A warm, friendly happy Valentine's Day to you all.

I hope you have the love in your life that you want. If you do, congratulations. I hope you're taking some time to celebrate that love.

I also know many of us don't have the connections we want.

If you're feeling a bit bereft today, I hope you will both find the love you want eventually and also broaden your definition.

Remember the love of friends.
Remember the love of family.
Remember the love even of distant Internet communities like this that offer support.

It's not the same as romantic and/or kinky love, but all love is good and needed.

And the most important love is self-love (no, not that kind of self-love 🙄).

I hope you all offer yourselves love and compassion today (and every day).

We all absolutely deserve that kind of self-care. No matter our past, our traumas, our mistakes, our flaws, or our challenges, we all deserve that inner love and gentleness. Really, no matter what, you still deserve that love and compassion. I also know it's often not easy--but it is worth learning.

And it is amazing what practicing that kind of generosity of spirit toward ourselves can do. Those aren't just pretty words either. There are not only deep spiritual traditions around self-compassion, there is also really good science. Self-compassion can make a tremendous difference in people's lives.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.

Happy Valentine's Day.