Love & Valentine's Day

  • Friendship and relationship advice,  Holidays,  Love & Valentine's Day

    The heart of the matter

    “When you love someone, you love the whole person as he or she is, and not as you would like them to be.” ~Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina Most of us idealized love when we were young. If we were raised on fairy tales, for instance, we imagined marrying the perfect partner and living happily ever after. At the same time, we also held our friends and family members to impossibly high standards, and were disappointed when they didn’t behave like the best friends or families portrayed on TV sitcoms. As we mature, we discover that real love isn’t always picture-perfect; sometimes it gets as messy or as complicated as real…

  • Love & Valentine's Day,  Personal growth,  Self-care

    Spoil yourself

    “Self-care is about putting yourself first in a world that romanticizes overwork and overextension, a difficult thing to learn if you are used to people-pleasing. It’s about crafting healing routines as rituals for better health.” ~Maria Delblassie Here’s something to think about as Valentine’s Day approaches … You won’t have the energy to fully love and care for others until you’ve learned to love and care for yourself. When you look at it that way, you realize that self-care isn’t selfish. This is especially important for parents of young children as well as caregivers of elderly parents. (Been there, done both.) Self-care means taking time out for a nap or…