Love has no agenda …

As long as you camouflage something–your body, your achievements, your past–no matter how many people try to love you, you won’t feel loved. It is only when you drop the pretense that you learn to love yourself and allow another’s love to reach beyond it. … More

We can think of love as everything good, and learn to feel it, and trust it … even when it doesn’t match the picture we’ve conjured up. Scientists now study and measure oxytocin, or the feel-good hormone, that accompanies love. It’s found naturally when Johnny feels joyful, connected, hopeful, loved. And scientists can watch as it broadens Sally’s outlook and encourages her growth. Love literally nurtures, sustains, energizes, and inspires you to be your best self, to be bigger than you thought was big. It reduces fear and suspicion, without reducing your ability to calculate risk. It keeps babies, who are dependent on caregivers, alive! It’s the difference between life and death. We can feel it with strangers, acquaintances, friends, siblings, and parents. But, perhaps, our favorite way to feel love is with somebody who is exclusively ours, somebody who is ours to touch in private places, who reaches the deepest part of who we are, who knows us down to the core, and loves us no matter what.

an excerpt from my upcoming book
photo of waterfalls from a walk in the dark
note: Sex includes an undisputed–though, short-lived–surge of oxytocin!… More

LOVE YOURSELF TO A HEALTHY WEIGHT

Is weight standing between you and the relationship of your dreams? Reaching a healthy weight is part of loving yourself well.

TIP THREE: Put less on your plate, so you can afford seconds! Never fill your plate!

We don’t need a whole plate of food. Remember that you can get more; don’t eat every meal as though it’s your last. When we eat like there’s no tomorrow, we eat more, and we eat faster, like it doesn’t matter how much we eat. It does matter. We have to wear every calorie we eat, unless we burn it. When you put less on your plate, you’ll be pickier about what you put on there.

PRACTICE: If you’d like to lose more than ten pounds, put half as much food on your plate as you THINK you want. Savor every bite. Wait. If you still want more, help yourself to half as much as you ate the first time, just taking more of what you were able to truly savor (Tip One). You can do this! You can love yourself to a healthy weight!… More

If there is something missing in your relationship, it’s what you’re not giving. I don’t know what’s missing, I don’t know what you long for; but I know you have it to give. Because LOVE has it to give. The courage to drop your defenses. The passion to fan a dying romance. The faith and fortitude to try again–to stop nagging, to stop defending yourself, to stop opposing each other. The patience to be present and listen. The wisdom to accept your partner unconditionally. The strength to stand up for what serves you and let go of what doesn’t. The freedom to be who you are! You can find them all in love! And love is what you’re made of.

You don’t have to find them all at once, though. You can’t! You can only find what you have the faith to claim. Exercise the faith you can muster. As you claim what you’re able to believe for, you grow your faith. Then, you can claim more. And when you have given what’s missing, you will have it in your relationship–even if it means moving on to another relationship.

It’s not about finding a better way; it’s about following the way you already know!… More

WE YEARN FOR LOVE. What exactly is it that we yearn for, though? Something that makes us feel happy, safe, cared about, connected? Something we saw in a movie or in the happily-ever-after of a fairy-tale sunset, something we heard in a song, something somebody told us we would find someday? Something that satisfies a biological need? All of the above! We want somebody to eat the pizza with, process the movie with, stand speechless with, wake up with, die with. We want somebody to call when our flight’s delayed, somebody to answer the phone before we spend a night in jail. We want somebody to know who we are, what we’re truly about … in a world that often looks right through us, as though we are invisible to them (because they only see us in their unconscious mind). We want somebody to see us glisten in the moonlight. We want to be valued. We want to be unconditionally loved.

an excerpt from my upcoming book
photo taken 6/24/2006, the day Sam and I got married
the love we yearn for with a partner is real; and it’s for you!… More

AUTHENTIC LOVE is my concept of love. It extends far beyond romantic love or even consummate love shared with a life partner. Love is everything good; it is the force for good. It is pure and resolute, with no self-serving agenda, with no degrees or deviation. It is passion and peace. It is responsibility and freedom, strength and tenderness, rock solid and transparent. It is defenseless and invulnerable! It is neither pride nor shame. It is fearless, unifying, compassionate, and healing. It is mine, yours, nobody’s, and everybody’s. It can’t be seen, or touched, or quantified; but it is everywhere. It is everything. It is the only thing that matters.

an excerpt from the preface of my upcoming book
photo by Sam… More