Love is space and time measured by the heart.” Marcel Proust

It’s Valentine’s Day. In stores & in our social media feeds it’s all LOVE, LOVE, LOVE & mushy sentiment for the masses. Sweethearts, sweet tarts & chocolate! The thing is, maybe there’s no sweetheart in your life right now (partner, boyfriend, girlfriend, loving kangaroo?) It might be easy feeling a little down on Valentine’s Day.

This down can be a real downer, especially the “nobody-loves-me” insecure one. If fleeting ghosts of relationships past lurking in the crevices of our hearts put in an appearance, the downer of lost chances dives even lower.

The important thing to consider is this: there are all kinds of love. Love is not just kisses, romance, and life-long hanging out with someone (however dashing that someone may be.) There’s also friendshippy love: the comfortable sort that hangs out with us dressed up or dressed down, through thick & thin. No make-up? No worries.

Then there’s parental love, the kind that lifts our skinned knees, bruised hearts and pimply insecurities with super-sized hugs and supportive arms that never let go.

A great deal has been written about the multifaceted dimensions of love, but instead of flirting with Valentine blues why not think about how our love can lift others?

As shared previously, my Mama regularly wrote love notes she slipped stealthily under our doors. (They mean everything now – we miss her so much!) But, one night during my care-giving gig, I slipped an I-love-you note under her door. When I went into my parents’ room the next morning, the note stood proudly framed on a prominent shelf.

It now stands on my shelf as a reminder of what a hastily scribbled note meant to my precious Mama. ‘Twas humbling, that.

How many times do we think about saying or writing the words: I love you? Or, hey, if that’s hard to communicate, just a ‘luv ya? Or, if that’s uncomfortable, sharing a smile filled with lots of affection? (Not a freaky smile, but an affirming one?)

Or you can, like me, draw highly sophisticated smiley faces.  : )

Whatever our comfort levels, we can fight Valentine’s blues by sharing love grooves a little more freely in these crazy times. Not just on Valentine’s Day – but every day.

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” Maya Angelou

Wishing you all hope-filled love grooves this Valentine’s Day!

grace, peace & love grooves

  Virginia : )

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” Charles M. Schulz