“I have found that if you love life, 
life will love you back!”
— Arthur Rubinstein —

I know. It’s February, the month when love sashays into the spotlight and gloats. For some, that’s wonderful, and we are all happy for them. However, sometimes it doesn’t matter if you are a Miss, Mrs., or Ms., February can be a tough month to get through.

There are too many expectations, real or perceived, surrounding Valentine’s Day. It’s a time when many begin to compare their relationship—or lack of a relationship—to the unrealistic romantic fiction of our favorite rom-com, or to the love birds who constantly post their never-ending happiness on social media.

However, this month doesn’t have to be difficult. There are so many aspects of love to celebrate and so much more to the whole love thing than just being in a relationship. This year, whether you are involved in a great love affair or not, celebrate love for all it can be. Don’t let this month be anything but a reason to rejoice, for love is a many splendid thing.

Stop. drop and be reasonable. Before you leave that scathing review about howyour server didn’t bring your ketchup timely, or rush to get your child their fourth Coke, please employee reason before you tear down and damage someone’s hard-earned business with intolerance and unreasonable expectations..

I am not a reviewer. Why? Probably because I have no desire to be the authority on everything, but more importantly, I am a business owner, and I understand and respect the incredible amount of dedication and hard work that goes into making a company run.

“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life!”
— Omar Khayyam —

What are you waiting for? The children to be older? Your job to get better? A raise? Retirement? Perhaps you know for sure your life will be better once you lose 20 pounds or get a bigger house. Are you waiting to feel better? Heal? Do you believe that once all or some of these things—or whatever it is you’re waiting for—happen, life will be so much better. Finally, the time will come when you can be happy and start to live the life you were meant to live. Right?

So, I have to ask again, what are you waiting for?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Oh wait. That was last month. But…it is the most wonderful time of the year to lose weight. I know that’s probably your New Year’s resolution; even thin people want to lose a pound or two.

However, did you know 87.3 percent of those who set weight loss as a New Year’s resolution, do not succeed. Why? Well, the real reason is weight loss is a mental game. If you’re not ready mentally, it’s just not going to happen. But this year, let’s blame it on something else and take the pressure off. Let’s agree that people don’t stick to their weight loss goals because it’s just too complicated and confusing in this day and age.

“…a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones,
and a time to gather stones together”
— Ecclesiastes 3:3-5i —

Bob Dylan once said he couldn’t write the songs now that he wrote back in his heyday. “I don’t know how I got to write those songs. All those early songs were almost magically written. …It’s not a Siegfried and Roy kind of magic. It’s a different kind of a penetrating magic.”