What's in a word?...

For the Romans, February symbolized a month of purification and cleansing, a prelude to a new beginning that would start in the Spring. Today, we associate February with Valentine’s Day, a celebration of romantic love. Flowers, chocolate, cards and balloons are already awaiting to be delivered to our beloved—a word so present in Rumi’s writings.

As commercial as this day may sound, Valentine’s Day also holds a deeper value. It offers us an opportunity to create rituals in the name of love. Rituals provide us with a sense of inner stability, despite any external chaos, and a sense of connection with whom we love and with the world we care for. Simple rituals like, giving thanks every morning, or serving ourselves a hot cup of coffee or tea with love may set the tone for the rest of our day. (No exaggeration here. Yes! Let's hold our handmade tea/coffee cup or mug with love!)

Love is not a feeling but an action verb, and romantic love is not the only love there is, as you well know. The most important of them all may be the love we have for ourselves. Through this process, to love is to become aware of oneself, a knowledge that can guide our behaviour to act mindfully, both, in the presence and in the absence of the other.

February is also a time to pause and pay tribute to millions of human beings who were deprived of their freedom. Their stories have been immortalized on the silver screen and their names are forever printed in the history of this country. Today, I am privileged to be surrounded by local heroesand sheroes, dear friends who are preserving their ancestor's legacy and making significant contributions to society, amplifying their voices and with their gifts and talents they are making history.