....Valentine's Day

 

Yogis,

I did not intend to write about Valentine’s Day.  In fact I nonchalantly try to ignore Valentine’s Day completely.  But with statistics like these, it isn’t easy to do…………..

Valentine’s Day Statistics	Data
Average annual Valentine’s Day spending	$13.19 Billion
Number of Valentine’s Day cards exchanged annually	180 Million
Average number of roses produced for Valentine’s Day	196 million
Percent of Valentine’s Day cards bought by women	85%
Percent of flowers bought by men	73%
Percent of women who send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day	14%
Percent of consumers who celebrate Valentine’s Day	61.8 %
Percent of women who would end their relationship if they didn’t get something for Valentines day.	53 %
Average number of children conceived on Valentine’s day	11,000

 

I have always found Valentine’s Day to be somewhat awkward.  A specific day on the calendar where the pressure is on to express your love in some outward way.   I know….I sound like a scrooge.   It is just a little too “pink” of a holiday for me – and those of you that know me well know I am not a pink person. 

 

Chocolates with a surprise, and not necessarily a good surprise, center.  Carnations.  Red hearts, candy hearts and teddy bears.  You’re mine.  Love forever.  Dates.  Dinners.  Romance.   It makes me feel boxed in. 

 

The irony of it all is that what I teach is love.  Opening the heart, rising to the vibration of love, feeling love, being love…………..and Valentine’s Day, after all, is the day of love.  So why do I resist it so much?

 

I watched on Friday.  First, I let my husband know that I didn’t need anything for Valentine’s Day.  In the last 7 weeks we have celebrated Christmas, New Year’s, my birthday and our anniversary.  In fact I never thought about it before, but did you realize there is a holiday in every single month except August?  Not even counting your birthday. 

 

So a usual work day, with a few “I love you” notes sent out.  But not because of the holiday – although that did prompt the thought – but because for the last few years I have really worked on saying it.  Those three simple words that I can be stingy with at times.   Again, why?

 

An evening of yoga and dinner in Bethesda.  Couples everywhere with women in dresses, teetering on high heels, roses in the arms of many.   A long line at Georgetown Cupcake and teenagers holding hands.  Champagne and set menus.  Me…..in my jeans and wool sweater with a beer.

 

I don’t know that I have an answer to share.  The trite answer would be that I just oppose the commercialization of it, which I do with so many of our lovely holidays, but it isn’t just that.  It is something deeper.

 

Love, when experienced in its truest expression is pure joy.  It is explosive, filling and radiates.  It is unconditional with no expectations of anything in return.   It is our true nature.  It is us.  And when experienced, there is less and less of a need to receive things.  You are so full there is no lack.  Once I discovered the inner energy of love, my desire to share it is more through deep connections, touch, hugs and looking others right in the eye.  Being there completely. 

 

But…….somehow Valentines’ Day made its way in through the back door.  During yoga class I looked down and noticed that I was wearing my new top which happens to be “pinkish”.  During dinner I found that my sweater was a deep red.  The full moon shone down with her magnificence on the ride home.  And as I began to run the tub and poured in the new bath salts I made that very afternoon…….I realized that I had blended them with white and red rose petals and rose essential oil.  Ok Universe, you got me!  Darn……maybe I am a closet romantic.   

 

Finally I have to share a new Valentine’s tradition that my parents discovered this year.  On Thursday they admitted to each other that with all of the storms they had last week, neither had gotten out to get a card.  So on Friday morning my father proposed to my mom that they go together to CVS, pick out a card for each other, exchange and read them…..and then put them back!  It is brilliant on so many levels!

 

I love you all!

 

With an open heart (even if I don’t like jelly in my chocolate),

SARAH