How to Enjoy a Life Filled with Passion, Romance, and Love

Although marketed as a day for lovers to express their affection, Valentine's Day sentiments are relevant to most areas of your life. Here are some ways you can enjoy a life filled with passion, romance, and love.

PASSION
Where is your Passion? Does it show up in the activities of your life (career, volunteerism, church, organizations)? What gets you excited? What inspires you to get out of bed every day, not because you have to...because you want to? What causes butterflies in your stomach? What puts a big smile on your face?

Once you understand the things that really stir your passion, begin to look for ways to bring them into more areas of your life. When you're genuinely passionate about something, it brings out the best in you. When the best in you shows up...IT'S ON! Your passion spreads like wildfire and also generates a can-do spirit in others. When optimism is high, problem solving, decision making, service, and teamwork become easier. When problem solving, decision making, service, and teamwork are flowing...Greatness has entered the building!

ROMANCE
Are you romantic? Do you romance your relationships by nurturing them and routinely expressing your gratitude, or do you take them for granted? Friends, family, and loved ones need and deserve the best of you. They need and deserve for you to show up in their lives as fresh as the flowers sent for Valentine's Day.

How would you feel if someone gave you some dried up, wilted, stinky old roses that were on sale two days after Valentine's Day? It's the thought that matters most, right? So why give the people in your life leftovers? Your leftover, lackluster energy; your leftover, stinky attitude; your leftover, hurry-up time; your leftover, inattentive attention – It’s the thought that matters most, right?

Add romance to your close relationships by giving the best of you - fresh and in full bloom. Just like fresh flowers, you will be adored for showing up mind, body, and spirit...and making their day!

LOVE
It is human nature to want and need love on some level. We desire love from a significant other, our family, and our friends. Though many of us say that we want love, we often have a difficult time communicating the way we want to be loved. It is as though we want others in our lives to be mind-readers and know how to love us because "they should".

Even if you tell someone what you want, you still may not get it (at least not consistently) unless they see that it is a standard expectation for you, instead of it being an option. Showing always works better than telling. Show and tell is ideal. See…primary school taught you a lot! :)

How do you know when you are loved? Not based upon what you've been fed from television, movies, magazines, or romance novels? That is called fiction. How do Y-O-U know when Y-O-U are loved?
Describe what is actually going on to inspire feelings of being loved.

One of the best ways to discover your ideal kind of loving is to first show yourself the love you say you want. If you want someone to adore you...begin to adore yourself with self-care and more work-life balance. If you want someone to listen to you...begin to listen to yourself and heed the guidance of your inner spirit. If you want someone to show you affection...begin to show yourself affection through forgiveness and self-acceptance.

Begin to show yourself the very love you desire from others. Not only will you be nurturing yourself and your spirit, you will be showing others how they should treat you - and in return, get more of the love you truly desire.

Beyond Valentine's Day, enjoy a life filled with PASSION, ROMANCE, and LOVE.