Feeling a little tender-hearted this Valentine's day?

As Valentine day approaches, there is a boatload of hurt, scared, angry people, floating around looking for a safe place to land, who’ve been burned by love, lost someone dear or in such conflict with those around them that love seems like the stupidest idea ever.

Now what's become of the broken-hearted
Who had love that's now departed?
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
I'll be searching everywhere
Just to find someone to care.
I'll be looking everyday
I know I'm gonna find a way
Nothings gonna stop me now
I'll find a way somehow
I'll be searching everywhere………….

God love the Funk brothers and Motown for this poignant song about love lost and its seismic aftereffects, sprinkled with a dash of hope.

Who hasn’t experienced a broken heart?  I know I have had my share of times when my heart felt it would burst wide open with hurt, leaving me gasping for breath and despair of repair.  These times were accompanied by loneliness as vast and unfathomable, as a space voyage to mars. Yet here I stand loved and as happy as a clam who has avoided, for one more day, the scoop of a clam digger looking for a good meal.

The great thing about life, with all its ups and down, fears and scares, hopes and dreams is that heart break, loneliness and other life travails are transient and repairable.  Sure, it takes work and perspective and tons of support, but it  need not be a life sentence.

If this Valentine’s day has lost it’s meaning for you, know that that it’s okay.  It is only one Valentine’s day out of your lifetime of Valentine’s days.  Only one.  If you need to cry, then cry.  If you need to be angry, be angry.  If you need to feel discouraged, then do so.  The challenge is to not stay in this hard place.  Work the feelings around by talking with someone you trust, journal, exercise, manage your anxiety, give to others.

The heart is an amazing organ, beating steadily even during tough times.  I, for one, feel a wealth of gratitude for the steady reassuring beating of my heart this Valentine’s day.