Keeping Love Flowing

With Valentine's Day come and past this week and the day of family approaching in Ontario. I felt a post about ways to keep the love flowing would be resonant for some. When someone is embodied with love they resonate an energy that can be hard to articulate in words but more of a felt sense experience. When people feel loved by others, feel love for themselves, and give love to others they can show up as the best version of themselves. Here are a few ways to support love for yourself and your family:
1. Guide first from a place of self-love. Being curious about your child(ren)'s and other family members understanding of self-love. Could even take this a step further to create an image or definition that captures elements of each person's understanding. Then giving space for each person to share one thing they love about themselves. If this is hard thinking about one thing they are proud of or like about themselves.
2. Provide each family member with enough slips of paper to write one nice thing about each family member  on a slip of paper. So if there are five family members each family member would need four slips of paper. For younger kids they could draw out and then verbally share with the rest of the family. If the child is too young to speak a parent can support them in sharing something they have observed that the child likes about their relationship with the other person. Each person takes a turn sharing about each member of the family. 
3. Receiving the love. Number 2 can help support noticing how we feel we receive love, whether we get a warm or tingly sense in our body, or our heart fills, or we have a feeling of joy accompanied by love. Giving space for each family member's experience allowing them to completely share before anyone comments or has questions. 
4. Talk together about how as a family to grow the love, and ways to keep it going strong.