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The Earth is Your Valentine · Remember Why You Are Here

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  When we learn how to work with the energy of our heart space,
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  not only do we invite in more love and possibility into our lives,
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  but we actually change our perception and our ability to commune with meaning.
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  Hello and welcome back to Remember Why You Are Here,
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  a podcast for seekers and sensitives where you can relax, receive,
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  reconnect to yourself, and remember the most important thing of all,
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  why you're here.
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  In this episode leading up to Valentine's Day,
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  I thought I would revisit one of my favorite videos I've made called
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  Earth as Valentine. So in this episode,
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  we're going to step into a framing,
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  a way of looking at the earth that helps you to connect in an even
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  deeper way,
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  this way of seeing our earth as your valentine.
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  It's really one of the sweetest things I think I've made,
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  and I'm excited about revisiting it because it always helps me in this season
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  where we are so focused on romantic love to expand that
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  romance into the lives we're leading,
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  into the relationship that we have with this planet and to really
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  create more romance in our lives because if we can have a romance with the
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  earth, we can have romance at any second, at any time. In English,
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  we really only have one word for love,
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  but I think a lot about in the ancient Greek,
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  how there's this whole vocabulary to describe the wondrous variety of love that
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  we can experience on this planet. There's philia for friendship love,
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  and storge for the love of one's kin.
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  And then of course there's the infamous eros,
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  that burning passion that we're used to seeing on valentine's day cards and
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  such. But then beyond all these loves, there was agape.
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  And for the ancient Greeks,
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  agape was this expression of pure unconditional love.
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  It's a word for love that's boundless in its kindness and compassion and divine
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  warmth. When we're in agape,
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  we're connected to the reality at the heart of all existence,
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  the knowledge that we're loved without condition. In agape,
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  we can know just how precious we are and we can feel how profoundly we're held
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  by a wider benevolence.
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  I feel like we don't have that many experiences of agape these days in our
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  culture,
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  partially because we've cut ourselves off from the wellspring of agape that
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  exists beneath our feet, this relationship with the earth.
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  So regardless of whether or not I've had a sweetheart on Valentine's Day,
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  I've always loved celebrating Valentine's Day. I just can't help it.
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  I'm such like a goon for this day.
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  I'll do things like just leaving myself flowers in the morning or surprising my
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  coworkers with chocolates.
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  But really a lot changed for me when I started seeing the earth as my valentine.
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  And on a very real level,
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  the earth is the valentine who will never stop sending you flowers.
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  So you can put that on your little altar for this month.
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  The earth really is agape itself. No matter what we do or where we go,
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  we're unconditionally held by this planet.
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  No matter how far we stray from the perceived path, the earth is there.
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  Bringing us honey to sweeten our existence.
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  And I'm so grateful for this ability to reframe the earth as beloved.
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  So if you're interested in that, that framing,
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  if you want to create a Valentine's Day based around
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  earth connection and earth ritual,
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  then definitely stay tuned for this sweet little Valentine's Day
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  episode. But before we hop into this episode,
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  I wanted to let you know about a really exciting event coming up.
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  And that is the 2026 Virtual Herbalism Conference put on
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  by the Herbal Academy.
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  This event is like not to be missed if you are interested in
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  herbalism,
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  if you want to study with some of the top teachers in the whole world.
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  Like my favorite herbalists ever are speaking at this
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  event. This event runs from February 15th to the 20th,
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  and it's completely free,
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  which is bonkers because when I think about how much money and time I used
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  to spend going to herbal conferences around the country,
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  I'm honestly in shock that you can sign up for this and just access all
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  these talks completely for free with just some of the most incredible herbalists
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  on the planet. And so I am speaking as a part of the conference.
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  My talk is on Tuesday, February 17th,
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  and it's entitled Green Whispers and Wisdom: Soul Lessons from Plant Encounters.
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  And I would absolutely love to see you there.
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  So if you're interested in a six-day conference with topics
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  ranging from medicinal mushrooms to everyday herbalism for families,
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  energetic patterns of diseases, to lessons from a curandera,
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  ancient healing traditions,
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  and ways of connecting with the plants that really help you open up new
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  eras of being in your life.
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  So I'm super stoked to be a part of this and it would be awesome to connect with
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  you there.
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  So I'm going to put the link for that below if you would like to sign up,
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  if you want to receive all of these incredible teachings for free,
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  and I'll see you there. Okay,
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  so let's go ahead and get into this episode now,
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  this episode entitled The Earth is Your Valentine.
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  And cozy in, maybe get a box of chocolates,
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  because this is a very cute and very fun one. Here we go.
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  We hear the phrase the earth is your mother all the time.
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  That's really beautiful,
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  but sometimes I wonder what would happen if we saw the earth as our lover
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  instead. What if the earth was our beloved?
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  How would we treat the earth then?
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  As we come into this Valentine's Day month,
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  I think it's worth a reframing and a shift of our mindset to think
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  about this earth as our ultimate valentine.
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  This is my ultimate reframing of the earth as your valentine.
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  There's so many different ways that we can connect to the earth.
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  Earth as caretaker, earth as source, earth as companion,
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  and of course, earth as lover.
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  A lot of times people roll their eyes at this month of February and Valentine's
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  Day,
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  but there's really so many different ways we can work with this invitation to
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  give and share love.
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  And one of those ways is to invite the earth to be your valentine.
