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Palentines Day
Years ago I invented a new word – Palentine. It was for a Valentines Day party that a friend was planning for a group of single friends. It seemed an appropriate name especially with the interesting activity she proposed.
This was an adult party. Yet creative craft supplies were available to decorate and adorn small brown sandwich bags. You would be surprised at how readily both men and women entered this activity and maybe even more surprised at the unique and clever designs that emerged. Embellished and beautified these “mail-bags” were identified as to the owners.
Reminiscent of school days, my friend was offering this group an opportunity to validate and affirm each other. A pile of cards was available and put to good use, as each person added personal words of support and gratitude for their friends before “mailing” the card to the recipient.
The comments about the activity were interesting. One participant said, “I enjoyed communicating to others in that way and receiving the messages others sent to me.” Another man told the hostess he even took his Palentines to bed that night to reread them. Someone else commented, “What a heart-warming idea to participate in.” Even a year later, someone told her. “I still have mine.”
What does this say about how much we may neglect to tell others how much we love and appreciate them? No doubt you’ve heard the saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Authors Debby Hoffman and Kathy Chamberlain challenge us to FIND something nice to say and they give us directions on how to give “designer compliments” in their book Find Something Nice to Say, The Power of Compliments.
What if we did look for the diverse gifts that are in the people we know? Most of us are good at finding fault. What if we decided to look for the strengths of others and consider what they add to our lives and told them? If we moved from what was wrong with them to what we appreciated about them and let them know, what would happen?
When you first look through the microscope at a slide, nothing may be visible, but when you turn the focus knob, a whole new world comes into view. A world that was present all the time, just not in clear sight. Does this idea inspire you to change your focus, to alter your perspective and share some gratitude at home, at work or somewhere else in your life?
Can you focus on seeing the beauty in others and in yourself? For some people, appreciating themselves may be even harder. But God doesn’t make junk. What are the gifts you have been given?
February is the month of hearts and love. Will you celebrate the Loveliness you see in others and yourself? How about telling the others in your life all you love about them? Will you open your heart, and just like breathing, let the love flow - in and out, to all the past and new Palentines in your life?
Lynn Durham, author of From Frazzled To Fantastic! You're One Thought Away From Feeling Better. www.lynndurham.com, smile@lynndurham.com
Lynn Schwartz Durham is a mother of three sons and a well-being coach living in New Hampshire, USA. Since her childhood days in Lordship, Connecticut where she held “health camp” at the beach, Lynn has been interested in helping others feel better.
A UConn graduate and registered nurse, Lynn has taught nursing, “Women’s Wellness” and “Spirituality and Health.” Lynn speaks, facilitates retreats, and writes - all focused on well-being …for those who want to release anger, anxiety and anguish … for those who want to embrace, cherish and celebrate life!
Lynn has published over 100 articles and columns, is a contributing author to several books, has an audio book called Dancing Gracefully with Life and is the author of From Frazzled to Fantastic! You’re One Thought Away From Feeling Better,
For many years Lynn was a member of the National Speakers Association, the National Wellness Association and the American Association of Therapeutic Humor. She has studied at the Harvard Deaconess Mind Body Medical Institute in Boston where a fellow participant called her a glass of Prozac!
Lynn is also a NH Real Estate Broker in the lakes and mountains area, a grandmother, an artist, dancer and bridge player.
Through contact with Lynn on TV, radio or in person, people change the way they see their world. Whether we find her with a flower in her hat, or spinach in her teeth, Lynn brings her sense of Joy in the Journey wherever she goes.
