Good Clean Reads

“Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.”  ~James Stephens

Perhaps the single most overlooked attribute that has the potential to transform a life is curiosity. An inborn trait that defines us as small children; it is through our eagerness to explore, desire to understand and to know our world and ourselves that predicts our capacity to learn, change and adapt. Our social network...

“Envy is the most stupid of vices, for there is no single advantage to be gained from it.” ~Honore de Balzac

Jealousy is not a helpful emotion. There is very little goodness in it, although it serves as one of our primary fall backs, as it is the emotion connected to our most primitive survival mechanisms. Forbidden in all of the ancient religious texts, our earliest ancestors knew the damage that...

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.  It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”   ~Marianne Williamson

The single most troubling idea that we absorb growing up in...

“We have to fully accept that we’re also starting from where we are, but we also have to accept that where we are is not a place.  We are all arrows in mid-flight, where we are is a moment on a trajectory, not a position at rest.” -Bodhipaksa

Some doubts carries wisdom and insight. Having the capacity to reflect on our life choices and experience with intellectual honesty is a gift that brings you...

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”  -Ernest Hemingway

I am coming to love my brokenness or at least I am coming to allow it the space it needs. I am not ashamed of the fear that blinds me or makes it hard to sit still with the uncertainty and disappointment of the moment. I am learning to look at my weaknesses as a friend, or at least a teacher. It is...

I’ve never had any luck with relationships. Most of the time I either get restless within a couple weeks or the guy is a jerk and treats me poorly. I’m tired of dating around and don’t get any real satisfaction from it. But I’ve been dating my current boyfriend for about four months and he’s really great. We do lots of fun things together, he’s supportive, kind, and actually cares about our...

“I have understood the population explosion intellectually for a long time. I came to understand it emotionally one stinking hot night in Delhi….The temperature was well over 100 degrees and the air was a haze of dust and smoke…The streets were alive with people. People eating, people washing, people sleeping, people visiting , arguing and screaming…. People begging. People defecating and...

“It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, “Always do what you are afraid to do.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sometimes the storyline and problem solving that can and often does dominate life can consume it. We can’t see the light changing in the sky or hear the birds in the morning. We miss out on lighthearted exchanges happening around us because we are too consumed with the...

“The world has grown suspicious of anything that looks like a happily married life.”  -Oscar Wilde

I know my marriage is an anomaly. Happy marriages are rare. For as much as we all long for a relationship that we can grow old in, we don’t really believe in them. I think this might be because many people confuse the early “in love” experience of relating with the ongoing effort of creating a love...