Grow Your Love Giveaway!

Gratitude I: Mixed Media Painting by Charlotte Shristi. Visit charlotteshristiart.com to see more of her work.

This week we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr., and I was surprised and pleased to see several programs focused on his wider dream! A favorite quote of his, and what I have on my email signature is: "All life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny.” Put Another way: “All flourishing is mutual”* Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Monday, I got to hear Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò*, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, speak about the expansiveness of Dr. King’s vision….How the circle of his love grew wider and wider throughout his life—my words.

Dr. King came to see his struggle for civil rights in the U.S. as tied to ending the poverty of all Americans, and tied to ending war in the rest of the world, AND tied to the intrinsic value of the more-than-human world, as this quote highlights.  “ALL life is interrelated!”  Mr. Táíwò emphasized that civil rights cannot be separated from environmental justice.  Protecting human and civil rights must include protecting the life-support-system we call the natural world.

I’m inspired by Dr. Kings expanding circle of care and concern. Specifically, I’m inspired to expand my definition of love as celebrated on Valentine’s Day.  I lived for several years in Colombia where the day is called the Day of Love and Friendship or El Dia del Amor y la Amistad.  I would like to expand my celebration of love even further and encourage us to think about how to extend love beyond romantic partners and friends to our neighbors, broader communities, and even ourselves, this Valentine’s Day.

I have been wondering how to offer the benefits of hot stone massage to friends, neighbors and community members who are living with high levels of anxiety and fear because of very real government-sponsored white supremacist hatred and violence in our community and across our country.  And also, to the good people who are walking in solidarity with them.  We are all being challenged and some of us traumatized by what we are experiencing and witnessing. 

Research shows that “massage seems to impact brain activity in ways that improve relaxation….massage helps to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. It may also improve sleep, which is well known to be both a contributing cause as well as a symptom of many mental health disorders.”***

I’ve decided, one way I can grow my love professionally is to offer a Valentine’s Day giveaway.  If you know someone who would benefit from stress-reduction, please consider partnering with me to extend love and care to them.  If you need care…. by all means, gift yourself a treatment!  Your self-love and self-care increase your resiliency and ability to keep caring for others.  Rest is resistance! Celebration, joy, generosity and mutual aid are resistance!

Contact me for 50% off a Valentine’s Day Grow Your Love Giveaway gift certificate for yourself or someone else, good for any treatment session at Wild Poppy Healing Arts.  In the face of hate, together let’s celebrate and grow our circles of love!

* From Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

**Mr. Táíwò is also a fellow at the Climate and Community Institute, author of the critically acclaimed books Elite Capture and Reconsidering Reparations, and a contributor to Greta Thunberg’s The Climate Book 

***Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/lifespan-perspectives/202201/massage-therapy-mental-health