By Pam Hadder
It looks
like the annual-reminder-of-all-things-romantic is upon us! Depending on where you are at in life,
Valentine’s Day can be fantastic, stressful, lonely, dreamy, or anticlimactic
– or some crazy mixture of many emotions! The Buddha once said that “He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves none has no woes.” It
appears that love is high risk and high maintenance, yet it continues to reign
supreme as humanity’s elusive muse, inspiring writers, artists, scholars and
everyone in between.
No matter how you define it, or whether
you feel you have ever known it, love is a hot topic. Wildly paradoxical, love
is jet fuel for commerce, and a beacon of hope in a world of power
struggles. So when it comes to the
complexities of love, we hope you can take time to reflect on what really
matters: self-love so you can be vital and energized for interactions with
others, tolerance to allow room for
other viewpoints and values, and humour
to let joy shine through – even in difficult spaces and places. And what about human kindness, gentleness, and paying it forward (just because)? These
accessible feelings are the humble stepping stones and the smaller bits that
make up the much glorified version of LOVE to which we are taught to aspire.
But, hey, don’t take our word for it –
here’s what some other folks have to say about love:
“My love, you know you are my best
friend. You know that I’d do anything for you…let nothing come between us…” –
Sarah McLachlan
"We've got this gift of love...like a precious plant...keep watering it" – John Lennon
"We've got this gift of love...like a precious plant...keep watering it" – John Lennon
“Love does not dominate; it cultivates.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“If you judge people, you have no time
to love them.” – Mother Teresa
“All that we love deeply becomes part of us.” – Helen
Keller
“Love makes your soul crawl out from its
hiding place.” – Zora Neale Hurston
“To fear love is to fear life…” –
Bertrand Russell
“Only do what your heart tells you.” –
Princess Diana
“Love is all we have; the only way that
each can help the other.” – Euripides
“Love is what you have been through with
somebody.” – James Thurber
“Your words are my food… you are
everything to me.” – Sarah Bernhardt
“What love we are given, we’ll have
forever…” – Leo Buscaglia
“Love…it surrounds every being and
extends slowly to embrace all that shall be.” – Kahlil Gibran
“Do you have to have a reason for
loving?” – Brigitte Bardot