My advice to you if someone has told you that you have too much love to give and it scares people, or if you're single on Valentine's Day and you worry that you'll be alone, or even if you are in a relationship there's no harm in reminding yourself that you need to practice self-love, too.

I want you to say, out loud to where you can here yourself because it's important to here, even if it's from yourself:

I am loved.

I am capable of love.

I am capable of achieving my own happiness.

The number of Valentine's, or gifts, or dates, or likes on my selfie does not equate how much I am loved.

I love myself.

I don't need others to love me in return for showing them love.

If reading these statements aloud to yourself doesn't help, try picking a few things about yourself that you like. It doesn't have to be physical aspects; whatever you value about yourself is important. Maybe you value your intelligence, or your athleticism, or your ability to write interesting stories. It doesn't have to be so big, either; there's just as much value in the mundane. Maybe you're really good at washing dishes, or the dogs are always calm when you give them a bath.

Words have power, and words with intention are even stronger. There's nothing wrong with wanting a bit more love in the world, and what better place is there than from yourself?

However you're celebrating, Happy Valentine's Day! <3