What's Love Got to Do With It?

The sound of Tina Turner's soulful voice has been ringing in my ears asking "What's love got to do with it?" Sparked by the approach of Valentine's Day I began thinking a lot about love. It is the focus of my work and directs my sessions as I help clients maneuver through life. With the song's lyrics echoing in my head I asked myself "What does love have to with it?" The resounding answer time after time was -- "Everything." Love has to do with everything.

If you seek love foster love. Kindle a love-centered life by resolving to express the gift of love. A conscious intention to love begins with self love. Practice observing your thoughts. Do you berate yourself with critical comments?  Are you forever comparing yourself to others only to come up lacking? Decide to move toward a gentler and more loving attitude today.

When we decide to live a love-centered life we will be altered. If this sounds difficult, if you believe you are on merry-go-round and cannot get off, start small and simple. Catch yourself when you are on auto-pilot. Stop and take stock of your surroundings. Breathe and ground yourself in the moment. Put the phone down. Carve out 5 minutes a day to be still. It can be in your car in the parking lot before work. Listen to what your soul is asking for. Most often it is not an insurmountable request. As you make small adjustments to cultivate love and kindness toward yourself the love you give will flourish as well.

Happy Valentine's Day. I send you all love.

Nora

Will You Be My Valentine?

Tis the season to show our love and this is the month we have dedicated to do so. As you know, February 14th is Valentine's Day. The word valentine stems from the Latin valen or "worthy".   What a beautiful concept to see ourselves as worthy, thereby loveable. Self love asks us to accept the idea that we are worthy and deserving of love. Somehow we have warped the idea of being worthy into an idea of needing to prove our worthiness. There are many multi-billion dollar businesses counting on people believing in the premise that you gain worthiness by being a certain weight, height, look, age and income level.

What would happen if we began to believe that just by being here on earth we were worthy of love? What if we lived by the idea that there is no barometer with which to measure this love and that we are on a life-long journey to uncover it, release it, discover it and yes, receive it? What if we began to see that living our lives from a place of love for our Self was the catalyst to grow more and more love and that by loving our Self our love of others would be a natural outcome? I see Self love as the single cell amoeba in the petri dish and as that single cell —"single thought" — multiplies all life and love grows. Self love is the ultimate liberator. As we choose to love we free our innate creativity, playfulness and joy thereby allowing and making way for new avenues of their expression.

This year I am taking the love message of February into my year with devotion. I ask you join me by starting with a little bit of love for yourself. Celebrate your talents and stop obsessing over your faults. Lighten up on the criticism and increase the admiration. You deserve it—you lovable you!

I close my critical eye and open my loving heart. Love generates from deep within. I connect with the divine source that flows from me and I love, simply, clearly and infinitely.
Happy Valentines!