Love has no agenda …

I sometimes find myself tiptoeing around the options, examining them carefully, as though touching them or trying them is against the rules. Maybe you’ve been there — trying to make a decision without the advantage (and it’s a big one) of trying the options.

I have learned that it’s faster to rearrange the furniture and see how I like it than it is to stand there wondering, weighing all the options. There’s a really good chance that I’m going to try it before making a final decision. So, why spend too much time and energy belaboring it?

We’re continually faced with choices — little ones (some of which have a big impact) and life-changing ones. And sometimes we have to do something to decide on an option, a direction, the next step. Life is to be lived as well as contemplated.

I believe in solitude — there are things that can only be seen and heard in solitude. But there are also lessons that may never be learned short of action. Don’t be afraid to fall on your butt if that’s what it takes to get the lesson or the prize.

Don’t be afraid to try something new, to visit a foreign place — whether it’s across the street or the planet.… More

My husband likes to be chased. He teases me, then runs away…and like a little boy, he looks back to make sure I’m running after him. If I am, he picks up his speed, and we squeal and laugh until I catch him, hurling both of us to the floor.

It used to surprise me when people put sense of humor so high on the list of what they wanted in a partner. Given how little I had nurtured my own sense of humor, I didn’t want to think it was terribly important.

Humor struck me as a tool people used to dodge the issue, an excuse not to analyze the facts and the feelings, make a distinction between them and have a serious conversation. And, as you might imagine, I was determined to have one.

But a sense of humor can also be a willingness to let go, a willingness to accept what is, without analyzing it. You can analyze somebody’s behavior to understand him, without making analysis a prerequisite to acceptance!

When my sweetie and I land in that pile on the floor, we eventually stop laughing and start talking or kissing, or we get up and go back to work.… More

We can LEARN the truth from a book. But to LIVE the truth, we must discover its reality in our own heart, in our own life, and align with it.

The difference between knowing the truth and actually living the truth may be a lifetime of discovery and practice. And there is always another layer. But we get stuck if we think we’ve already got it.

Love School is every day!… More

In a society caught up in looking good, it’s easy to get stuck in a relationship that looks much better than it is.

To be truly happy, we have to delve into what’s beneath the surface, maybe even stir up some chaos. We have to develop a healthy relationship from the inside out.

We want a sweetheart to know and love us down to the core. And that requires that we know and love ourselves down to the core, and share all of us.

Only then can we connect on a deep level, based on the truth of who we are. And only then can it feel as good on the inside as it looks on the outside. … More

I learned the hard way that shortcuts can be a long path to nowhere. But, I’m grateful for as many dead ends as it took!

It’s so much more gratifying to tackle a job and do it well.… More

Some people live life as though it is a scientific experiment — or worse yet, a scientific coincidence or accident. I believe in science. I believe God to be a scientist. I also believe Him to be a masterful artist and a mystic, the creator and the force behind everything good. I believe God to be love.

Life without that belief is empty, at least emptier than I want my life to be. You could argue (and I have, in my own mind) that I believe because I want to, because I can’t bear the thought of an empty or accidental existence. But I have evidence. It is both everywhere and nowhere, tangible and intangible. Einstein said, “There are two ways to live your life — one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Looking out the window as it rained, it struck me that the sky could not contain itself. Neither could I. I wanted to play in the rain. Sam was out-of-character reluctant, but we ran outside together. I raised my arms in surrender to the heavens, to God, and sang. I don’t want to be contained!

Life is to be lived.… More