02.14.07
How to Have A Happy Valentine’s Day
Step One: Love things, and people, and places. Animals, too, they’re very important, and also trees, the sun and moon, the smell of good earth, and art in all its manifestations. Love them hard. Love them even when you want to strangle them or pitch them into the bin or set fire to them. Love them anyway.
Step Two: Love yourself. Take care of yourself the way you would take care of a small child in your care, with gentle firmness, providing for your needs and seeing to your own happiness with joy and generosity but without too much coddling, paying attention to the things you need to grow (even when those things might be less than pleasant). Don’t take any of it too seriously. It’s much too important to be grave about it.
Step Three: Love things so much that you are willing to go to the mat for them, and do it. Love things that make you push yourself to be a better person for their sake. Love things that take lots of hard work to bring to fruition. Love things that force you to be honest, and not self-servingly faux-honest either, but genuinely, humbly honest. Love things so much that you don’t care who knows that you’re busting your butt to live up to that love, or who sees you sweating. Love things that seem impossible so much that you learn how to make them possible.
Step Four: When Valentine’s Day rolls around, repeat steps 1-3. For additional happiness, share.