Secret Admirers So often the holidays bring up expectations of how things should be. The media does a good job of promoting various images to set the stage, but ultimately we buy in, leading to some sort of collective force our culture gets swept up in. The day seems to bear an invisible stamp of approval if it meets certain criteria and disapproval if it does not. The latter is tied to disappointment. This realization alone can bring up dread in anticipation of what will and won’t happen. Vowing to simplify my already hectic life, I dropped all planning for what was going to be our winter break travels. Instead I focused on the necessary yet mundane tasks of life- like laundry. Thoughts of snow covered ski slopes turned into crisp clean cotton folds. In letting go of pressure to find that creative and festive meal, I was open to take a friend up on her invitation to dinner. In forgoing the last minute second trip to the store in search of valentines cards that had been accidentally tossed out, my daughter learned to make her own. Taking a step back gave me time to appreciate what is truly important to me, people, moments, and adequate space to experience them. In my meditation today, I am cultivating the space that will allow me to take a moment to appreciate all the blessings in my life as well as the numerous and mostly unknown people that played a role in my being able to experience them. On this valentine’s day I like to consider these people my secret admirers and here’s how. If you haven’t done so already I, along with meditation teacher, Sharon Salzberg, challenge you to join us on this 28 day Real Happiness journey. In addition to resources at SharonSalzberg.com check out MyMindfulWayofLife.com and access a free sample meditation to follow along: Click for meditation Come along there is still time to Begin!