Happy Valentine's Day! Let's talk about how to let love thrive and relationships come alive.
- Shalynne Barr
- Feb 14, 2023
- 4 min read
While February 14th is heralded as a day of love, I look at each day as a day of love! For me, love falls into many aspects of life and there are actions that can be taken to help make love really, really real. There are three main aspects that I would like to share with you: Loving Actions for Yourself (I'm all about self-care here on my website!), Loving Actions for Others and when it comes to relationships, Love in the Fast Lane. Read on...
Loving Actions For Yourself
Loving actions for yourself are those actions that attend to your own needs. When you take loving action in your own behalf, you are letting yourself know that you matter, you are important, you count. When you fail to take loving action, you give yourself the message that you are not important, which leads to feelings of depression and inadequacy. We can't let that happen!
Loving actions for yourself might include:
Eating nutritious foods, avoiding junk food and sugar, eating when hungry and stopping when full.
Getting enough exercise.
Keeping your work and home environments clean and organized.
Getting enough sleep.
Creating a balance between work and play. Making sure you have time to get your work done, as well as time to do nothing, reflect, learn, play and create.
Creating a good support system of people who love and care about you.
Being organized with your time, getting places on time, paying bills on time, and so on.
Choosing to be compassionate with yourself rather than judgmental toward yourself.
Creating a balance between time for yourself and time with others.
Loving Actions for Others
Being kind and compassionate toward others without compromising your own integrity or ignoring your own needs and feelings.
Saying no when you mean no and yes when you mean yes, rather than giving yourself up and going along with something you don’t want to do, or automatically resisting what another wants from you.
Taking care of your own needs instead of trying to change and control others. Accepting your lack of control over others and either accepting them as they are or not being around them.
Speaking your truth about what is acceptable to you and what is unacceptable and then taking action for yourself based on your truth.
Taking personal responsibility for your own feelings and needs, instead of being a victim and making others responsible for your feelings and needs.
Creating a balance between giving and receiving, rather than a one-way street with another person.
Tips for Loving in the Fast Lane
Do you ever feel like you catch up with your partner infrequently, often late at night when you’re too tired to speak? Or, when your timetables happen to collide? There are work dinners, school outings, sporting practice, dinners with friends, homework to supervise, household chores and so the list goes on. Do you feel like you need to make a date night just to spend some one on one time with your other half? Time when you’re not sleeping?
If this sounds like you then I’m sure you will enjoy these tips for keeping each other close at heart, even if you can’t always be as physically close as you’d like. It’s all about communicating and sharing the little things that make up our lives. Here are seven easy ways to make your feelings known:
Birthday love letter. Writing down all the things that you love about the other person and then giving it to them is a very personal and thoughtful thing to do. In many cases its better than any gift you could possibly imagine and something to appreciate and cherish even when the birthday is a distant memory.
Sit down and talk about your day. When we can we sit down at the table to eat our evening meal and take it in turns to talk about what we did in our day, it can create a very special moment.
Celebrate all your partner’s successes with them – from a high five to a vacation. Whatever the scale of the success calls for, make it a joint celebration.
Allow yourself to be impressed by your partner and let them know. ‘I’m proud of you’ is something that I think everyone loves being told by someone they care about.
Never underestimate the power of a hug.
Compliments. Everyone loves getting them so never pass up the opportunity to give one of these reliable mood boosters. You can give them in person or write them on a small piece of paper and leave them somewhere unexpected for your loved one to find.
Thoughtful gestures. Doing something unexpected, especially when you’re loved one is busy and stressed, is a lovely way to show that you understand what they are going through and that they have your support.
For me, love has been something that has been non-negotiable in my life. When I love someone, it's true, real, authentic and it's not circumstantial.
Time to reflect! What stood out most to you from this blog post today? Drop your comments below; I will be sure to reply.
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