The V-Word

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of...

“Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge.  A warrior cannot complain or regret anything.  His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad.  Challenges are simply challenges.”  -Don Juan- Carlos Castenada

Tonight my husband told me that he had just finished re-reading the second Don Juan book after some thirty years. He said that it is remarkable...

“Even hundredfold grief is divisible by love.” –Terri Guillemets

Jack was so full of life that the most memorable thing about him was the way that he would exclaim daily- “This was the best ….. ever!” about most everything- from a game of roller hockey to a great combination of snacks to a snuggle with a dear friend. He was as fearless about his love of life as he was eager to share his...

“Love doesn’t sit there like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all of the time, made new.”  ~Ursula K. LeGuin

If ever there was an emotional state that we idealize it is love. We want nothing of its dark belly underside; we demand that it always show only its shiniest side to us. Many of us are unprepared for the battles that the heart must be willing to carry on in the name of love....

“Life is made up of moments, small pieces of glittering mica in a long stretch of gray cement. It would be wonderful if they came to us un-summoned, but particularly in lives as busy as the ones most of us lead now, that won’t happen. We have to teach ourselves how to make room for them, to love them, and to live, really live.”  -Anna Quinlen

It is the small moments in life that create our...

“Even hundredfold grief is divisible by love.” ~Terri Guillemets

Grief is a complicated emotion that easily overwhelms. It can look like anger, numbness or pure heartbreaking sadness. Especially among young people, grief can be delayed and even full openness to the experience does not hurry it. Grief is one of the most honorable and time consuming experiences that life offers.

The pure heart of...

By Wendy Strgar"How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,Like softest music to attending ears!" -William ShakespeareRemember the hushed make-out sessions of your youth? Rarely did we allow ourselves to sound out our pleasure lest our parents would hear. For many of us, not wanting others to hear any evidence of our intimate encounters still carries some left over shame that keeps a heavy lid on our ability to experience our own pleasure decades later. After our parents, it was the neighbors, after the neighbors, it was the kids….

“Forgiving is love’s toughest work, and love’s biggest risk.  If you twist it into something it was never meant to be, it can make you a doormat or an insufferable manipulator.  Forgiving seems almost unnatural.  Our sense of fairness tells us people should pay for the wrong they do.  But forgiving is love’s power to break nature’s rule.”  ~Lewis B. Smedes

Sometimes forgiveness catches you by...

By Wendy Strgar

“Sexual pleasure in woman is a kind of magic spell; it demands complete abandon.”  -Simone de Beauvoir

Driving my son and his friends in the car the other day from a basketball game I overheard the question that made me cringe decades ago: “How far did you get?” asked one to the other with an elbow to the ribs. I shouldn’t have let on that I was listening, but I felt obliged to...