It’s February, and hearts and flowers are everywhere. I hope you are blessed with a true love to share the season with. I also hope that your truest love is yourself. While society and biology may cause us to believe that we need a lasting love relationship to feel fulfilled, the sages insist that love is not something we find outside of ourselves. While looking for quotes for this month’s letter, I noticed that all the wisest ones refer to love that illuminates us from within; self-knowledge and self-love are the basis for true love and allow us to open our hearts and care about others.

One of the biggest struggles in life is to know, embrace, and accept ourselves, with all of our faults and imperfections. When we have the courage to let the walls down — to know and embrace ourselves — we also open the door to connecting in a more caring, empathic, intimate way with others. Katherine Woodward Thomas, author of Calling in “The One,” was interviewed in our article “Love Magnet.” She points out that, “Being centered in the truth of your own value and the real possibilities you hold for true love is wildly attractive.”

In “Rethinking Heart Health” on page 26, Dr. James Forleo notes that “It is no coincidence that we address our physical and emotional heart by the same name. Our physical heart usually reflects the state of our emotional heart, and vice versa.” This is just one of the ideas that pioneering integrative doctors such as Forleo, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Stephen Masley, and Dr. Stephen Sinatra are incorporating into a new paradigm of cardiac care.

I’m also very excited to bring you an article about the integrative healthcare programs being offered through our excellent local hospitals. Once known as “alternative,” health services such as Reiki, yoga, meditation, EFT, massage and acupuncture are now being incorporated into the mainstream hospital offerings. Our community is fortunate that the local healthcare institutions support this new model of care, and we are all grateful that more and more people can now benefit from the integrative treatments