Traditionally, Valentine’s Day is when we shower those we love with flowers, chocolates, and gifts as expressions of our love.
Expressions of love are fine.
But caring for love is better.
Today, I want to inspire you to take care of your love. To treasure, pamper, and exalt love to the highest place in your life.
I want to encourage you to look past one day of love to a lifetime of love. I want you to do that by honoring your body and emotions, and the body and emotions of those you love.
Why?
Nowadays, people take love for granted. They devalue their bodies, negate their emotions, and invalidate loved one’s opinions. And when that happens, love fades and the spirit withers.
That doesn’t have to be the story of your life.
Here are 10 ways to nurture and take care of your love now and forever.
10 Ways to Take Care of Your Love Now and Forever
In 1969, Dr. Leo Buscaglia taught his first class on love at the University of Southern California. His non-credit class, Love 1A, was in response to the tragic loss of one of his students to suicide. The news that she killed herself had an enormous impact on him, and it irrevocably changed his approach to love. “To love others you must first love yourself,” became his mantra.
Here are five ways to take care of your love this Valentine’s Day through honoring and loving your body and emotions:
1. Create balance and harmony in your life.
Balancing your needs is essential to taking care of your love. It’s important to know what you need and give yourself what you need each day. Work, play, rest, activity, contemplation, expression, all must be in balance and harmony.
2. Speak your truth.
Truth is personal. It’s also subjective. But it’s yours. Speak it. Say what you need to say when it’s right for you to say it. Speak up for yourself. Acknowledge your hurts. Let people know your truths.
3. Trust your intuition.
That still small voice within is your ally. It is wise. It has strength. It has deep knowing and sensing about what’s right for you. Listen to your intuition. Act accordingly.
4. Nourish your body.
One of the best ways you can take care of your love is to nourish your body with food that is healthy and satisfying. Instead of eating any old thing, listen to your body. It will always inform you of what it needs for nourishment.
5. Love your life.
Love what you do. Do what you love. This is the essence of what it means to be true to you. Stop doing what you don’t love. Stop trying to be someone you aren’t and have the courage to live a life that you do love.
In The Prophet, Khalil Gibran wrote, “Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.”
Philosophers, writers, and poets speak of love as a quality that makes our experience richer – more colorful, alive and meaningful. It transforms the mundane routines of our daily lives into something larger and more significant. The experience of love connects us with all humanity and nature across time and space.
Here are five ways you can honor someone else’s body and emotions:
6. Respect the other’s body.
Respect means only doing what feels respectable and honors the other’s wishes. At all times. In everything. From lightly touching to deeply making love.
7. Respect the other’s emotions and thoughts.
Respecting another’s emotions and thoughts doesn’t mean you agree with what they’re feeling or speaking. It means you hear what they are expressing and are validating their emotions and thoughts. Always validate. Never dismiss.
8. Trust the other’s intuition.
Just as I talked about the importance of trusting your intuition in my previous blog post, so too, we must trust another’s intuition. It’s not about being right. It’s about honoring what that still small voice within the other is saying. Take it seriously. It’s their truth and needs to be accepted.
9. Lovingly support the other in meeting their needs in healthy ways.
Notice I didn’t say for you to meet their needs. I said to support them in meeting their own needs. Don’t laugh at their choices and don’t manipulate them in another direction. Offer loving support even if you don’t agree.
10. Respect the other’s integrity.
You have your truth. And so do they. While their truth may oppose your truth, that’s okay. Remember that each person has a right to their decisions and their truths. And the right to act on them. That’s integrity.
This is the month of love. The time when we reflect on our inner love and how we express that love to others. Take care of your love. Because if you don’t, you’ll miss out on the most beautiful experience of life – deep, abiding love. So this month, treasure it, pamper it and exalt love to the highest place in your life with these 10 tips on how to take care of your love.
