Find what you seek.
189 results
Belonging to Joy
“Know that joy is rarer, more difficult, and more beautiful than sadness. Once you make this all-important discovery, you must embrace joy as a moral obligation.” -Andre Gide
Joy is, in many ways, love’s twin flame. It occurs on the receiving side of love, whether it be romantic intrigue, family relations of just the full body experience of loving life. Joy is the byproduct of feeling loved and...
The Joy of Playing in Love
by Anastasia Strgar
Okay, so I’ll just admit that recently I’ve started experimenting with fantasy when I make love. And I’ve discovered that I get amazing results. While I’m still pretty new at this and they haven’t really morphed out of setting me and my partner into different exotic scenarios, I find I feel sexier when I imagine us making love on a tropical beach or in a castle tower than...
Positivity Again: What Joy Looks Like
Even for as long as I have been studying positivity consciousness and working on maintaining a daily practice, it still surprises me that the simplest, seemingly the most basic aspects recede from view. It was upon listening to a Pema Chodron lecture on joy that I realized what was keeping me from experiencing positivity lately. When she was explaining the basic experience of joy, she shared a...
Day 257: Delight in Sorrow
“When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.” ~Kahlil Gibran
My youngest daughter can read me like a book. She knows my sorrow and always wants to fill me up when she sees it in how I stand, or in my eyes. For all my discussion of feeling your feelings and letting them wash over you, I too have my reticence...
Gratitude of Place
“Join me in the pure atmosphere of gratitude for life.” – Hafiz of Persia
I took myself to the beach yesterday because I was longing to look out at the Pacific ocean, to look out at far as my eyes could see to the blue and white capped movement of the sea. I love the ocean and many of my most deeply grateful and joyous moments are memories of frolicking in it. I woke with memories of floating in...
Day 6: Relating
“In all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.”– ‘Contact’
For a loveologist, everything is about the relationship. It is the first thing I notice in any given situation and the thing that I most work to cultivate. How I feel about myself and the world starts and ends with the myriad relationships that make my days. This can be hard on my positivity quest as many of my relationships are not predictable or stable. (Think teenagers, althou...
Building Focus and Clarity with Thomas Sterner
Learning the art of practicing is all about embracing the process of becoming fully present in life. By combining a commitment to disciplined repetition and an unquenchable curiosity we not only come to master the skills we desire, we develop a mind-set that brings more joy and contentment to even the most challenging obstacles. Don’t miss Thomas Sterner, author of The Practicing Mindinspire...
Day 278: Vicarious Victory
“It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I have worked hard not to live through my children’s experience. Finding and maintaining the line between us has been a continuous and hard won effort. I try to maintain a compassionate connection to their setbacks and witness the celebration of their...
Game Changing Life
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” Anais Nin
For my birthday this year, the only thing I wished for was a few moments of pure happiness. I wanted, neededto feel the simple joy of being alive and living in a body at this moment. And so I took an impromptu trip to Hawaii with my husband — for as long as I can remember, Hawaii is the only place that I have traveled to that I...
A Sustainable Future with Nina Simons
Explore the new frontiers of a sustainable future with Bioneer co-founder, Nina Simons. Her persistent work of gathering the brightest minds and presenting breakthrough solutions for a more socially just and environmentally sound world is a form of love in action.
Listen to her clarity, passion and joy about the privilege of working towards a better world will both inspire and motivate you to...
“Let Happiness Search for You”
The title of this post is from an essay by Sparrow, a poet. I love this essay because I think it captures so well how important small, private moments of joy are to our ability to be human. In my experience, searching for big happiness brings more disappointment than pleasure — those searches blind me to the small, beautiful things around me, like the flowers of muscari that are almost the same.
The Art of Sexual Fantasy with Rachel Kramer Bussel
Rachel Kramer Bussel is the expert’s expert on erotica or all tyrpes. Listen as she talks about the process of sexual fiction writing and the pleasure of editing the sexual fantasies of hundreds of writers over a decade of editing over 25 anthologies of some of the best sexual writing in the country. Rachel speaks with an honest voice about the joy and satisfaction of exploring the mystery of...
Podcast 21: What We Love About Sex
“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...
From Grief, A Window To Gratitude
2020 has been a difficult year for many of us. We are steeped in loss of all kinds. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been taken by this virus and they are being grieved by millions more. Millions of people are struggling with work closures, along with the anxiety about making ends meet and having enough to feed those they love.
The Price We Pay For Love
“The work of the mature person is to carry grief in one hand and gratitude in the other and to be stretched large by them….how much sorrow can I hold- that’s how much gratitude I can give.” -Francis Weller
I have been crying a lot lately. Negotiating my new empty nest and learning how to live in the silence and space created by my kids’ departure has brought me to a new relationship with grief....
