Yes, it is almost here again, Valentine\u2019s Day.\u00a0 The arrival of this \u201cDay of Love\u201d can produce a broad spectrum of experiences for those who are touched by it.\u00a0 For some it will glide in on the wings of new-found love and breathtaking romance.\u00a0 For others it will simply not arrive at all \u2013 or at least not in the way it is desired.\u00a0 Either way, has Valentine\u2019s Day evolved into just another holiday which places the focus of what it is we all imagine ourselves to desire in a relationship firmly in the thoughts, choices, and actions of another?\u00a0 Will he buy me flowers?\u00a0 Maybe he will shower me with expensive jewelry or escort me to the finest restaurant in town?\u00a0 Perhaps she will have sex with me?\u00a0 Will I even be the recipient of a thoughtful card?<\/p>\n
But what happens when the thoughts, choices, and actions of another on this particular day fall short of what we are hoping to experience?\u00a0 Is Valentine\u2019s Day truly a day of love, a celebration of partnership, a reminder of our unity?\u00a0 Or rather, is it just another day of consumerism, the perfect setup for unrealistic expectations, and perhaps more divisive than cohesive when it comes to moving forward in our partnerships?<\/p>\n
Are we so attached to the external shiny objects that are dangled in front of our senses on this day \u2013 the flowers, the candy, the jewelry, the food, the sex, the presents, the promises \u2013 that we lose sight and stray off of the path that will truly lead us to the experience of joy, happiness, and love in our relationships?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong.\u00a0 I am not a prude.\u00a0 And I love romance \u2013 hey, I am the \u201cRomance & Relationship\u201d columnist after all!\u00a0 But I have found myself on the receiving end of feeling disappointed on Valentine\u2019s Day for not receiving a card or a gift and constructing some pretty harsh judgments around that, placing myself in a position of asking myself, \u201cWhat is that about?\u201d \u00a0Especially when that particular person never let a moment go by where his love and presence were not wholly known and deeply felt in ways that transcended the potential of any material expression.<\/p>\n
If God does not want or need anything from me, why do I place those expectations upon the person with whom I share my life\u2019s journey? \u00a0Could it be that somewhere along the line I was taught and then adopted the idea that love was measured in direct proportion to that which I was either giving or receiving?\u00a0 \u00a0The more you give me, the more you love me?\u00a0 The more I receive, the more I am loved?<\/p>\n
And if that is not the case, then how DO we express this thing called \u201clove\u201d?<\/p>\n
How do we express that which is so profound and so complex and so seemingly \u201cunexpressable\u201d in our limited human capacity?<\/p>\n
My life has demonstrated to me that the answer to that question is foundationed in first understanding and living each moment of your life in full awareness of the Agenda of your Soul, and understanding that the people with whom we share a relationship also have a Soul Agenda — whether they are aware of it or not.<\/p>\n
But what\u00a0 does the Agenda of my Soul have to do with Valentine\u2019s Day?\u00a0 Or my partnership? \u00a0Or anything<\/i> I do, for that matter?<\/p>\n
It has everything<\/em> to do with not only those things, but each and every choice I make and the entire purpose of my life.\u00a0 If I am clear on the Agenda of my Soul — or at least recognize that I have<\/i> one — and when my partner, too, is living in alignment with his Soul\u2019s Agenda, then our love, our companionship, our presence in each other\u2019s life becomes an expression of that purpose and that intention, creating moment after moment of experiencing our communion with God and Unity with each other, reaching completion of that which we are here to experience…Over and Over and Over again\u2026knowing ourselves as Soulmates and remembering who we really are.<\/p>\n I could be wrong.\u00a0 It could really about the chocolates and the lingerie and the sappy cards.\u00a0 I could measure the extent of my spouse\u2019s love and commitment against the value of the gifts he may \u2013 or may not<\/i> \u2013 give to me.\u00a0 I could hinge the purpose of our relationship upon a single day, in single a year, and what I \u201cget\u201d out of it.<\/p>\n But I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n I sense that it is much, much larger than that.\u00a0 I may happen to receive a sweet card or some exotic flowers or perhaps go out for a romantic dinner on Valentine\u2019s Day.\u00a0 Or I may not.\u00a0 Either way, I am very clear on one thing:\u00a0 my Soul will not yearn for more or less than the perfect experience of being exactly who I already know myself to be:\u00a0 LOVE.<\/p>\n (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation.\u00a0 She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at <\/i>www.ChangingChange.net<\/i><\/a>, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at <\/i>Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com<\/i><\/a>.)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yes, it is almost here again, Valentine\u2019s Day.\u00a0 The arrival of this \u201cDay of Love\u201d can produce a broad spectrum of experiences for those who are touched by it.\u00a0 For some it will glide in on the wings of new-found love and breathtaking romance.\u00a0 For others it will simply not arrive at all \u2013 or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[157],"tags":[919,231,191,190,918,564,920,917],"class_list":["post-3953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-romance-and-relationships","tag-agenda-of-the-soul","tag-lisa-mccormack","tag-love","tag-relationship","tag-romance","tag-soul-agenda","tag-souls-agenda","tag-valentines-day"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3953"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3962,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3953\/revisions\/3962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}