Hearts, Love and Saint Valentine

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Saint Valentine

February 14 – It's a day of flowers, chocolate, hearts and proclamations of romantic love.

On this day we commemorate St. Valentine as the patron saint of lovers.

Valentine earned this elevated standing with the greatest of sacrifices, his life. He chose to marry Christian couples against the edicts of the Roman Emperor, Claudius II.

 
 

Valentine In The Year 270 AD

The origins of St. Valentine are unclear, but it is thought he was executed on February 14 around the year 270. While imprisoned and awaiting execution, he befriended the jailer and his daughter who was beautiful and blind. St. Valentine performed a miracle and restored her sight.

Legend tells us that on the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the jailer's daughter and signed it...

 
“From your Valentine”
 

This was the very first Valentine.

St. Valentine is also the patron saint of bees and beekeepers. (Image above from Ithelda.) That makes sense if we're talking about the birds and the bees, but I think it's also due to the sweet nectar of honey. It's certainly a labor of love by our sweet bees.

 

Hearts Are For Everyone

Long ago, I abandoned the notion that love only exists between a romantic couple. While it's wonderful to celebrate romance, love is so much bigger.

Love takes many expressions and colorful hues.

As we get older, our lives reflect the expansion of this love. We start with love of only our nuclear family and then we often include someone else as a life partner. Children, relatives and in-laws are added into the mix.

Our Love Becomes Wider

Time passes and cycles shift. Children grow up and leave the house. Our love stretches out into wider circles, perhaps towards grandchildren and into the greater community. Our love expands like ever-widening ripples on a pond.

For the meditator, the journey shifts when love moves past a state of doing and becomes a state of being. In my post, The Winding Road of Life, I write about moving beyond the idea of "I love you" and into the discovery of simply being in a state of love.

You move past the idea of only loving someone. You begin to love nature and animals, ideals and causes. 

You move past exclusive love and widen your heart into inclusive love. A love that sees past your inner circle and embraces it all.

Expanding Our Hearts

In The New Expanded Reference Manual of The Radiance Technique®, Authentic Reiki®, Third Edition by Dr. Barbara Ray, Ph.D. — the entry on LOVE is found on page 144:

 

LOVE — Has the aspect of human or brotherly love which is referred to as love of the outer heart - love with an object. This kind of love is the warm feeling of affection felt or sensed from the chest/heart area, love from the lower planes. This kind of love is different from the love known as divine, spiritual, universal, Radiant Love that simply IS without external, outer stimulus or object.

You can use The Radiance Technique® for expansion of both of these kinds of love by focusing for extended times as a meditation the hands-on Front Positions #1 and #3; also Head Positions #2 and #3 for deeper insights into the vibration of Real Love.

 

In this text, Dr. Ray writes you can expand "both of these kinds of love" – neither excludes the other, we embrace it all. Our journey with our human heart is a part of our spiritual journey. All along the way, we learn more about real love.

Students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) can use their TRT® hands-on to expand their awareness of love in their meditations. One of the great aspects of TRT® is that you can use it in any situation. Even when you're not meditating – you still benefit from the supportive, loving energy.

Celebrate Heart Day

If we see St. Valentine's Day as more than romantic love, we enjoy it as one day of the year when we celebrate hearts of all kinds.

As in the quote from Mother Teresa, you are invited to burn with love not only for your heart throb, but for your family and community, your ideals, and the world at large.

What a day to celebrate our joyful hearts burning with love.

 

Seattle Seahawks And Super Bowl 2015

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Seahawks And Super Bowl 2015

Super Bowl XLIX.

How exciting for the Seattle Seahawks to make the Super Bowl playoffs.

In the game that qualified them for the Super Bowl against the Green Bay Packers, the final catch was nothing short of miraculous. A thing of beauty, even if you aren't an aficionado of American football.

Personally, I'm not a huge football fan. I don't follow all the games all season long. However, when it comes to the Super Bowl, it's fun to join in with everyone, especially when one of the teams is from my home town. I mean, I have to support my peeps, if nothing else. When you have friends and family who are cheering for a team, it's fun to connect with them about it.

I love Seattle and the Puget Sound area, so it's easy for me to love the Seattle Seahawks. Along the way to the Super Bowl, I also learnt some fun facts.

Such as: the Seahawks were named after a real bird of prey.

Seahawks – A Real Bird Of Prey

Yes, the seahawk is not a mythical football bird. It actually exists and is also known as an osprey. What a fine bird of prey it is.

Seahawks Selfie

Getting ready for the Super Bowl, wonderful photos of seahawks appeared. This photo of a fierce "Seahawks Selfie" from the National Wildlife Federation in preparation for the game was among them.

Super Bowl Ads

Always one of the great topics of discussion from the Super Bowl are the Super Bowl Ads. It even has its own hashtag #SuperBowlAds. The ads were quite good this year. None were terribly offensive. Some didn't hit the mark; some were moving.

Budweiser is noted for its emotional ads that pluck at heart-strings featuring the magnificent, giant-hoof, Clydesdale horses.

For me, their best ad remains the one from Super Bowl 2013, partly because it plays the nostalgic Fleetwood Mac song of my youth, Landslide. The rough voice of Stevie Nicks scratches out the melody of "even children get older and I'm gettin' older too..."

Here's that Budweiser ad:

Super Bowl Ads 2015

Two ads that stood out for me involved women/girls. The first one, created by the advocacy group called No More, touched on domestic violence. It certainly got my attention. It was a call to 911 under the guise of being a call to a pizza place. I was so struck by it, I had to instant rewind to watch it a second time. Of note, it was based on a real 911 call.

The other one was the #LikeAGirl campaign by Always. This little girl responded to the question, "what does it mean to run like a girl?"

Little girl: "It means, run, fast as you can."

Her clear voice rings out. Her truth.

It means, run,  fast as you can.

Directing Energy With The Radiance Technique®

Students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) can direct universal energy to big events like the Super Bowl and include all the participants and all the fans. It is an opportunity for greater service, directing energy to everyone, without attachment to outcome. Of course, this doesn't mean you can't have a favorite team!

These events can be a chance to bring greater light to everyone, in whatever small or big way, from within, without concern for an outcome. In any big event, there is a unity of awareness, a gathering of like-mindedness, and this provides an opportunity for those who have studied The Second Degree of TRT® to direct energy from a deeper point.

You can choose to direct energy to any number of things. You could choose your favorite team, or both teams. To individuals on the teams. To some of the ads. To the fans. You are only limited by your own ideas.

Students of The First Degree of TRT® are able to apply TRT® hands-on while watching the game, or even leading up to the game. This supports your psychological levels concerning the game as well as deeper levels of who you are. We are interconnected with everyone who is participating.

The New England Patriots Win Super Bowl 2015

In the end, the Seahawks lost the game in a harrowing, hide-behind-my-hands, end-of-the game with a bad Seahawks' offensive call. This was exactly the type of thing that was required to lose, since both teams were well-matched. It could have gone the other way just as easily.

There's always next year.

After a loss like that, the Seahawks will be even more hungry for the victory. Since I'm rooting for them, here's hoping they play in Super Bowl 2016.

Do you have a favorite American football team?