Store aisles are filled with candy, cards, stuffed animals, balloons, and flowers. Red, pink, and white hearts litter the landscape. Ads promise kisses and affection as a result of a gift of sparkly jewelry. Love is in the air. Capitalism is flourishing.

Heralded as the holiday of love with origins shrouded in mystery, Valentine's Day has become one of the most exploited and celebrated of holidays. Rumored to be the result of the ancient festival of Lupercalia, which apparently resembled a fertility ceremony involving sacrificial animals and the smearing of animal blood on girls and young women, it has become, a capitalist's dream and apparently just about every man's nightmare. ...

About 16 years ago, I was sitting at the kitchen table with my best friend and her uncle, and we were discussing marriage. She had been dating her boyfriend for about 8 years and was engaged to be married. She was excited about her impending nuptials and full of hope. He had been married a few times and was a firm believer in just being married. I held a more reserved view of the idea which fueled discussion because although I had been in long term dating relationships, I had trouble understanding why anyone would want to. Albeit, I did want the frilly billowy princess dress, but I didn’t feel the necessity of legalizing love with a contractual agreement. ...

Whomever coined the phrase, "communication is key", couldn't have been more on the money. Our communication styles directly drive the success and demise of our relationships. Effective communication is vitally important to a healthy relationship. Since we all communicate and interpret information differently, we must put forth extra effort to ensure that what we said or didn't say was received in the proper context.

Generally speaking, people tend to fall into two categories of communication styles, introverts and extroverts. Most of us can adopt either style depending on the situation, but we gravitate to one style more frequently. In fact, there are physiological differences in brain activity that predispose us to these behaviors. ...

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