Jacksonville — Valentine’s Day is an annual celebration of love. With its origins shrouded in mystery and legend, the modern day version is one of flowers, sweets and whimsical romance. Oddly enough, its genesis is complicated. Historians agree that the date was solidified by Pope Gelasius 1 in 496 AD on February 14, to commemorate the death of Saint Valentine of Rome. Jailed for preaching Christianity, history notes that that he miraculously restored the sight of his jailer’s blind daughter. In doing so, he wrote her a letter and signed it, “Your Valentine.”
The holiday also has pagan beginnings centered around fertility. The festivals are complicated, some even brutal.
During the Middle Ages, France and England chose February 14, as a day of romance to coincide with the beginning of mating season for birds. By the 14th and 15th centuries, folklore blossomed the holiday into medley’s of courtly love. By the 18th Century, flowers, candy and greeting cards - exchanged on February 14th - became symbols of true love. During the 1840s, an American Artist, Esther Howland, sold the first mass-produced valentines embellished with lace, ribbons and photographs.
Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent every year to tally the day as the second in the volume of cards mailed, of course trailing Christmas.
But as we celebrate this day of love, one cannot sidestep gratitude. Coming from the Latin word “gratus” meaning pleasing and thankful, the noun depicts a feeling of appreciation from one’s kindness, be it a gift, a gesture or an emotion, like love. But how often do we truly practice gratitude? And can it, like love actually change us?
According to research from the Neuro Clinic, gratitude puts us in a healthier, happier state through the chemical release of dopamine. They also say that Gratitude not also keeps the brain’s gray matter functioning, gratitude can actually change the brain’s molecular structure. Like love, gratitude can enlighten the mind while giving us a sense of euphoria.
Teddy Droseros is spearheading global gratitude through his Grateful People’s Project, a campaign focused on making gratitude a part of our everyday lives through the art of scripting what we are grateful for.
Born and bred from personal experience, Droseros believes that building a more grateful world begins with our own imagination. Anything, he says, is possible if we truly believe. He also believes that human connection is the most powerful tool for making ideas happen. While we can’t always control what happens to us, we can control how we react to every circumstance. Through meditation and gratitude we can truly and scientifically change how we think.
So what began as a collection of informal gratitude notes exploded into a journey of journals Droseros now sharing on a global scale.
Click on the link below for the complete podcast story with Teddy Droseros:
©2022 Cox Media Group
Sign Up
