St. Valentine's Day

14 Feb 2012

I know quite a few people who have a birthday today.
I'm wearing a hot pink tie.
I sometimes like to tell people that today is my favorite holiday. --It is, but then, I'm not too partial to holidays...In today's post I want to share what I like Valentine's Day. But first, a little background on holidays:

Holidays are traditional, cultural celebrations; but more than that, holidays are excuses to engage in specific behavior and reflect on the past. They help us to remember. Holidays are sanctioned by Leaders, Kings and Rulers.
Neurologists and psychologists who study memory have found a correlation between colors and memory, the result of which is that we are more likely to remember something if there is an extraordinary color associated with the memory. Highlighting answers in textbooks helps us to remember because of the color association and the scenes in movies that we remember most often have vivid colors. The real relationship is that we remember things easier when they hold a certain significance to us.
Because Holidays are unique, they help us to remember things that happened to us during the year. Our brains associate experiences as "before" or "after" a specific holiday, though we may not remember the specific date of the event. In other words, it's easier for us to connect that our grandmother passed away before Christmas because she wasn't able to attend the Christmas celebration. I remember specific peoples' birthdays because of holidays, such as that my mother's is before Valentine's and my fathers is before Halloween.
Because Holidays happen annually (proper holidays happen exactly every 12 months, no more, no less), they help us to reflect on our past. We remember more easily, each New Years, what we were like the year previous and the year before that and &c. We also remember the Valentine's days that we were single and when we were not. Holidays help us to think about where we came from, where we are now, and how we got there--and hopefully, they help us to commit to a better future.
I find it interesting that they are sanctioned by Leaders, Rulers, and Kings. It shows that Holidays require a certain level or order and co-operation. Christmas is acknowledged each year because Christian leaders supported it initially. Over time, holidays become tradition but initially it requires someone in a position of power to start a holiday. Even holidays like Independence Day or Patriot Day require leadership, even though it appears on the surface that they are simply going to happen.


I like this Holiday. It encourages people to love and be proper and respectful to their partners. It also encourages people without partners to recognize the state of their relationships or to dig their roots deeper to resist relationships. The most important thing Valentine's day does is it forces people to act in relation to Love and Relationships.
Honestly, I would be willing to gamble that the real reason why some people might dislike this holiday is that they want to celebrate it "properly" as opposed to how they are forced to celebrate it. In most peoples' minds, Valentines day ought to be celebrated by spending time with their Chosen Love, the person they choose to love at that moment who chooses to love them back. The issue is that most people think no one chooses to love them on that day. Instead of opening up, exposing themselves to risk, and offering themselves to someone else, they hide and dig deep. Illogic: If you ought to be celebrating the day with someone you choose to love and who chooses to love you back, you're going to instead turn your back on everyone you love or might love you and ignore the world?

The logical thing to instead of closing your heart off, to open it up more, take more risks, and expose yourself MORE to the world.

When Christmas comes around and you can't afford a tree or a fancy meal, what do you do? You try to celebrate as best as you can to celebrate. Charlie Brown, in two Christmases, served his friends popcorn and candy, and he finds a beat up tree and decorates it. More importantly, Charlie Brown spends time with his friends whom he loves.

Instead of moping around on Valentine's day, you should be MORE open, more friendly, more kind, more caring, and more loving. You should let other people love you instead of fearing the situation or running from it, and you should take steps to let them love you. That's what Valentine's day is all about, Charlie Brown!

On Valentines day I like to 1) wear pink, red and/or black--it forces people to remember the day and talk about it. 2) I like to tell everyone happy valentines day, because chances are very good that I'm the only one who is going to tell them that all day. 3) I like to be a little entertainer and go out of my way to entertain people--it opens me up to the world and can really make someone else's day. 4) I like to think about my past, present, and future--it sounds cheesy, but it's no different than
By doing these things on Valentines day, the #1 most hated holiday, I set myself apart from the rest of the world. People are more likely to remember me and associate me with valentine's day--I'll have top of mind presence.