Good Clean Reads

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” -Albert Einstein

The Hubble telescope has captured images of the universe that provide scientists a whole new universe to contemplate. It was able to...

“Courage is a kind of salvation.” -Plato

Years ago I gave my son a children’s book about courage that illustrated the many small ways that we learn to find courage as we grow up. Everything from standing up and giving a speech in front of the class to saying goodbye to a close friend who is moving away. Starting new schools, new jobs, or new habits all take courage.

Endings take courage too. At...

“Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.” -Mary Anne Radmacher

I never had babies that slept. My second child was awake every night for two years. I was so exhausted by the time the third and fourth babies arrived that as...

“In everything the ends well defined are the secret of durable success.”  -Victor Cousins

One of the most important practices that I have established during my year of the positivity quest is my daily meditation when I practice Sankalpa. The practice of Sankalpa, which means intention or resolve, is derived from an esoteric Himalayan yogic science, which was known and practiced 5000 years ago....

“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:  the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.”  ~Burton Hillis

I have few if any good childhood memories of Christmas, and although I have dedicated my adulthood to reinventing the holiday over the last thirty years, my earliest memories have retained some kind of hold over my holiday experiences. For years I would overcompensate,...

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.”  -George Bernard Shaw

I have been making a traditional Slovenian rolled bread called Potica every year on Christmas Eve for almost thirty years. It is a long process of making giant batches of dough that rolls out to the size of the dining room table and turns out baked into 10 loaves. I have been following the same recipe year after year, but...

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me.”  ~Erma Bombeck

I am tired, but it feels like the good kind of tired from using yourself up for something meaningful and worthwhile. My work at Good Clean Love has never felt so clear or purposeful as it does now since my values have been...

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” -Oscar Wilde

Reducing the holiday experience down to the most basic elements is one way of getting back to the memories that are most precious and the experiences that are most sought after. As cliché as it sounds, late night cookie baking can be as sweet and tender as life gets. This week I have been visiting with one of...