Good Clean Reads

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” William James

Here I am over 100 days into this positivity quest and I find myself still reaching for the book that started it all, Barbara Fredrickson’s book Positivity. Whenever the weight of the world ignites my negativity bias, her book is the manual that helps me to re-think my...

“The cosmos is a vast living body, of which we are still parts. The sun is a great heart whose tremors run through our smallest veins. The moon is a great nerve center from which we quiver forever. Who knows the power that Saturn has over us, or Venus? But it is a vital power, rippling exquisitely through us all the time.” ~D.H. Lawrence

I am not a studied astrologer, but I am a strong...

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.” -St. Francis of Assisi

I attended the Oregon Symphony’s annual Youth Artist’s Debut, where nine of the most talented child prodigies in Oregon display their...

“Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again.” ~Menachem Mendel Schneerson

Today was my son’s 14^thbirthday. I told him everything I could remember about his first birthday. It is remarkable how some of life’s memories are so vivid, they are as fresh and detailed as though they...

“The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.” – Ivy Baker Priest

The lesson that has played over and over throughout the day is that the only attitude that allows life’s next step begins with being willing to start again. It is the beginner’s mind that sees possibility everywhere. Once you claim to know, you are committed to how you believe it should...

“But true love is a durable fire, in the mind ever burning, Never sick, never old, never dead, from itself never turning.” -Unknown

Throughout human history, the hearth of a home has been the place of gathering. So central to the meaning of home, the hearth has become a synonym for the warmth and comfort that home offers. Whether in the preparation of daily nourishment, the capacity of welcome to...

“The day is committed to error and floundering; success and achievement are matters of long range.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

All of my children play something competitively. They try to win at a number of challenging sports or in musical auditions. We have witnessed all varieties of choking on the court, both tennis and basketball courts, scratching on jumps, falling off horses, literally....

“The sum which two married people owe to one another defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged through eternity.” –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Twenty-six years ago today was a Saturday. I know this because I was married at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Well, at least there was a young woman of 22 who was married that day. I still look vaguely like her, or at...

The Anniversary Edition: Listen this week to Wendy and her oldest friend Sarah talk about Making Love Sustainable in her 26- year old- marriage. Share in the sweet lessons of spilled milk and the many memories of what it takes to keep saying yes to love. Our closest friends are our most gentle and generous teachers when it comes to learning to love. Listen to these two old friends share their...