WILL YOU BE MINE?

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." -Dr. Seuss

Valentines Day. When my father left this world on February 14, 1992, one of his friends said to me "God loved your father so much, he took him back on Valentines Day". Valentines Day, which I seldom "celebrate" , has had a mixed meaning for me since he died. Since I'm all about loving your loved ones EVERY day of the year, choosing one day to show your love doesn't make much sense to me.

But since everyone else seems to be celebrating it, and there

are giant cellophane-wrapped teddy bears and floral displays at every corner of my

neighborhood, I figure its as good a day as any to at least BLOG about LOVE.

When I was in 6th grade I wrote a poem which I gave out to everyone in the class in the form of a Valentine. Many kids made fun of me, but I always took LOVE very seriously. I still remember it:

Every single February on a special day

Cupid comes around and shoots your cares away

when you feel an arrow that has fallen from above

you know that Cupid shot you just to prove that you're in love.

I have been "in love" less than 5 times in my life.

Besides when I first laid eyes on The Cat in the Hat, (which incidentally has been translated into Yiddish and is available through Amazon) the first time I fell in love was in 2nd grade. I thought Cole was the coolest kid in school. He

was a great artist and used soft pencils. His fingers were always covered with graphite. He had big crooked front teeth. He had dark rings under his eyes. He looked like a member of the Adams Family.

He loved monster movies and I watched them on the weekends so I could come in on Monday and join in on the conversation. I was terrified, but I watched Chiller

Theatre anyway because I thought he'd like me better if I did.The first monster movie I ever saw was "The Creature from the Black Lagoon". I watched it through my fingers because I was so scared.

I knew from an early age that LOVE required some degree of sacrifice and inner fortitude.

I don't know where I came up with this notion, but it has flavored all my relationships since. Well...that is until I fell in love with KUNDALINI YOGA. When you fall in love with Kundalini Yoga, you fall in love with yourself. And when you fall in love with yourself, then the whole world is a big Valentines Day every day.

"If I love somebody then I have no question to ask, no answer to hear. Love is beyond questions and answers, give and take, time and space. Love is Infinity; love is God in itself".- Yogi Bhajan

Check out this "Why do You Love Yoga?" video produced by the people at Yogamint.

These are people who are DEFINATELY IN LOVE. Yoga means UNION of body, mind, and spirit. When you "fall in love" with another person, you are actually having a BODY/MIND/SPIRIT Union with yourself. That is why doing Yoga feels so good and why it is engenders the experience of self love.

I remember when I was in grade school, you were considered "conceited" if you loved yourself. BUT LOVING YOURSELF IS THE KEY INGREDIENT TO HAVING A HAPPY LIFE.

Yogi Bhajan said "The purpose of life is to reach God within you. Try it so you can be happy, rich, and prosperous; beautiful, bountiful and recognizable".

When you reach God within you, you are loving yourself. It's simple. You don't have to go outside of yourself to find happiness. If you are a devotional person, chances are that you may have, at least once in your life, loved someone outside yourself inappropriately. By this I mean, that you may have used that PERSON 'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS YOU as a barometer for how you felt about yourself. Once you cultivate a relationship with God or self-love, you don't need another's approval to approve of yourself. The devotion that you cultivate towards another in a relationship may be a devotion better cultivated toward your higher consciousness.

When you are "in love" you are feeling in sync with your higher self. Like Dr. Seuss said, "reality is finally better than your dreams". How do we cultivate this feeling of being "in love"? And what are you really "in love" with? Could it be the very best of your SELF? The very best of YOU?

I think back on the times I thought I was "in love" with someone and I have to say, all those times I was in love with how I felt about myself. As soon as I felt uncertain or insecure in the relationship, that feeling of being "in love" went away. But since I've been practicing Kundalini Yoga, I am "in love" all the time...and I'm not even in a relationship with anyone but myself. This is the greatest gift of having a daily practice and living each and every day as though it were Valentines Day.

What are some ways in which you can reach God within you?

1. You must meditate

2. You must cultivate an attitude of gratitude "As many times in life you fall apart, then it becomes your sad story, it becomes permanent depression, it becomes permanent expression, "Oh nobody cares," "Oh I don't care," those kind of statements which I call negativity. And when you start expressing yourself negatively, that only particularly means that you are ungrateful to God. The happiness in life lies in gratitude, and the way to prosperity, to happiness, to life, to love, to all items in life, is in gratitude, not in being great. Doesn't matter how much you try, you can never be great if you do not have an attitude of gratitude, it is basic." - YOGI BHAJAN , 1991

3. YOU MUST CULTIVATE A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR OWN SOUL......

"The most elementary object of human life with all its sensory system is to meet your own soul; mate your own soul, and live with your own soul, that is the sole purpose, and all prosperity and virtue shall come to you." - YOGI BHAJAN, 1984

The human sensory system IS OUR GREATEST ASSET.We can cultivate IT by consciously connecting to our breath, strengthening our nervous system, activating our glandular system, balancing our emotions and channeling our mental energy SO THAT WE ARE MORE INTUITIVE. THE MORE WE CONNECT WITH OURSELVES, THE HAPPIER WE WILL BE. We will sense our own divinity. We will be able to feel calm and contained, content and present. We will no longer feel the need to be validated from outside because we will validate ourselves by going deep inside our own being.

When I think about it in the context of expressing our feelings of gratitude to others and to God, VALENTINES DAY IS A DAY TO CELEBRATE LOVING OURSELVES.