I always had so much fun celebrating Valentine's Day. When my children were growing up, we created magical celebrations in our home. It was a special day to celebrate love and I took full advantage of it. We usually wore fancy jewelry and dressed up in beautiful clothes. Sometimes we would drive into New York and have a special dinner somewhere. We would make pretty Valentine's Day cards for their friends in school using fabulous vintage doilies, colorful hearts and stickers. Thinking about Valentine's Day coming up made me realize, why don't we celebrate love everyday?
My meditation every morning is to vibrate love to everyone I see and vibrate love to the world. In addition, my absolute favorite thing to do, and something I've done since my girls were little, is a meditation where I picture their hearts and I send love from my heart to theirs. I absolutely guarantee that they feel it. For sure, I do. When I teach my mindful parenting classes, this is a technique we do at the end of every class. There is a rarely a dry eye. When you send love, it comes back to you to receive. Many times receiving love is harder than sending. So, I practice with my moms and dads. We do a short, five to ten minute, meditation with their eyes open looking into a mirror. During this time they send love to themselves and receive the love back. Again, not a dry eye in the room. When we practice self-love at such a deep emotional level, we learn how to get love in a better way. For fun, when I go to New York City, I will practice sending love from my heart to every person I see for the whole day. At the end of the day, my heart is overflowing with joy. It is truly the gift the keeps on giving. So, this Valentine's Day, why don't you make the intention to practice love everyday?
Don't just wait for Valentine's Day to put a heart with a nice message on the mirror in your child's bedroom, or above their bed, light switch, wherever they may see it every day. And don't just say, "I love you." Say, "I love the way that you're so compassionate to animals." "I love how brave you were yesterday when..." "I love how kind you were to your friend in school." "I love how you share your toys with your sister." Acknowledging specific things rather than just a generic, "I love you" will plant seeds that grow long into the future of their lives. Acknowledge something in your child that you love and many years later, they will remember. Stick a heart in their lunch box, backpack, gym bag. It helps you focus on the things that you love about them, rather than the things you're worried about. What you focus on grows. Remember, when you send love out, it comes back to you. It is a win-win situation for all. Now, I want you to do one last thing, I want you to write down all the things you love about yourself. And why you are an amazing parent. Read it to yourself, out loud, everyday. Watch what happens. And I know it's true- joy and love will come back to you.