HOW TO USE VALENTINE'S DAY TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

Valentine's Day can be many different things to many people. Why not use it to your advantage and bring positive energy into your life. Read on to learn more.

What Does Valentines Day Mean To You?

Valentines Day is traditionally viewed as a day of hearts, chocolates and fancy dinners with your beloved. It’s also a day that many women expect to be showered with gift like jewellery, fresh roses and romantic gestures. The reverse side of this is the partner who has to sweat over card choices and often overpriced flowers.

Next let us consider all the unattached persons, the single people.Valentine's Day can be very hard for some single people. Not only is it a day that reminds them of just how single they are, if they have lost their loved one, it only stands to remind them of that loss. 

Valentine's Day is also very commercialized. Whether you see this as a good thing or not, the truth is that many businesses rely on the day. Restaurants for example, often create special romantic dinners at higher prices just for Valentine's day. In addition, Valentine's Day gives people with a closed heart who feel obligated to "do something nice" on the day, the means to justify being unromantic, unkind, disingenuous or inconsiderate the rest of the year. 

How do you use Valentine's Day to your advantage? Consider this option: Take all the best parts of the day, like kindness, thoughtfulness, compassion, and love, and make an effort to practice them all year long. This works whether you are single, or in a relationship. Treating a person with kindness, compassion and understanding can be done without any elaborate costs. Simple acts that show you care, are the easiest way to make another person feel appreciated and loved.

Making the morning coffee, doing chores, walking the dog, and letting someone sleep, in are all things that show someone that you care about them.

At the office you don’t have to love your co-workers, but you can practice compassion, tolerance and small acts of kindness. Refill the photocopy machine with paper, Tidy up the lunchroom, offer to pick up something for an overworked co-worker when you go to buy your mid day coffee. For co-workers who are difficult to deal with, walking away or not responding with a snarky remark may be the best that you can do, and that is ok, it's a great start.

Practice it with family and friends. Try giving small random acts of kindness to strangers. You can give up your seat on transit to someone in need, or help an elderly person carry a bag.  You can hold the door open to the person behind you as you enter a store. Maybe one of these acts of kindness will lead you to meet someone who becomes special in your life, you never know!

Acts of kindness and compassion help make everyone's day better. Consider the person standing behind you in line at the grocery store who has 1-2 items and you have 20, let them go ahead of you. The homeless man you see on the street. You may be wary of giving them money, but you can buy them a hot drink on a cold day. The tired parent who comes onto the bus carrying bags and ushering their small child forward. If you are physically able to, how about offering that exhausted parent your seat instead? Another option is to volunteer at an organization that needs help. 

Valentine's Day is symbolized by a heart. Why not open yours and rediscover all that you have to offer others, and maybe by doing so, you will find all that positive energy brings good things back to you.