Good Clean Reads

Do you understand the push-pull phenomenon that drives most relationships? Do you even know what side you’re on? This basic principle in the dance of intimacy can sometimes feel like a strategy game, but in long term relationships can also become a dangerous pattern that drives lovers apart. Here are some ideas to begin to relate to the pendulum swings and follow your heart to balance in love.

We...

In this season of giving and receiving, it is a good time to look at how and why that happens with love, or for many of us doesn’t. This is a bit of a Pandora’s box but I am going to simplify if only for the sake of trying to rein in the topic a bit- Sexual desire, is the result of a complex range of internal experiences that includes everything from hormonal stimulation to a prehistoric form of...

A lot of people do not know how to have sex. On the one side, we are inundated by an exhibitionist; anything goes sexuality in our pornographic laden culture and on the other side, there is nothing, an empty and lonely place where most of us live with our questions about sexuality and wondering what is normative. Even most “Better Sex” videos are so graphic that integrating the images into...

The scent of desire, it turns out has more to do with our biological imperative than we might have ever imagined.   That magical x factor in seeking and connecting to your special someone is actually right under your nose- or at least in it.   Author Rachel Herz’s new book The Scent of Desirewill be the first of many volumes on the often overlooked olfactory system that will forever change how we...

The fire has always been a strong metaphor for the depth, passion and intensity of physical intimacy. It is nature’s energetic equivalent to our sexuality. Fire is the energy of life, providing light, heat and the ability to transform the physical world. Fire in intimacy is the force of attraction that keeps relationships dynamic and whole. Statistically, we are not a nation of fire builders....

It is Valentine Day- our sanctioned holiday of love. Loaded with memories-both good and bad of longing and romance that make our lives what they are. It’s a good time to visit the Pain/Pleasure principle that informs sexual desire and romance as well.

There is an indescribable, yet palpable reality of sexual intimacy wherein the ecstatic release of deep pleasure balances and ignites an equal...

“Love is an act of endless forgiveness.”  — Peter Ustinov

If love is a verb, than forgiveness is the action verb. It is the highest form of love and the single behavior that most distinguishes our human potential. In an ancient tale from the Kaballah, God...

Love is the one treasure that multiplies by division. It is the one gift that grows bigger the more you take from it. It is the one business in which it pays to be an absolute spendthrift. You can give it away, throw it away, empty your pockets, shake the...

For most of my life I have lived away from my native home and my husband has always said, “You can take the girl out of New York, but you can’t take New York out of the girl.” Being a Jewish girl from New York has been a part of my identity as basic as my blue eyes. Yet for all of the space that this cultural identity has taken up, and the personality attributes that accompanies it, I have found...