With Valentine’s Day coming up, many of us will be sharing messages of love. With “All you need is love” and “Love one another” ringing in my ears, I’m imagining the difference it would make if our world lived by these messages…what would be possible if we each opened our heart and loved wholeheartedly. How easy, how peaceful, how joyful life would be!

‘Nothing you can see that isn’t shown
Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be.
It’s easy…’

There are many practical ways to opening your heart, and yours will be exactly what you need. Here are a few ideas:

• Start the day with the intent of focusing on whatever makes your heart sing – pet your dog, water your garden, hug your children…
• Connect with the beauty in life… whether it’s nature, a baby’s smile, an old woman’s hands, a starry sky, a favourite piece of music, the joy of seeing a child grow
• Find your happy place
• Focus on acceptance – what you accept and love about yourself, what you’ve done well, it helps you accept everything else.
• Soften you heart by taking action to dissolve the bricks created , eg be vulnerable, and share how you feel rather than blame another; consider ‘I don’t know’ rather than stubbornly hold on to an entrenched position; focus on ‘we’ rather than ‘I’, think of others.

Love isn’t about what’s missing in our life, love is what’s present, here, now!