Good Clean Reads

“Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so is he.” -Publilius Syrus  (Roman author, 1st century B.C.)

Here’s the thing about getting what you want… then you have to do it. I have been envisioning myself as a public inspirational speaker for years. Anyone who knows me would agree I have a lot to say, but still, giving a speech is different than talking. A speech, especially a short one,...

“Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose – not the one you began with perhaps, but one you’ll be glad to remember.” -Anne Sullivan

One of the most difficult passages in life is moving through the times when we try with all our might and fail anyway. It can turn your heart into a rock and make you not...

“Lovely female shapes are terrible complicators of the difficulties and dangers of this earthly life, especially for their owners.”  ~George du Maurier

I was caught by a news headline that showed, in a recent Nutrisystem poll of one thousand people, approximately 50% of female participants say they would rather go without sex for the summer than gain 10 pounds. One quarter of the male respondents...

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself.” -Walt Whitman

I have been reflecting on half a year of positivity questing this week. Trying to organize what I have learned in this time and trying to marshal it to step up when, even now I can forget how to be positive. Happily because I talk about it so much, when I can’t quite get there, I have many reliable reflectors in my family to remind me...

“I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can’t see from the center.” –Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

In my twenties I bought a poster of some guy hanging off the side of a cliff with Jayne Howard’s quote, “If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much room.” I always liked to think of myself as someone who pushes...

“Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.” -Unknown

Today I received a card that said “It’s not you, it’s me.” This is the perfect break-up line, assuring that even if you are walking away from something that is worth fighting for and about, you can go guilt free. After all you took responsibility and legitimately tried to make the...

“We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle

This wisdom has been spoken since the beginnings of recorded human history. The lesson that has been known and passed down by every great leader in history is that it is through the disciplined devotion, work and practice of mastering oneself that we meet our greatest achievements. It is an evolutionary...

"Love isn't an emotion or an instinct-it's an art. " -Mae WestDone with conviction and commitment, the way great artists approach their masterpieces, our loving relationships sculpt us into the highest and best form of ourselves. This is their only job and their highest purpose. Through love we entrust our loved ones to mirror and elicit from us the aspirations and values that we have expressed so that the commitment to the relationship transmutes into a commitment to ourselves.

What does sex mean to you? While no one else can provide an intrinsic meaning to the concept or practice of sexuality we all struggle with defining this most basic and integral part of ourselves.

“We are the recorders and reporters of facts – not the judges of the behaviors we describe.”-Alfred Kinsey

What does sex mean to you? While no one else can provide an intrinsic meaning to the concept...