Practicing self-love every day is so important, yet we often put it at the end of our list. Do the little things for yourself that no one else will - take a long bubble bath, cook yourself healthy and nutritious meals, take a walk just for the pleasure of it (not focusing on fitness), rent some movies, grab the PJ's and have a weekend to yourself. These things are on my list, but you know what little things make you happy. Write up a list and make the time to practice self-love. You deserve it.

Taking Care of Your Heart
by Arleen Kaptur

On Valentine's Day, we are proud to wear our hearts on our sleeves, on notebooks, gifts, and anywhere we want to add a touch of how we feel. Love is the word for the day and even children join in the fun with heart-shaped cards, candies with catchy phrases and boxes (heart-shaped, of course) that hold chocolates to give to mom, dad, grandparents, and everyone they love and care for.

Valentine's Day is a wonderful opportunity to show our feelings, our hopes for the future, and our fond memories of the past. It should also be a day that we show our love for who we are, where we came from, and where we intend to go. Wait a minute - loving yourself can go to extremes. We can lavish great luxuries on ourselves, much to the boredom of friends and those close to us, or we can feel guilty about caring about ourselves. There is a happy medium - a point that we can touch on that will let our heart know we care about the person it is beating for, and let our family and friends know that if we care about ourselves, we are well equipped to care about them.

How do you show that you care about yourself without become pompous and have an attitude? Well, reaching out to others expands the circle of people you know, bending a little to help others gives our rigid standards a bit of elasticity so we can appreciate the feelings of others, and stooping to help those who are down for the count actually makes us taller and our own outlooks brighter. Opening our hearts to those around us just gives strength to that "ole ticker" and letting even a stranger know that there is room in this world for each and every one of them, gives your space a bit more dimension. You see, whatever you do to and for others will rebound. This, however, is not a health hazard. It will make your life better, your hopes richer, and, not to mention, like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, that size 5 heart will stretch and expand to size 10, 20, and really there is no boundary. This, however, is not a health hazard. Your heart will be healthier, stronger, bigger, lighter, and capable of loving more with each endeavor. The more you give of it, the more you get back. If you were in the business of finance, that is a solid ground to build a future on.

Whatever you do this Valentines Day, or the day before or the hundreds of days after, be good to your heart, and reap the rewards of loving and living in a world where there is room for everyone, and we can each have our own "space." The fountain of love never goes dry, and the mine of diamonds and gold never runs out of precious metals, and even outer space is not the limit to what people can do once they get started. Love yourself enough to love others and ENJOY!