14 February 2015
Two days ago while being pampered in the salon by my favourite stylist, I asked her if she had plans for Valentine's Day. "No" she replied softly, "I don't have a boyfriend."
"You don't need a boyfriend" I countered, "Love yourself! Why don't you do something nice for yourself?"
She hesitated then rolled her eyes, "Sure, I'll go home, look at myself in the mirror and say, 'I love you! I love you!' and buy myself flowers."
I sensed her doubt about my suggestion of doing something for herself on the day that has come to represent romantic love. "But if you don't love yourself first, how can you expect anyone else to love you? I think it's a great idea to buy yourself flowers and tell yourself how much you love yourself!"
In order to be the best partner, parent or employee, isn't it necessary to care for ourselves first? How often have you skipped your yoga practice to attend to the needs of family, work or friends? I've heard students say that they won't take a mere 30 minutes from their daily responsibilities to focus on asana, pranayama or meditation even though their body aches, their minds feel cluttered or their stress levels are at a maximum. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that most of us spend more than 30 minutes a day on social media where 99% of our attention is on other peoples' lives.
So many of us forego taking care of ourselves and instead opt for focusing on our partner, our children, our work and really anyone else except ourselves. Whether it's due to a fear of being perceived as selfish or because we believe that we don't deserve to be a priority in our own lives, more and more of us are opting to focus on anything and anyone other than ourselves.
The fact is, however, when you function at an optimal level physically, mentally and spiritually, you have much more love, attention and energy to give to those around you. If you "selfishly" take time for yourself, you will have more to offer to those who need you.
So whether you're single, married or somewhere in between, make every day your Valentine's Day. Take care of yourself, pamper yourself, love yourself and the love you have within you and around you will grow exponentially and, as Lucille Ball so wisely said, "...everything else will fall into place."
