Informational &
Educational Activities

Love Letters Activity #1: Love Shakes

Let’s explore Love through cooking.

Do you like milkshakes? I know I do. I’d argue there’s basically 2 ways to make milkshakes:

With sugary stuff like ice cream and syrup OR with healthy stuff like yogurt, fruit, cocoa, mint or vanilla.

I’ve shared a list with a bunch of possible milkshake ingredients.

Circle all the ingredients that you think would make any milkshake reasonably healthy.

Some answers might not be perfectly clear…you might have to think about whether “a little” or “a lot” is ok.

When you’re done circling the ingredients, think about this:

Why did you pick what you picked?

It can be hard to pick healthier ingredients, because sugar can taste so good. Really, it’s all about balance – a little bit of candy won’t hurt us – like, maybe we could make a yogurt smoothie with strawberries, but sprinkle just a little bit of Oreos on the very top.

When we eat healthier, not only can we taste really great flavors, but we feel better after we eat it, too. We might just have to take a little time to be patient, and let our tastes and choices change to get there.

The same goes for love!

When it comes to Love, here’s where people can get confused:

There are lots of things that FEEL like it could be love, and maybe we even call these feelings “love,” but I’d argue they’re not; at least, not by themselves.

Here are some things that can feel like Love but are not Love by themselves. These feelings aren’t necessarily BAD, and you are NOT a bad person if you feel them. But like sugar, we should pay attention to how much we’re making these things a part of what we’re calling “Love."

These feelings include:

Attachment (“I feel connected to you.”)
Obsession (“I can’t stop thinking about you.”)
Possessiveness (“You are mine.”)
Lust (“All I can see about you is how attractive and sexy your body is.”)

Any one of these things, like sugar, is probably not healthy when taken to an extreme. This is because they can make you see people as objects, rather than as a whole, individual person. It can interfere with your ability to think freely and have healthy boundaries.

What do YOU think?

For the last part of this activity, think about your recipe for love – you can even drink a healthy, delicious milkshake while you do it! (Optional: enjoy this activity with someone you care about, whether you live with them or connect with them on the phone/online. Talk together about what you would put in your “Love” recipe, and why).

Here’s my recipe for a milkshake:

For one shake:

At least 1 cup of ice cubes (add more to taste)1 16-oz container of plain yogurt or plain Greek yogurt – OR –1 cup of cashew milk with 1 cup cashew milk-based vanilla ice cream/yogurt (vegetarian/vegan)

Choose what flavors to add that you think will taste good together.

Here are some ideas, but can you come up with more?

Vanilla extract to taste
Banana slices
Strawberries
Blueberries
Cocoa powder (chocolate powder with no sugar added)
Peanut Butter
Almond Butter
Dark chocolate chips (60% or more chocolate)

Now, here’s how you can make a recipe for Love:

Take a look at the words on the sheet provided. Put them under the columns that feel right to you. Some of these may feel obvious. Some might not feel obvious. In fact, some might feel different for different people. There are certain ones (hint: physically hitting someone in anger) that are NOT “Love,” no matter what.

Each word could fit in one of the following columns:

What I want in “Love”
What is optional in “Love”
What I do NOT want in “Love”

Think about why you are putting the different words where you are, based on these questions:

1. What would you like your personal recipe for Love to look like? In other words, with this list of behaviors, which would you like to strive for in your daily practice of Love?

2. Where do you think your behaviors/practice is now? What might you need to be aware of and work on changing?

As a final thought, relevant to today:

How can you practice Healthy Love in a way that will best help yourself, and to help those you Love to get through tough times?

If you’d like to give us any feedback on this activity, please feel free to add comments, or email me, Kate, at knapolitano@wildwoodprograms.org.

Thanks for reading… hope it added a little fun and food for thought!

Sincerely, and indeed, with a little Love,

Kate