”Love makes the World go round” or so they say, whilst others say “Money makes the World go round”.
No sooner have the stores packed away the Christmas cards and wrapping for another year, then they are festooning their shop fronts in hearts and flowers and everything is pink, fluffy and expensive!
Many people have mixed feelings when it comes to Valentine’s Day – it’s become such a commercial opportunity to bleed us of more of our hard earned cash. It’s not that they don’t want to do something special with their loved one, but they start feeling pressurised to buy weekend trips to Paris, rather than truly sitting down and listening to what their partner and themselves would really love to do. Are we honouring hearts, or just our emptying pockets?
Sure enough we have all dreamt of sailing in the West Indies, going on a luxury safari and buying the new model Porche…but if our partners start demanding these gifts from us, are we honouring them by giving it to them? Is this what their hearts would truly love from us, their partners? Or are they just dreams they have to realise for themselves? Of course it can be nice to give your partner what they would love, as any adventure we dream of can be a great experience to share with our partners. When it comes to truly showcasing our love for someone, it shouldn’t have to cost, should it?
Here at Illum we started thinking about what honouring someone would truly mean and we came to the conclusion that it would be looking after the person’s mind, body and spirit. If we truly want to show our love for someone what can we do? We can make sure their body is looked after by giving them the best ever spa bath, followed by pampering lotions and a massage. We can then wrap them up in bed and serve them the most delicious and nutritious meal they could ever dream of, finished off with some organic wine and an aphrodisiac desert…like raw organic chocolate. Then we can treat their mind and spirit with some declarations of our love, whether by citing Rumi, or coming up with our own verse. Or maybe present them with a gift that somehow represents our love – whether a rose, or a hand painted card. After all, we aren’t all Shakespeare and we can’t recite poems like Rickman, or Streep. We would make sure though that the person truly understands how much they mean to us. Love, after all, is priceless.
