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On Valentine's Day, we are proud to wear
our hearts on our sleeves, on notebooks, gifts,
and anywhere we want to add a touch of how
we feel. Love is the word for the day and even
children join in the fun with heart-shaped cards,
candies with catchy phrases and boxes (heart-
shaped, of course) that hold chocolates to give
to mom, dad, grandparents, and everyone they
love and care for.
Valentine's Day is a wonderful opportunity to
show our feelings, our hopes for the future, and
our fond memories of the past. It should also be
a day that we show our love for who we are,
where we came from, and where we intend to go.
Wait a minute - loving yourself can go to extremes.
We can lavish great luxuries on ourselves, much to
the boredom of friends and those close to us, or
we can feel guilty about caring about ourselves.
There is a happy medium - a point that we can
touch on that will let our heart know we care
about the person it is beating for, and let our
family and friends know that if we care about
ourselves, we are well equipped to care about
them.
How do you show that you care about yourself
without becoming pompous and have an attitude?
Well, reaching out to others expands the circle of
people you know, bending a little to help others,
gives our rigid standards a bit of elasticity so we can
appreciate the feelings of others, and stooping to help
those who are down for the count actually makes us
taller and our own outlooks brighter.
Opening our hearts to those around us just gives strength to that
"ole' ticker" and letting even a stranger know that there
is room in this world for each and every one of them,
gives your space a bit more dimension. You see,
whatever you do to and for others will rebound. It
will make your life better, your hopes richer, and, not
to mention, like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, that
size 5 heart will stretch and expand to size 10, 20,
and really there is no boundary. This, however, is not
a health hazard. Your heart will be healthier, stronger,
bigger, lighter, and capable of loving more with each
endeavor. The more you give of it, the more you get
back. If you were in the business of finance, that is
a solid ground to build a future on.
Whatever you do this Valentine's Day, or the day
before or the hundreds of days after, be good to your
heart, and reap the rewards of loving and living in a
world where there is room for everyone, and we can
each have our own "space". The fountain of love
never goes dry, and the mine of diamonds and gold
never runs out of precious metals, and even outer space
is not the limit to what people can do once they get
started. Love yourself enough to love others and
ENJOY!
©Arleen M. Kaptur 2003 January
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