Happy Love Day <3

So many people hate Valentine’s day. I’m talking true, passionate hatred. Some feel like a victim to the capitalistic urge to purchase and consume and others feel the void of unattained love that they long to be apart of their lives. Or some prefer, simply, to celebrate and enjoy their love on their own terms, in their own way. I can get behind all of these emotions but I think throughout the years I have come to see February 14th as somewhat of a birthday. A day where many people can collectively celebrate something worthy of celebration. What is more worthy of celebration than LOVE? After all we plan our lives around it, write songs, create films, plan trips, and talk for hours around dinner tables and couches and cars about love lost or found or confusing. It is one of the most underdefined and overvalued themes of human existence. When someone asks you “What do you think Love is?” we often think of a romcom, fairytale, storybook kind of love. Maybe an image pops into our mind or a song or a feeling that we can remember or maybe one we hope for. It is often a romantic, passionate, all-consuming kind of love. We don’t often think about the friend who would drive 100 miles to get coffee, the father who changed his whole life to make sure we were safe, or the sister who just wants to sit with us even if we don’t have anything to say. The Greeks defined love in 7 separate words with slightly different definitions. Love is so expansive and, dare I say, undefinable but it can be felt and known and seen and touched and maybe that is the magic of it—that it is one of the most universal, essential components to human existence yet any attempt to intellectually encapsulate LOVE is near impossible. This Vday I am taking notes from the Greeks and examining the love in my life from seven different angles. So here are the seven types of love and a few questions to nurture the connections you have with your loved ones:

THE PROPHET “ON LOVE” Kahlil Gibran

Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love.

  And he raised his head and looked upon

the people, and there fell a stillness upon

them. And with a great voice he said:

  When love beckons to you, follow him,

  Though his ways are hard and steep.

  And when his wings enfold you yield to

him,

  Though the sword hidden among his

pinions may wound you.

  And when he speaks to you believe in

him,

  Though his voice may shatter your dreams

as the north wind lays waste the garden.

  For even as love crowns you so shall he

crucify you. Even as he is for your growth

so is he for your pruning.

  Even as he ascends to your height and

caresses your tenderest branches that quiver

in the sun,

  So shall he descend to your roots and

shake them in their clinging to the earth

  Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto

himself.

  He threshes you to make you naked.

  He sifts you to free you from your husks.

  He grinds you to whiteness.

  He kneads you until you are pliant;

  And then he assigns you to his sacred

fire, that you may become sacred bread for

God’s sacred feast.

  All these things shall love do unto you

that you may know the secrets of your

heart, and in that knowledge become a

fragment of Life’s heart.

  But if in your fear you would seek only

love’s peace and love’s pleasure,

  Then it is better for you that you cover

your nakedness and pass out of love’s

threshing-floor,

  Into the seasonless world where you

shall laugh, but not all of your laughter,

and weep, but not all of your tears.

                                      •

  Love gives naught but itself and takes

naught but from itself.

  Love possesses not nor would it be

possessed;

  For love is sufficient unto love.

  When you love you should not say,

“God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am

in the heart of God.”

  And think not you can direct the course

of love, for love, if it finds you worthy,

directs your course.

  Love has no other desire but to fulfil

itself.

  But if you love and must needs have

desires, let these be your desires:

  To melt and be like a running brook

that sings its melody to the night.

  To know the pain of too much tenderness.

  To be wounded by your own under-

standing of love;

  And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

  To wake at dawn with a winged heart

and give thanks for another day of loving;

  To rest at the noon hour and meditate

love’s ecstasy;

  To return home at eventide with gratitude;

  And then to sleep with a prayer for the

beloved in your heart and a song of praise

upon your lips.

A love like SUMMER

Love can be like summer. There is trust in summer 

As soon as you enter those sacred months, decisions are made based on the experience, not the outcome

Summer is soft and yet will have its way regardless of your appreciation or participation 

Summer comes when it wants, not worrying if it will have its time but knowing it will—letting all other seasons have their own time and place in the world, because they are needed too. 

Even though some think summer is far superior to any other season it does not boast it does not rush in before its time nor linger past its time. When it is here it is felt, seen & known all the while not boasting a single sound, not telling a single soul, not asking for a single word of praise. Its existence is enough.

The strong, still, evident presence of summer inspires betterment. Not in quantifiable ways, but in experiential ways. All the intangible priceless important things seem to matter most in summer. We are more in tune with the natural rhythms we were intended to notice & savor–rising with the sun, spending our precious hours in bodies of water and under the shade of trees, smelling flowers and walking dirt paths. When that sun sets we answer its resounding call because those final rays are louder than any silent thing ever could be– permeating our cells and perhaps even our fears. We know it must set, it must come and go to make it as lovely as it is. We trust it will rise again and won't that be sweet?

Summer proves time and again that simpler can be so much sweeter, teaching the bones that boredom doesn't come from simplicity but from a limited heart.

If you are looking for a Vday gift that says I love you in that agape/universal way books are the best gift for anyone! Here are a few good ones.

Galentines is always a good idea. Get your gals together for wine in fancy glasses, dean martin blasting so loud that your neighbors come check on you and an old movie like Barefoot in the Grass or Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I am laying disposable cameras and polaroids out for everyone to take pictures throughout the night and a whole basket of retro sunglasses for a cute group shot. If you realllly want to show your gals some love get a notebook for each of them and write a few prompts in the pages for a personalized journal! Here is a list of everything I am getting!