I am a proud Valentine's Day graduate.



I am a proud Valentine's Day graduate. Looking back, I can see how Valentine's Day helps us to suspend our fixation with meaningless stuff. Even if we do that for a few hours only, we find ourselves thinking more of love, of relationships and of loved ones.


Valentine's Day can be hypnotic, depending I suppose, on your age and your cash flow. You find yourself in a state of mindfulness. Whether you like it or not, you are swept away by the colour red, the single stem roses and the chocolates. Even if you protest about the commercialism about Valentine's Day, you somehow embrace the flood of good feelings and thoughts that others are sending out.


I too, experienced those dizzy, youthful days of being swamped with gifts and candlelit dinners. Then when my family grew, we celebrated Valentine's Day at home with special dinners or we picnicked and watched the sun set from Signal Hill. Now, my love affair with Valentine's Day has matured.


 This year I was content to sit at home, enjoying my single stem rose and blogging away. There was far more activity amongst our younger generation. Brett and his partner disappeared on their exciting dates of horseriding along the Noordhoek beach to Chapman's Peak, Sasha and her girlfriends spent the afternoon at the cinema and then at some lounge, while Christo and his friends chilled under the Brazilian Pepper tree with a potluck meal and drinks. 


This was good. Everybody was happy in their own spaces, enjoying their friendships and being present right there where they were. Being mindful is what matters. Enjoying life with those who make your life complete is a blessing.


That is the power of Valentine's Day. If  you strip away the fanfare that surrounds this day, you will find that this day forces us to acknowledge and recognise those gifts of love, friendship and family. Those who seldom step back to embrace real, pulsating love and concern for others, will feel the stirrings of mindfulness.


Let's be thankful then and see Valentine's Day as a grim reminder that we need to spread love and concern consistently.


And who knows... I may be tempted to throw away caution and rekindle that crazy, kinda over-the-top celebrations when Valentine's Day comes around next time!


I hope you maxed your special day with loved ones...









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Packing for our Thailand trip

Image
I think I am getting better with packing for holidays - whether it is for local breakaways, camping or most recently, for our holiday in Thailand. I still overpacked ( rolling eyes) by putting in all my light lacy throw-overs because I prefer my "Sauls" arms to have a wee bit of covering. Believe me, those lacy tops stayed put in the luggage bag for the duration of our trip!   We use Jiffy self-locking  bags as our packing cubes, a cheaper version of the material cubes you can buy. The Jiffy bags are transparent and vacuum seal as well, creating more space in  your luggage bag. Our travel wardrobe I  think we worry unnecessarily about what to wear when going on holiday. All the clothes you usually wear when you run errands or when you go out, would be just perfect for Thailand as well. If you intend dining at an upmarket restaurant or want to visit a smart club, you can pack in dressy shoes and a fancy outfit. We however,were just going to do regular activities t
Read more

It's been a year since I had breast cancer and life is good.

Image
Ayesha (far right), my past student and now wonderful radiologist, posing with me after the mammogram and ultrasound moments.   On 18 May, it was a year after I had a lumpectomy.  As you will recall, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and the option my surgeon, Dr Edge, recommended was a lumpectomy. Fortunately, there was no evidence of spreading after the binodal biopsy and thus I had to only go for radiation after the operation. The year had flown past. Just the other day, my family and I were dealing with all the visits to the hospital for the lumpectomy, the 30 daily sessions of radiation and then the recovery period. In fact, our lives went back to normal pretty soon after this trauma and life has been good. Sometimes when certain well-meaning folk enquire about my health whenever they see me, my mischievous streak hovers below the surface. When they ask , "And how is your health  now?" their voices drop, their mouths contort  and I get that " I hope I lo
Read more

Our elephant trekking experience in Phuket.

Image
We had our own dedicated taxi to take us to go elephant riding and to experience the 9D images at the Trickeye museum. We met our taxi driver in Bangla road, who also waved his laminated brochures to passing Bangla road crowds. After agreeing on the cost of our trip the next day and giving our hotel details, we parted ways. The next morning, at exactly 11h00, our soft-spoken taxi driver was there to chauffeur us to our planned attractions. Our driver lives about five hours from Patong, where he works. He would go home some weekends or his family would join him in Patong.  The day we met him in Bangla road, his young son was with him but since we were three passengers, the little one had to stay at home. Our first stop was to do the elephant rides. Here again, you will experience the ingenuity of the Thai people. Once you had paid for your ride, you are invited to buy food for your elephant. The food is a tiny plastic bowl of small overripe bananas that will set you back 100 baht.
Read more