Valentine’s Day got me feeling a certain way. I’m not in my feelings, pining for my long lost love. Even when I was in a relationship, my ex and I never celebrated Valentine’s Day anyway so hey, I’m not missing anything.
It’s been a rough patch for me over the past few years. But thank God I’ve healed and licked my wounds. It’s been time well spent because I’m falling in love.
Everybody is talking about self-love these days. I googled it, and found pages and pages of stuff written about it like
A Seven-Step Prescription for Self-Love
What Self-Love Means: Twenty Ways to be Good to Yourself
Self-Love Memes are the Viral Trend for 2018
How to Practice Self Love on Valentine’s Day, According to the Experts
Be Good to Yourself: The Art of Self-Love
A few of these articles offer some really great suggestions. I especially like Practicing Self-Love on Valentine’s Day and their suggestion to Netflix and Chill TF out. You’ll see why at the end of my post.
Anyway, here’s my take on self-love. Nothing profound. Just a simple observation I wrote in my journal last year.
I care about what I think about myself.
And because I do, my first priority is to feed my spirit with only positive energy. My type of self-love comes with a sense of inner peace about my life, even with its trials and tribulations. It’s an assuredness that all is well within my soul. Its not born from an arrogant, self-centered place where I’m the only one that matters, but a place of contentment with how my life has unfolded.
So there you have it. A not so romantic post about love. The kind of love that I’m feeling these days which is cool with me.
I guess I’ll be my own Valentine and shower myself with love.
This post started as a tribute to my favorite romantic, foreign movies. I mean, it is Valentine’s Day tomorrow and you might need to Netflix and Chill TF out. And what better way to shower yourself with love than with a syrupy sweet romantic movie with subtitles. (I can see most of y’all rolling your eyes. Whatever. 😒) At least read about a few of my favs.
Like Water for Chocolate (1992 Mexican), I read the book and loved every page Laura Esquivel wrote. But the movie enchanted me because it portrayed all the magical realism of the book so well. Tita and Pedro’s love burns for years. And in the end, they do too. I watch this movie about every four years. The most recent viewing I discovered a quotable by John the doctor (not my pick for Tita, but a nice guy nonetheless).
It’s these flames of passion, of love and inspiration that nourish our soul. Without them, our lives are hardly worth living.
Devdas (2002 India) This movie was instrumental in cultivating my love for Bollywood and Shahrukh Khan. A definite classic tale, sixteen film versions of this story exist. I’ve only watched 2 versions, and this one made me cry. All the years that Devdas and Paro spent together ended in tragedy and unfulfilled love. You’ll need a tissue and a long attention span because it’s full of dancing and singing, which is what you can expect from a blockbuster Bollywood film.
In the Land of Blood and Honey, (2011 Serbo-Croatian) It’s an American film, but the story about two lovers on opposite sides of the Bosnian War in the 1990s. Both character’s lives are in danger because of their love affair turned secret set against the backdrop of the brutal ethnic conflict that took place there. I was pleasantly surprised at Angelina Jolie’s directorial skills.
August Winds (2014 Brazillian) Not really a love story, but more of a coming of age story. I love Brazilian movies and this one was no exception. There are a few really hot scenes in this one so watch out and don’t catch fire.
Love is in the air. Don’t pass up an opportunity to practice a little self-love while you Nexflix and Chill TF out.
