To Celebrate Valentines Day Spiritually

We thought it would be a great idea to give our readers some spiritually based ideas on how to spend Valentines Day with their partners. The experiences of love and romance are certainly treasures for us to enjoy in this life, and celebrating these from a place of spiritual awareness keeps us appreciating the deeper meanings of these gifts. Here are some of our author’s contributions for you to look over and incorporate into your own Valentines celebrations this month.

   Katy Simmone

              Spend Valentine's Day honoring and celebrating your harmonious union with each other. It is a day of gratitude and appreciating each other’s many fine characteristics, differences, and generosity. It is also a day of reflection, back in time over the years, to see how your relationship has grown, deepened and evolved. 

        Spend Valentine's day with your loved one by taking a leisurely stroll on the beach. End the evening with a romantic dinner with a special, heartfelt and meaningful toast to your relationship.

     Joseph Kenneth

               If you and your partner live close to where you did when you first met, go there for a brief moment. Weather you do a meditation together, or just set foot in this place of good memories and romantic significance, it matters not. Its important to go back and retrace those moments in your life that invoked this deep love you feel for your partner.

          Regardless of what you do on Valentines Day, remain in a place of appreciation for everything about your partner. Listen to them speak while looking deeply into their eyes, remembering and feeling the way you did on those first dates. This was the person that made you feel amazing, the person that swept you away, the human being that you once gave your heart to. No matter the conditions of your current relationship, live a day in this place of deep appreciation, and see if you can make it last, to rekindle a burning flame of sacred union.

          Mat Wood

   Focus on the nature of connection between each other and the mindfulness of romantic      relationships rather than get too involved in the materialistic aspect. 

    By all means, appreciate each other by adoring your other half with gifts and kindness but to be aware of the strength of the connection between one and other whilst remaining neutral to positive or negative judgment will clarify the qualities of the relationship and illustrate more clearly the true values and areas for potential growth. Whether it be short or long term, deeply romantic or just past platonic, the focus on solid foundations can only serve for improvement.

-         To appreciate a relationship regardless of attachment, whether it be a connection with a human being, animal or inanimate object, highlights the true nature      of the relationship, clarifies the genuine bond and nurtures it toward further flourishing.

   Velvet Chong

                Walk on the beach

-               Doing an activity, like kayaking, jet skiing, bicycling, etc. 

   Dr. Leana Pretorius PhD.

       Ballooning if you have no issues with height may be quite the spiritual experience. Being in the presence of such amazing silence and solitude is breath taking. You may find so many things in life to be grateful for. Sharing this with a like-minded partner creates a very special day.

       Perhaps a bit more for the ladies...partners having a Thai spa experience can bring about a calm relaxing day perfect for reconnecting with one another. Life is so busy and we sometimes forget to take a time out and just reconnect. Reconnecting brings stability in your relationship but also in your home and office life.

Personally I am a family person, so I like to share the day with my family. Having a lovely day outside, swimming, having a BBQ (better known as a braai in South Africa) touching base in a more informal manner and reconnecting. Giving each member in my family quality time and attention during the day and restoring the balance. FYI...NO TV.

   William May 

       As someone who was single for many Valentine’s Days in the past, and who has, more recently, been in a long distance relationship where my girlfriend and I could not always spend Valentine’s Day together, I know how it can feel being alone when February 14^th rolls around.  One thing that can help make Valentine’s Day meaningful, even when you are alone is to take yourself out for a special day.  Think about things you really enjoy, things that you might think of as indulgences.  If you had a romantic partner, what special places might you want them to take you?  Is there some special event you would want them to take you to?   Treat yourself, and think of it as a gift from someone who really loves you and knows you well, a lifelong partner who has always been there, no matter what: yourself.  You might even get yourself a Valentine or write a note (perhaps one like that Cindy Paulos has suggested in her article).  Have fun treating yourself as the special person in your life that you truly are.

                              On the other hand, if you are fortunate enough to have a loving partner to share Valentine’s Day with, why not spend some time sharing some special things you each love.  Each of you can put together a list of poems, songs, movies, TV shows, and so on, that have been important to you at some point in your life, things you have not shared with your partner before.  You might pick some movies that you still love from your own childhood, or music you listened to before you ever met your significant other.  Each of you can pick some of your favorite foods to serve for dinner, making a meal that is also a walk through your separate pasts.  Spend some time getting to know the person you fell in love with, through the things that made them into who they are, and celebrate the things that make each of us unique.  This can be even more powerful if there are some things your partner enjoys that you have, in the past avoided.  Instead of being judgmental about what they love, challenge yourself to think of it as something that this person who you care deeply about truly wants you to enjoy.  Let yourself be open to them, and share things that may make you feel vulnerable.  Make the gifts you give each other be not only what you share, but what you are open to receiving as well.