SECRET ADMIRER TO THE WORLD
by Corbie Mitleid

The red and green tinsel is barely off the shelves December 27th or so, and suddenly, there are the hearts – red, flowery, and insistent, in every size and style. Valentine’s Day candy and cards and decorations are everywhere to be found, reminding us for weeks ahead that this is the Day Designated for Love.

I’ve seen those hearts cause several reactions: giggles and delight for those who have a special someone on whom to bestow them. Swooning-yet-eternally-hopeful longing by young girls who have crushes yet unrequited, whether on schoolmates or rock stars. Exasperation by folks who just think all the fuss is silly. And looks more poignant – grief for those no longer here, or those who never arrived in time – by those for whom the holiday is more stiletto in the ribs than Cupid’s arrow in the heart.

Like so many other holidays, Valentine’s Day has been co-opted by marketing and media expectations. If we don’t have that special Someone on whom to lavish our emotions, they say, then our value on that day is just a little less than everyone else’s. Better luck next year, you know? Or maybe you should go to one of those swirling, desperate singles dances, just in case you can find someone in time.

Nothing could be further from true love, from what St. Valentine bestowed on the blind young girl he healed in the 3rd century. But it’s possible to take it back from the moneymen – to make it something a little greater than their expectations.

I was in Ohio recently, at a conference in which both author Robert Schwartz and I were in attendance. Listening to him speak, I was struck by Rob’s description of his sudden introduction to how love truly is the warp and weft of the universe:

I took a break from work and went for a walk – and had a profound experience. I suddenly felt overwhelming, unconditional love for every person I saw! No words can adequately convey the power of this love. It was of an intensity and depth I had never experienced and did not know was possible. For each person – the mother pushing her baby in a stroller, the cab driver waiting for a fare, the child playing at the corner, the barber cutting hair behind the window of his barbershop – I felt pure, limitless love.

Though I had never before heard of such an experience, I knew intuitively what was happening: I was in enhanced, immediate communion with my soul. In effect, my soul was saying to me, “This love is who you are.”

That description, though I have heard it and read it a dozen times, still hits me right in the heart. If we could touch that incandescence even occasionally, how different the world might be!

Rob was just at the beginning of the incredible experiences that would lead him to write YOUR SOUL’S PLAN. He was not a lifelong seeker of Truth. He was not someone steeped in metaphysical or religious thought. He was simply someone open to the message. And if it is possible for him to experience such a miracle, it’s possible for any of us.

Here’s your challenge. Do what Rob did. Go for a walk. On your street, at a mall. No matter who comes into your line of vision, look deeply. Acknowledge, heart-deep and unconditionally, the beauty and courage of their wants and needs, their own strivings to fit into the world and understand it, their own loves and longings. Honor everything that makes them a brave and courageous soul that has incarnated Earthside to learn, to heal, to serve the Universe through their learning. Recognize that what moves them, that spark of soul, is also yours – for if we all in the end go back to the Central Point, if we are all merely emanations of the One – there is no difference.

And then, give your own Valentine to the world: A smile unexpected. An angel act, picking up a stranger’s tab at a restaurant, with nothing asked in return, and perhaps without their even knowing who did it. A kind word to someone, unanticipated but heartfelt. And an eyes-to-eyes acknowledgment of appreciation for someone’s everyday work, whether it’s the store clerk who bags your groceries or the car-wash fellow wiping down your car on a very cold day.

Your life and how you live it IS a Valentine to the world, every day. Sign it with a flourish. And bestow it on everyone who comes in contact with you.