Happy Valentines Day! Is it just me or does the arrival of this holiday seem anticlimactic? Almost every store I’ve entered since the day after Christmas has been inundated with red hearts.
The heart has a curious connection to love. No one really knows how or why the heart came to be the symbol of love. Although there seems to be plenty of theories explaining the relationship.
Some link the connection to strong emotions, like love, causing our hearts to beat noticeably faster during romantic encounters.
Some trace it to the shape of the leaves of a silphium plant, a now extinct species of fennel that ancient civilizations used for its contraceptive properties in love potions.
Others believe the connection stems from the legend of Venus, the goddess of love, setting hearts on fire while her son, Cupid, shot arrows into his targets’ hearts, thereby causing them uncontrollable attraction.
Still, others credit the connection to the martyred priest, Saint Valentine, who supposedly used the symbol of the heart as a code when arranging secret marriages.
Dr. Marilyn Yalom, former Stanford professor and author of the book The Amorous Heart: An Unconventional History of Love, devoted an entire TEDx talk to exploring the symbology of the heart and debunking some of the above myths.
Personally, I think the image of an hourglass would be a more appropriate symbol of love than the heart.
For starters, love and other related emotions are actually regulated in the part of the brain called the hypothalamus, not the heart.
I doubt the image of the brain would make a better symbol for love, however. Anyone who has dabbled in love will attest that decisions related to love are rarely made with your head.
Love, romantic or otherwise, isn’t really a matter of your heart nor your head. Love is a matter of your time. When you love someone, or something, you gift that entity your time—your most valuable possession.
You choose to invest your time in what you love.
Time is perishable. It cannot be renewed nor banked. Once it’s gone; it’s gone. Hence, devoting time to anything is an outward sign of what is important to you.
This is certainly true when it comes to good teammates and the love they have for their teams.
Sacrificing their time listening to a teammate vent, encouraging a distraught teammate, or assisting an overburdened teammate conveys their love for their team.
For good teammates, caring is sharing (their time) with their teammates.
Don’t waste the sands in your hourglass. Be sure to express your love for your team today with the gift of your time. I promise it’s a gift that matters
As always…Good teammates care. Good teammates share. Good teammates listen. Go be a good teammate.
