Newsletter with a short history of Valentine's Day and Hilary's thoughts about it. The gift of giving any day, not just special days.

1. Welcome to my Newsletter February 2012.
In this issue:
• Valentine’s Day.
• What’s new for 2012.
As I write the usual media hype about Valentine’s Day
is gaining momentum. I thought that it might be
interesting to find out some of the history behind
Valentine’s Day. So off I went to Wikipedia and found
the following information:
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is
a holiday observed on February 14 honoring one or more early
Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine. It is traditionally a day on
which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers,
offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day
first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in
the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.
Chaucer's love birds
The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with
romantic love is in Parlement of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey
Chaucer. Chaucer wrote:
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.
["For this was Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird
cometh there to choose his mate."]

2. This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of
King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. A treaty providing for a marriage
was signed on May 2, 1381. (When they were married eight months later, they were
each only 15 years old).
Readers have uncritically assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14 as
Valentine's Day; however, mid-February is an unlikely time for birds to be mating in
England. Henry Ansgar Kelly has pointed out that in the liturgical calendar, May 2 is
the saints' day for Valentine of Genoa. This St. Valentine was an early bishop of
Genoa who died around AD 307. Chaucer's Parliament of Foules is set in a fictional
context of an old tradition, but in fact there was no such tradition before Chaucer.
So there you are; that’s the History lesson for today!
I love the idea that the people we love are
given hearts and flowers etc; so that they
know that we love them. However, I believe
that we should not need a “special day” like
Valentine’s Day to remind us to express our
love.
We can have a “Valentine’s Day” any day of the
year. A gift of flowers or some other small
token given with a loving heart at any time of
year is a beautiful thing.
We may have been with our spouse or life partner for years, but it is still important
to show our love in ways that makes the other person feel loved and appreciated,
not taken for granted. Here is an interesting question to ask to your spouse or
partner: “What is it that I can do to make you feel loved and appreciated?” You may
well find that the answer is not what you were expecting. However, the information
is very useful. It may be that taking out the garbage makes your partner feel more
loved than being given a box of chocolates; you never know until you ask.

3. What’s New for 2012?
Many people have been trying to use the Law of Attraction to manifest what it is
that they want in their lives. The trick is to know exactly what you want, to be able
to visualize it and to feel the emotion of having it.
I have been working on a way to make this
easier for everyone (including myself).
So I came up with the idea of creating a
“Personal Presentation” Slide Show,
complete with affirmations and visual
images. By running the slideshow twice a
day, it helps you to focus on what it is
that you want; and the images help to
evoke the emotion. I can now create
these mini slide shows for my clients;
made to each individual’s requirements.
Here is a link to a sample presentation that I put together as a demonstration:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/55613615/A%20Personal%20Presentation
%20Demonstration%20Show/A%20Personal%20Presentation%20Demonstration
%20Show.swf
You will need Adobe Flash Player to run this file. If you do not have the Flash
Player, you can download it here for free:
www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html
Thank you for reading my newsletter, I hope you enjoyed it.
Until next time, best wishes,
Hilary
Just for fun, here is a little jigsaw for you:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/55613615/Hibiscus%20Jigsaw%20The%20Out%20and
%20About%20Therapist.exe
A Personal Presentation
To Help You Manifest
The Life That You Want.
© Hilary Thompson The Out and About Therapist 2011.