Good Clean Reads

“Adversity causes some men to break, and others to break records.”- William Ward

Heartbreaking is a word often associated with soccer matches that come down to shoot-outs after long extended play has not been able to decipher a winner. Five players against the goalie; whoever scores more goals wins. It is a terrible win, hardly reflective of the fact that it is merely luck that decides the winner....

‘Faith is love taking the form of aspiration.’ -William Ellery Channing

I have been studying positivity for over six months now. There are many days when I have tried to make myself think or feel positively and was completely unable to get out of my fear or pain that held me. What I have learned from those moments, especially in my relationships is that when I aspire to simply being open to what...

Recently, social media has overtaken the way we have friendships, the way we do business, and… talk about sex? New statistics from a new study by Retrevo found that 36% of social media (specifically Twitter) users are tweeting after sex. Social media has replaced the post-coital cigarette according to sites such as Ars Technia. But how healthy is that, really, at least for relationships that are...

‘All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.’ -Buddha

Life can throw a punch. Things happen. Relationships with people we love can challenge our ability to love. How we think about what is difficult in our lives makes them what they are. Negative emotions are a slippery slope for many of us. An offhanded comment in a small dispute can...

“A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.” Ingrid Bergman

I love to kiss. When I think back to living in France in my 20s, the most memorable part of my time there was all the kissing that occurred. I got to kiss everyone: strangers, friends and of course, lovers. Participating in that social ritual that demanded that one come in close was what I...

“When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability… To be alive is to be vulnerable.’ -Madeleine L’Engle

The life of the heart is one of contradictions. It is where our greatest strengths are often our most profound weaknesses. Finding balance between seemingly opposing forces or feelings is key to...

“Sex lies at the root of life, and we can never learn to reverence life until we know how to understand sex.” Henry Ellis

Appreciating the joys of living in a body of flesh and blood literally begins with the euphoric recognition of what it is to be a sexual being. From the tiniest of sensations on the skin to the perfectly placed nerve endings in our most erogenous zones, we are bodies...

‘Confidence in the goodness of another is good proof of one’s own goodness.’ -Michel de Montaigne

Many relationships suffer from a lack of self-esteem. A relationship’s self-esteem is connected to that of the partner’s but it also has a life of its own. Genuine esteem is founded in the courage to see oneself truly, both the positive and negative aspects of who we are and how we function and...

“An inordinate passion for pleasure is the secret of remaining young.” -Oscar Wilde

One of my best memories of the recent sex therapy conference that I recently attended was when I met the 84 year old grandmother of one of the PhD students attending the conference. Actually, she was accompanied by both her mom and sister too and the whole family was being interviewed about the “hottest thing” they...