This Valentine’s Day will go down in history as my favorite to date.
It was absent of flowers and romance but I have never felt more love, connection and alignment on this day in my life.
I mean…when this is your Valentine, how can you complain?
I taught two yoga classes today at Charlotte Yoga. My message was all about the importance of cultivating self-acceptance and self-love on the inside before you go out and authentically love others. In my second class, I read this passage shared by my friend and fellow yoga teacher Amani Murray.
Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself- if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself- it is very difficult to take care of another person. In the Buddhist teaching, it’s clear that to love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people. Love is a practice. Love is truly a practice.
May you feel love, be love, and experience love each and every day. A love for Love’s sake – without pretense and bullet points, without harshness and criticism, a sharing instead of taking. For whoever told you that you were hard to love, or unworthy of love, or too this or that to love, is afraid that you will find out that indeed, YOU ARE LOVE.
All the feels. <3 I also felt all the feels because the teacher who I credit with making me fall in love with yoga 10 years ago, Suzanne Bergen, took my class tonight. I am so excited to be teaching and working with her again. We teach back-to-back on Thursdays and I really hoped to take her class before I taught as a little Valentine’s Day present to myself, but my babysitter got stuck at school so I missed it.
I used the extra time at home to take my crew for a long walk. On the walk I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and gratitude wash over me. Valentine’s Day tends to be a very partner-focused holiday but this year for me it felt like such a celebration of feeling WHOLE and COMPLETE on my own. I can honestly say that I love my life so much right now. Being Finn’s mom is extremely rewarding, challenging in wonderful ways and so much fun. I am feeling so inspired and in flow when it comes to work. And I have the best close friends that a girl could ask for. Our friendships have truly gone “next level” in the past year or so and we rarely end a conversation or get together without an “I love you.”
The only low part of my Valentine’s Day was having to drive up to Northlake Mall to pick up my MacBook from Apple. My 1.5 year old MacBook decided that it wasn’t going to turn on last week and had to be sent out for repairs. It was an expensive fix but I am hoping that it gets me through a few more years.
There is something about malls that I don’t love. They kind of give me the sads. Anyone else?
Ahh…I didn’t even plan on blogging tonight because Finn and I have an 8a flight to go visit my family in Florida tomorrow morning but I had to pop in and share my day. I haven’t seen my fam since January 1 and in baby time, that’s forever! They are so excited to see Finn. I am definitely a distant second these days but that’s okay. 🙂
That said, it’s 10 p.m. and I need to get to packing! Next time you hear from me, we’ll be beachfront in Florida. Yay.
Tell me about your favorite Valentine’s Day ever.
What did you do for Valentine’s Day this year?
The mall…love it or leave it?
Happy Valentine’s Day! This is such a lovely, full and REFRESHING post! I celebrated friends and family today, as well as coworkers and that left me pretty darn happy. I did treat myself to a giant blackberry-flavored homemade marshmallow from a local dessert shop 😉 Enjoy Florida and your family time!!
Thanks Nicki – it was a great day for me. <3
I’m so glad that you had a nice Valentine’s Day and yum to the homemade marshmallow!
Yes! I call it mall mood!! It’s totally a thing. I HATE malls. Ha…too funny 🙂
I LOVE “mall mood.” You have officially named the emptiness that comes with soulless shopping malls. You’re the best.
The highlight of my Valentine’s Day was taking your class. It was a gift to myself and it was the best gift I could have given myself yesterday. I just printed out the passage from class and i’m taping it to my bathroom mirror as a reminder. I totally feel the same way about malls. I think i’ve only been once in the past year. Have a great trip girl!! xoxo
Erin
Erin – this truly means so much to me. I’m really happy that you were able to carve the time out for yourself. And yes, I need that passage to be on my mirror as well. Here’s a story for you…I still have one of your passages on my mirror! It’s the Ann Landers quote that ends with, “Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and repeat to yourself, the most comforting words of all; this, too, shall pass.”
I thought I was the only one! I get so depressed when I walk into a mall, I don’t know what it is, but I don’t like it!
It just feels so empty to me. Like let’s get all this crap and see if it fills the void. I don’t know. Just not my thing!
That’s so interesting about the mall! Mall mood is a thing? Who knew! I thought I was the only one. I go in with a purpose, get what I need then I’m out of there. I’d rather be anywhere else.
So glad you’re feeling the all the love, Jen. It radiates from you! Love you xoxo
Haha, I think we maybe all made up “mall mood” in the comments of this post but I think it’s a thing…maybe Clara just gave it a name. Same to rather being anywhere else, unless I really need something and am “on a mission” it just makes me feel kinda empty and sad.
And thank you Vicki. XOXO
I’m glad you had such a wonderful Valentine’s Day and felt so much love! Enjoy the time with your family in Florida! I bet Finn has changed so much since they last saw him!
We had a low key Valentine’s Day but we’ve always opted to stay in, even before we had our son. We met with an attorney at lunchtime to start the process of establishing a will. Not a very ‘romantic’ thing to do – ha! But it’s something we’ve been meaning to do since we had our son and we finally got around to making an appointment. After work, our son came down with the stomach flu so that was NOT fun. But that’s real life, I guess! We still had a nice dinner of lentil enchiladas and Spanish rice after he went to bed, although it wasn’t very fun to eat dinner after dealing with clean up! I just felt… gross!
Yes, it’s crazy how much he’s changed in just 6 weeks or so!
Your Valentine’s Day does sound very “real life” and that’s okay! I’m so sorry that your son was not well. The lentil enchiladas sound so yummy but I hear you on the ick factor from cleaning. Hope everyone is feeling better now.
I just have to say that the picture with you, the girls and Finn is the absolute best <3 And thank you so much for sharing that passage, I needed that today. Hope you have a wonderful time in Florida with your family
Aw, thank you so much! I love our little fam AND getting to be with my family in Florida!
Finn is looking so grown up (for a baby). I love the grin with his sock off. My first kid never once took his socks off – my second takes them off constantly.
The mall always gives me a headache – I think it’s from the lighting.
Yes, the lighting is brutal in malls. Hate it.
And yes, it’s impossible to keep socks on Finn. Cracks me up.