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  There's a whole movement called ecosexuality that is looking at reframing
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  this idea of earth as mother as earth as lover,
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  specifically because of the ways in which we often mistreat our mother and are
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  mistreating our mother the earth. What would happen if this was our lover?
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  How would we treat the earth differently?
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  This movement was really started by performance artists and activists,
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  Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth (Beth) Stephens.
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  I encourage you to check out their work if you're interested in learning more.
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  One of the things that they suggest that I want to suggest to you as a practice
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  on this Valentine's Day is to make love to the earth.
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  And there's so many ways to do that.
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  One of the ways to do that is just to go outside and tell the earth,
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  "I love you." In fact, how much more sense does it make to say to the earth,
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  "I love you and I can't live without you," than it does to any person.
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  This is the truth. We can't live without the earth. So express this.
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  You might even want to write a love poem to the earth and speak it out loud.
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  You could hug a tree or immerse yourself in a pile of leaves.
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  This kind of intimacy, touch and engagement is another way of loving this earth.
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  I also think there's something about learning how to love the earth.
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  It helps us to learn how to love our bodies.
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  Because truly our bodies are the earth.
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  We are nature. And when we feel a disconnect from our bodies,
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  this naturally can translate into a disconnection from the earth.
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  Learning how to love the earth, love the body of the earth,
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  helps us to love our bodies, this earth that we inhabit.
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  So as an act of self-compassion and self-love this Valentine's Day,
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  one of the things that you can do in honor of the earth is to honor your body.
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  Maybe you would even want to create an earth temple out of your body,
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  anointing yourself with infused oils or using diffused essential oils on certain
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  parts of your body.
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  How can you love up on the different parts of yourself as a way to
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  metaphorically and holographically love up on the earth itself?
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  So how can you dote on yourself?
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  Can you take some time on your feet and meditate on the roots of this world?
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  Can you spend a luxurious amount of time washing your hair and really send
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  out love for our atmosphere? Love up on your body,
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  and this is one way to love up on the earth.
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  One of my favorite practices to do every single Valentine's Day is to give
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  flowers to the earth. So where I live,
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  there normally aren't flowers blooming on Valentine's Day,
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  and yet there are so many flowers being given.
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  So if I receive flowers for Valentine's Day,
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  I will often keep them around in my house. And once they start to fade,
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  instead of throwing them out or putting them in the compost,
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  I bring them outside and I arrange them in a beautiful way for the earth.
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  You could also take whole flower heads and separate the petals and spread them
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  out at the roots of a tree.
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  Another thing you can do is actually go to your local supermarket and ask them
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  if they have any flowers that they're throwing away. This day,
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  Valentine's Day is such a big flower holiday,
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  that often the supermarkets are overstocking with these flowers and so many of
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  them get thrown out.
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  So you can actually go a few days after Valentine's Day or in the week after and
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  ask them,
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  "Do you have any flowers that you are throwing out because they're past their
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  peak?" And you can take those flowers home and create something truly beautiful
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  for the earth around your home.
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  The last suggestion is to go on an earth date this Valentine's Day. Now,
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  it might be cold where you are, so this might not be a whole day outside,
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  but instead of planning a fancy dinner,
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  what if you plan to go have a picnic outside?
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  Or instead of planning to go to the movies, what if you took a long walk?
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  If you were going to go on a date with your beloved, the earth,
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  what would you like to do? How do you like to spend time together?
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  Just initiating intimacy on this day of love with the earth can help
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  reprogram your brain to see the earth as your beloved,
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  as someone that you cherish and as someone that cherishes and takes care of you
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  day in, day out.
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  So much of being able to reframe this way of seeing the earth and ourselves
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  is all about opening our hearts.
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  And a lot of people don't realize that our hearts are actual gates,
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  that when we learn how to work with the energy of our heart space,
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  not only do we invite in more love and possibility into our lives,
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  but we actually change our perception and our ability to commune with meaning.
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  So if you're interested in this idea of opening the heartgate,
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  you can check out my online class, Herbs for the Heartgate,
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  where we talk about specific plants that can help you connect into this space of
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  perception, magic, and possibility. So with that, lovers,
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  I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day.
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  So really listening to this actually may be really inspired for Valentine's Day
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  next week with my daughter, who is now four years old,
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  the kind of rituals that we can do together to really help her ground in
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  feeling the earth as her valentine.
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  Valentine's Day has taken on a whole new dimension for me since becoming a
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  mother and creating and cultivating that kind of love and agape between your
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  child and the earth is just so special.
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  So I think we're probably going to bring some flowers outside and create a
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  little altar out there and just thank the earth for all the ways in which she
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  holds us.
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  So if you were inspired by this episode and you end up doing some
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  sort of Earth as Valentine ritual, I would love to hear about it.
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  You can leave me a message over on my website,
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  asiasuler.com/remember. That's my voicemail service.
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  I love getting little messages and love notes from you there.
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  And I'm just sending you so much love and coziness and blossoming
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  for this Valentine's Day ahead and for the weeks ahead.
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  And if you do end up at that virtual herbal conference,
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  I hope you receive so much from that experience and I'm excited to see you
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  there. So until next time, may so much agape flow your way,
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  may the earth just continue to unfold new layers of becoming and
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  blossoming for you in this life.
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  And may you remember that most important thing of all,
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  why you're here.