Insight: Keeping the spark alive in love and in life by Lorraine Glowczak

Valentine’s Day will be upon us next week and many will celebrate the special person in their lives. It is a day where lovers everywhere can get out of their everyday routine and express gratitude for those they deeply love. 

 

Author and clinical psychologist, Dr. Lisa Firestone, while referring to Valentine’s Day, has written about breaking everyday habits to keep our love alive, “Routines are so easy to slip into. They make us feel sort of safe and secure, but they also bore us. In the long term, they can actually threaten the passion and excitement we feel toward our partner.”

I must admit, my husband and I are one of those couples who tend to go about Valentine’s Day as if it is any other ordinary day. Although it’s true that we do regard each other as important and special (on most days), I guess we are not the “message-on-a-candy heart, red-rose, heart-shaped and helium-filled balloon” kind of people. 

I know we are not alone in our approach to this day of romance, but, whether we go all out on Valentine’s Day or not really isn’t the point. There are many ways to express and experience love on a daily basis and it does not necessarily require one to be in a “special” relationship or one to feel pressured to “show love” extravagantly on a specific day of the year to break out of a routine. 

It is true that habitual needs can rob us of the spark that ignites the creativity to love one another. It is for this reason, I chose this week’s quote of the week by Vincent Van Gogh, “I feel there is nothing more artistic than loving people.”

It has been said by philosophers and artists alike that art is the union of humanity that joins everyone together. Although Valentine’s Day is specific to romantic love, the everyday kind is just as profound and contributes to a creative life lived deeply. 

Van Gogh’s description reminds us that, much like art, life is messy and beautiful - and so are humans. To love, whether romantically or otherwise, takes a lot of creativity and work. It is easy to slip into a comfort zone with one another and with life.  Keeping the romance alive in whatever we do and with whomever we live is one of the keys to love. And if we stay committed to that happy yet complex creative endeavor, a masterpiece is born.

So, whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day with a significant other, with friends, by yourself or if you treat it as an ordinary day – remember to keep the spark alive in love and life daily in your own unique and creative way.