Welcome to the month of love, where Cupid's arrows are poised, and hearts beat a little faster. As we speed towards Galentines/Valentine's Day on February 14th, let's take a minute to think about the many ways in which we celebrate love.

The ancient Greeks described 8 kinds of different love, each with it’s own particular essence, and I think we should celebrate them all (except perhaps the last one.. manic, obsessive love)  

• EROS Romantic love, sexual passion
• PHILIA Affectionate love, deep friendship
• LUDUS Playful love
• AGAPE Selfless love, love for everyone
• PRAGMA Enduring or longstanding love
• PHILAUTIA Love of the self, Self-love
• STORGE Natural familial love, love of family
• MANIA Obsessive, Manic love

What if instead of confining the celebration to a single day, we spread “the love” throughout the entire month of February? Imagine imbuing this approach not just for a month but making it a year-round practice…. well, maybe let’s just start with February!

Do you remember those days in elementary school when we painstakingly crafted countless Valentine hearts for our classmates? Or perhaps you helped your kids cut out those cute pink and red hearts? Well it might be time to revive that spirit in some form.

Let's infuse our lives with an abundance of love and care by sharing thoughtful notes, gestures, poetry, art, music and well, maybe a little Mood Indigo too! Drop all your pre-conceived notions and thoughts around V-day expectations and take a little time to figure out what feels right for you. Haikus work too! Imagine the impact if you decided to express your loving sentiments to friends, family, colleagues, even strangers, or simply those who bring kindness into your life. Your list of folks may be long, but the gestures need not be elaborate. A simple note that says, "I love your wonderful sense of humor and am so glad you're in my life. Let's go for a stroll sometime soon," can make someone's day and is a genuine expression of fondness.

It's leap year, so there are 21 days left in February. Consider picking at least one person each day or a week, to share an expression of love. (Don't worry, I won't flood your inbox with emails every day.) Please do include yourself on that list, as expressing self-love is just as  important! Don’t be shy about giving full expression to your feelings! It will be an interesting endeavor as we each have different ways of expressing and sharing love, and very specific ways of wanting to BE loved.

Heck I miss art projects with my kids, so I may just get a bunch of colored stock paper and start cutting out hearts to share! I hope you'll get your creative juices flowing and attempt something along these lines.

You know I love hearing from you so please do share your creative projects with me! And in a shameless plug for Mood Indigo, I've put together a gift set called Love Spell that you'll have to go check out too!

Much love as always!

Delving into a bit of history, the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14th was recorded in the 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary. The association of the day with romantic love blossomed in the 14th and 15th centuries during the era of courtly love, likely linked to the "lovebirds" of early spring.

Although the stories behind Saint Valentine are a bit vague, some legends say that he was a Roman priest who defied Emperor Claudius II, who banned marriage so men would be more willing to go to war, by continuing to marry people in secret, which resulted in Saint Valentine's brutal execution.