At this time of the year our attention is brought to matters of the heart, to love and especially romantic love. In the USA in particular, Valentine?s Day has become an almost obligatory enterprise, complete with pink hearts decorating all the stores and cards for your cat or dog to send. A man who does not produce a box of chocolates and a bunch of roses for his woman is in big trouble. Single people may feel unwanted. Somewhere along the way we have lost the heart, the point of all of this.

Think about it! A day to celebrate love ? how wonderful! A day to celebrate romantic love ? bliss! Let?s get away from the obligation, away from the formulas, away from what we think ought to happen or what we should do. Let?s allow some spontaneity back into our lives. Let?s create unique, inventive, surprising, heart-warming ways in which to delight and celebrate each other. Let?s take a moment to explore a little deeper here ?.

Our hearts thrive in the context of generosity, acceptance, creativity, innocence, openness, safety, trust, understanding, tenderness. They close down in the face of demands, criticism, rejection, abandonment, ridicule, fear, judgment, anger. Most of us carry wounds in our hearts from a very young age and part of our journey is to learn to overcome and heal our wounds. We learn how to move on and trust again, despite the wounds. We learn how to love ourselves despite the hurt and abandonment. We learn how to grow, reach out and trust despite past experiences. Learning to open our hearts is part of our spiritual growth. Learning how to heal ourselves is part of our spiritual growth. Learning to love deeply is part of leading a rich, fulfilled life.

How did we get this far, to this place of spiritual growth, to this place of yearning and wanting more for ourselves? Guess what, we listened to the song of our hearts. Each of our hearts is singing to us in every moment, telling us how we feel and what we yearn for. ?In my heart of hearts?, we know that phrase to speak of our deepest longing, our deepest knowing, our deepest truth. That voice has set us upon the road to love, to fulfillment, to union, to oneness.

This Valentine?s Day let us give ourselves the biggest gift of all ? the gift of listening to our heartsong, to paying attention to our heartsong, to following our heartsong. See you there!