Publisher’s Letter – All Kinds of Love

By Kasia Szumal –

There is One Love that connects all of us, but we experience many expressions of love throughout our lives. Feelings of love make us feel giggly, accepting and whole. With love, you feel as if you can move mountains! The month of February is advertised to us as a month of love due to of Valentine’s Day. On that day, we do our best to surprise our loved ones, usually our significant others, but what about other people you love, such as your parents or even yourself? There are many types of love, and in this issue, I want to share many of these with you, not just romantic love.

Let’s first consider our love to our family, in particular, our parents. We receive our earliest love lessons from our parents. This kind of love can be wonderful and supportive, but sometimes, it can be hard and painful. In this month’s column, A Different Kind of Valentine, Alan Cohen illustrates this kind of love. “When I was growing up, I did not appreciate my parents. I was busy living out my own desires, figuring out who I was, and exploring the world. I took mom and dad for granted. I had judgments about them and wished they were otherwise. At times, I was disrespectful. I was a self-involved teenager.“ How do you approach this kind of love when you grow up and become a parent? According to Alan Cohen, we should be open to appreciating our parents and be more compassionate towards them. Additionally, he asks us to consider how we grew as a result of the challenges our parents gave us. When we look at the bigger picture of love, we see that all of our experiences make perfect sense. They make us who we are.

Do you know that you can attract your relationship by changing your energy at home? According to Kristina Hollinger, we can do that with Feng Shui. In her article, How to Attract the Relationship You Truly Want with Feng Shui, she teaches us that we can find it in our home in The Wisdom and Knowledge Gua. “You need to spend some time in The Knowledge Gua to get some self-knowledge on what it is that you truly want and need from a partner. Once you get clear on your desires, you will be able to articulate that to someone else.” I strongly believe that; when deep in your heart you know the kind of person you would like to be, you will attract the right kind of person into your life. Everything starts within us!

As we move closer to spring, there are more and more great events across the Midwest, including the Ostara Lumiere Ball, the Holistic Healing with Herbs series, and the Getting Your Sh*t Together Weekend. Conscious Community is proudly supporting a showing of HEAL, a documentary that takes us on a scientific and spiritual journey. Turn to our Community Happenings for details, and visit ConsciousCommunityMagazine.com/events-calendar to see all the latest events.

As always, I invite you to visit ConsciousCommunityMagazine.com. We are now adding new content throughout the month! You can hear full audio episodes of the Conscious Community Podcast, including the interview with Rabbi Rami in this issue, but also mid-month episodes, such as our recent conversation with Sam Bennett author of Start Right Where You Are. On Feb. 15, we will continue to celebrate the beauty of life and love with a discussion with Pastor Ian Simkins of the Beauty In The Common project, where we discuss seeing the beauty in everyday life and the shared experiences that unite us all. Check back with us regularly for more inspirational and thought provoking content!

Until next time,

Kasia Szumal