Lissa’s Note: Preparing in advance, I wrote a post for Valentine’s Day a while back - 11 Ways To Be Your Own Valentine. But the day before Valentine’s Day dawned, a little voice inside of me started whispering, “I want to write the Valentine’s Day post.” So this post is not written by me. It’s written by your Inner Pilot Light - from you, to you. Enjoy, my love.

Dear beautiful, radiant, sparkly, effervescent YOU,

As an infant, you were born perfect and whole in your glorious humanness, and in spite of what you think, that has never - not for a second - changed.  But somehow, it seems, you’ve lost sight of what I see in you.  So on this Valentine’s Day, let me remind you of how you appear from my perspective.

You are brilliant beyond measure, not because of anything you’ve accomplished, but because there is nobody else quite exactly like adorable, quirky, eccentric YOU.  Nobody else’s mind processes quite like yours. Nobody else has lived your life experiences, overcome your challenges, learned your lessons, and gleaned exactly the gifts necessary to do what you’re here on this earth to do. Nobody else thinks like you do, feels like you do, views the world like you do. And that alone makes you precious.

But I’m just getting started here, my darling.

You are beautiful as only you can be, with your soul glowing through your skin, infecting others with your love and presence in a way you don’t even seem to recognize.  Don’t you understand that’s why people are drawn to you? Don’t you realize the power within you, the magnetic attraction people feel towards you when you let them see ME, your Inner Pilot Light?

Your beauty has nothing to do with a ski slope nose or flat abs or killer boobs or a wrinkle-free face or a full head of hair.  Your beauty transcends your features, the shape of your body, or how well you measure up to others on the outside.

You are lovable beyond your wildest dreams because you were put here on earth to love and be loved. At the end of your life, you won’t be counting the dollars you’ve earned, the books you’ve published, the countries you’ve traveled to, the projects you’ve completed, the number of hours you clocked into your cubicle, or how many hours you logged in holding up flashcards for your kids.

No matter how many wonderful things you accomplish, no matter how many impossible missions you make possible, no matter how many plaques bear your name, at the end of your life, you will be thinking of how often you opened your heart, how many people you let deep inside, how many lives you changed, how you eased the suffering of others and how you let them ease yours. You will remember the hugs, the tears, the soft touch of the hands, the words that weren’t necessary because hearts speak their own language.

You are lovable because you give others permission to break your heart, even when it means you feel cracked wide open, exposed and vulnerable, unarmored, unprotected, raw and tender. And you are loved because you let someone in, and that someone felt safe, and within the safety of your heart, a connection forged, loneliness abated, and both of you felt SEEN.

You matter because we ALL matter, because to be human is to be Divine, and if you’re here on this earth, you are a spirit living in a body, a piece of God slipped into bones and organs and skin, and that spirit never goes away, no matter how much you screw up, no matter how sick or old you get, no matter what.

Even if you’ve lost sight of this part of you, never fear for I am here, always sparkling, never extinguished, longing to have my flames fanned.  I am that part of you who sees right past the masks you wear and peers through the masks others wear with X-ray vision so I can see the Inner Pilot Light of another being.  When I connect to the Inner Pilot Light of another, fusion happens. We remember what we have forgotten. We feel the I AM and the YOU ARE and we recall the truth we often forget, that we are, at once, unique and special - and also we are ONE, inseparable from one another in a golden matrix of light and love.

Sometimes it breaks my heart to feel your pain, my love. I don’t understand why you feel lonely, as if love is out of reach or the person whose affection you desire isn’t reciprocating, or the one you share your life with feels distant. It’s all an illusion, for you are never alone. I am always with you - as I am in him and her and him and her, Inner Pilot Lights pinging across the world at light speed as we wake up from the false reality and once again, recognize each other - and smile.

On this Valentine’s Day, I want you to know that you are loved and held and nurtured and cherished, that you are gorgeous and sexy and funny and smart, that you are talented and passionate and kind and loving, that you have nothing to regret, no apologies are necessary for who you are, and, if you’re not already living a life of pure bliss, everything can change in a blink when you finally remember this truth.

Don’t let this Hallmark holiday derail you, dearest. Today is not about chocolate or red roses or limos or horse-drawn buggies or champagne or multiple orgasms.  Forget the $6.99 cards full of clichés.

Instead, remember that every day is a day dedicated to love, that nothing else in this entire world matters, that love is why we are here - to experience, from the core, the healing connection of souls uniting and remembering and dissolving the false separation that leaves us yearning for cookies and balloons and flowers that don’t scratch the surface of the kind of the love that is possible, not just between you and a lover, but between you and everyone.

I know I’ve gotten over-the-top gushy here, my precious.  So be it. It’s Valentine’s Day.  But I felt like maybe you forgot, like maybe you were feeling alone or separate or disconnected, as if nobody really understands.  And I can’t stand to stare into such a bold-faced lie without calling you on the truth.

You are lovable. You are loving. You are loved.

Who loves you?

Look right. Look left. Look inside.

Guilty as charged,

Your Inner Pilot Light

PS. If you’d like to hear more messages from your Inner Pilot Light, sign up for the Daily Flame here.

Lissa Rankin, MD: Founder of OwningPink.com, Pink Medicine Revolutionary, motivational speaker, and author of What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend and Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide To Creating Fine Art With Wax.