Thank you to all of those who participated! We look forward to hosting more contests. Keep updated with our blog and social media for upcoming events. Congratulations to our winner Danny F. from Philadelphia.

Following the New Year’s celebration, it was almost overnight that heart-shaped images appeared in stores, advertisements, and on-line to remind you of the Valentine’s Day holiday. We know that this annual holiday represents a day when we show our affection to others. Often, this includes buying gifts such as flowers and chocolate, a card, or celebrating the mutual feeling over a date night.

To be perfectly honest, I have not enjoyed this holiday since elementary school. Even then, I think that it was the creation of my decorated mailbox that excited me more than the actual giving/receiving of candy hearts and cards. Although, I am sure that is not surprising considering my love for art. Ultimately, I found the holiday experience to be rather dreadful. A few years ago, I realized that I was not celebrating this so-called holiday in a way that truly honored myself.

Let me start by emphasizing a few key points, why should we only have one day on February 14 to share our affection and secondly, why does our affection often honor others while we completely neglect ourselves? I am not stating that we need to be completely selfish, but sometimes we genuinely forget to love ourselves. Love is defined as a “strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties” or to have “unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another,” (Merriam-Webster, 2017). Erich Fromm (1956) suggested that love exists when five human elements are present: discipline, focus, patience, mastery, and faith. He emphasized that we must focus on knowing the self and these elements of love, respect, and faith in oneself before we can truly love another.

The moment when I realized that I was not celebrating the love and respect for myself, I began a personal tradition to openly admire and appreciate myself on Valentine’s Day. Additionally, I intentionally focus this as a daily practice, because why should we only get one day? My personal process and practice of a selfless love have included treating myself to my favorite gluten-free cupcakes, making artwork for myself, and showing affection to my beautiful soul. I have enjoyed this process and look forward to continually honoring this tradition.

My goal of this post is to support others to remember to love and honor ourselves just as we do for our beloved Valentine. I would like to start by celebrating you and your love for yourself. If you decide to accept this challenge and share this process through a visual image, you will be entered into a contest to win a few of my favorite things (see photo below: Micron Pens; Caran d’ Ache Classic Neocolor Water-Soluble Pastels; Pentel Aqua Waterbrush Pen; Prismacolor Verithin Colored Pencils; Tortillion set; Moleskine blank notebook; Kind Bar Peanut butter Dark Chocolate; Vera Bradley brush case in Bohemian Blooms).

How to enter the Love Yourself Contest:

1. Follow “Almond Blossoms of Hope” on Facebook or Instagram “PghArtTherapy”.

2. Create an inspiration and positive image/artwork representing how you are honoring and loving yourself and share with the hashtag “#ABHope❤”.

3. Share/re-post the contest announcement on your social media page to promote others to honor and love themselves.

If you complete steps 1,2, and 3 you will be entered into a contest to win a few of my favorite things (see photo above). One random winner will be chosen. The contest starts February 16, 2017, and will end 11:59 EST March 16, 2017. The winner will be announced March 17, 2017. Please see the official contest rules for entry.

My hope is to share the images of love for ourselves throughout the contest and post the submissions to inspire others to remember to be kind to our beautiful and growing souls.

Love always,

Keturah

Keturah Welton, Ph.D., ATR-BC, LPC Board Certified Art Therapist, Licensed Professional Counselor, and Almond Blossoms of Hope, LLC founder.

References

Fromm, E. (1956). The art of loving. New York: Harper & Row

Love. (2017). In Merriam-Websert.com. Retrieved February 1, 2017, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/love