Shuck: Celebrating with love every day

Valentine’s Day is past, but its meaning can never be forgotten. That one day we have set aside has many meanings, too many for me to write about presently.

The main reason for almost any celebration is to show love, victory or overcome an undesirable trait or a condition in life. Do we need to only show people that we love them, just once a year? It’s like Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, Easter and many others. We ought to live each day as a day to honor and praise those people and things that we love.

All the reasons for which we celebrate are based on love or the feelings of well-being within ourselves. If we meditate on the reasons for all the seasons, we’ll find they are all to commemorate a cause, a beneficial result of perseverance and sweat or a new freedom — merely a few reasons to celebrate. Can we think of any holiday of which the root cause is not to congratulate, give credit to a person, thing or achievement, or to give thanks for an attempt to do better — such as starting all over on New Year’s Day? The cause for celebrations is genuinely to show respect, consideration and encouragement. What we are celebrating is to bring happiness and admiration to another or to many. When we put a smile on the face of another, we are putting a smile on our own.

Let’s remember to look for the benefits and love that are being felt among those who breathe in the heart and soul of what’s behind and underneath the hoopla and commercialism often associated with the outer appearance of celebrations. Often, the emotion, ruckus and excitement created by the observance overshadow the real purpose of what is being proclaimed. Do we realize if we are celebrating because of the activities, festivities, good food, gifts, fun and get-togethers, or for the genuine reason behind the observance? Many are unaware of the cause behind the outer trappings of the event.

“We need to celebrate things every day,” says Tanya Peterson, Anxiety, Mindfulness and Wellbeing specialist. She says “Intentionally seeking things to celebrate on a daily basis increases our sense of wellbeing and our life satisfaction. If we find or create things to celebrate, even if they are small, it’s a way to make a good life every day, rather than in big chunks. If we will identify the good contained in our celebration, whether it’s big or minuscule, we can shift our perspective from negative to positive.” Good days at school or work, birthdays, getting a new puppy, good health or an improvement in an illness, are all reasons to rejoice.

Celebrating small wins is a great motivator. To achieve small goals that are gradually occurring, as we strive, is better than one big achievement. This is because a stunning win may never occur again or it may take a discouraging amount of time. Small wins can keep propelling us forward because we can see our gradual successes. Confidence builds as we see steady progress. The saying, “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step” is certainly a truth and a challenge. Its words inspire us to know that anything we attempt must begin with the first step. “Each step makes us feel good, more often.”

Since we are walking during the journey, we must realize we take many steps to reach our destination. We must keep a steady gait and refuse to go too fast or slow. Otherwise, we will become overly tired and unable to finish the task. Discouragement will take over our mind’s outlook and we may give up when we’ve barely begun. Rather than finishing our trip of distance, achievement and showing love to those we ought to celebrate, we can begin now to recognize the many blessings that come into our lives every day, not just occasionally.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude; it does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.” (Corinthians 13:1-13)

Ellen Shuck holds degrees in psychology, religious education and spiritual direction. She is the author of the book, “Wisdom for the Journey.”