Positivity Quest – Affirmation 2: I Trust Myself and What I Know
“Self trust is the first secret of success.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Trusting what you know is the bedrock of befriending yourself. Choosing the beliefs that ground you to your life is everything. Today, on my 53rd birthday, as I consider what I know for sure…
Opening To Pleasure
“Pleasure is the object, duty and the goal of all rational creatures.” Voltaire
The experience of pleasure is how we say yes to life. Allowing oneself the gratification of our senses is how we embody the joys of life. Think mouthwatering flavors, the first scent of summer evenings, the soft cheeks of a sleeping baby, the refrain of a beloved tune. Our human capacity to sense the world brings life...
Emotional Intelligence with Harvey Deutschendorf
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to identify, articulate and work with your emotional life and that of others. A century ago, Darwin associated these skills with human survival and ability to adapt. Don’t miss this conversation with Harvey Deutschendorf, author of THE OTHER KIND OF SMART
Learn how our capacity for emotional intelligence can expand as well as how crucial it it to any...
Gratitude Embodied
“The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.” – Dalai Lama
I once had a friend who for many years taught me volumes about gratitude, while also teaching me quite a bit about my own capacity for envy. At first glance, it may have been her inherited wealthy lifestyle or seemingly effortless marriage, or her devoted relationships with her loving mother and sister… There...
This Week's Recommended Reads, Vol. 3
Phew! It’s time for another weekend! In case you missed it, below are the stories we thought were newsworthy and the blog posts that moved onto Making Love Sustainable this week. Now that you have some more time, sit back, relax and just read.
In the News:
Talk about a week of breaking news! From the Ashley Madison leak to the debate on the newly released “Female Viagra,” we share all of the best...
Tentative Hearts
“Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
It has been just over two months since I spent a couple of nights with my son in the hospital, wondering if life would ever be the same. It was a miracle, and remains one- even now 60 days later that life could be so much back to normal. For all outward appearances, except for a significant scab on the back of his...
Push-Pull
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...
Wild Feminine Energy with Tami Kent
Discover the power and healing in the Wild Feminineenergy at the heart of what it means to live in a female body. Author, Tami Kent combines her understanding of energy medicine with her female physical therapy practice to introduce us all to the healing potential within the pelvic bowl. From discovering our root voice to exploring the energetic influence of the ovaries, Tami reveals the amazing...
If Food Were Fuel and Relationships Fulfilled
“Joy rather than happiness, is the goal of life, for joy is the emotion which accompanies our fulfilling our natures as human beings. It is based on the experience of one’s identity as a being of worth and dignity.” -Rollo May
The other day when I was out to dinner with my 17-year-old daughter, half a pizza and salad still on the table, she said “We didn’t really need the pizza.” She went on,...
Day 365: Quest Achieved
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” -Zig Ziglar
I have achieved my goal of the positivity quest, which was to change my mind. It has been a long and well-documented climb of turning my sights and sensitivity towards a positive world view. Yet, here I stand, 365 days later with not only an extraordinary view of my life’s potential...
The Opening Door – Show 29: Cathryn Couch – The Ceres Community Project
The Ceres Project based in Sonoma California is guided by the principles that everything matters, the universe has a purpose, youth are the future and our acts are heart centered and love guided. The inspirational founder and director of the program, Cathryn Couch works to create community by providing nutritional meals for seriously ill members of the community, training teens to grow and cook...
Positivity Quest: I am Grateful All the Time
If you had to choose only one positive emotion to rely of for the rest of your life, gratitude would be the one to pick. For me, it is a constant re-learning of how to refocus my attention to what is working, what is beautiful, and what is present all the time. Remembering gratitude is a way out of the dark into a kind of thinking that connects you to reality.
Three Ways To Stop Clinging To Your Plans
“Joy is being willing for things to be as they are.” -Charlotte Joko Beck
I am not much of a planner any more. Even as my tiny homespun love company has finally moved into the growth stage of being able to track and predict sales data, I still balk at making plans. For most of my adult life, I have witnessed my best laid plans for how things will go, from the dozens of business plans I have...
Tantric Sex Therapy with Dr. Sally Valentine
Discover the convergence of sex therapy and tantric practice with Dr. Sally Valentine.
Sexual issues have a soul and learning from them as you would a spiritual practice brings depth and meaning to every aspect of your relationship. Sally shares insights and easy to adopt practices of breath and attention that will transform your intimate relationships into one of greater consciousness and joy....
Opening Your Body and Heart with Yoga Teacher Caitlin Young
Wendy shares her final Lunch with the Loveologist program with her yoga teacher, Caitlin Young, who is a wealth of knowledge on integrating the life of the body, mind and heart. Combining the power of our attention with our breath creates life changing results. Learn a couple of simple daily practices and gain insight into how opening our bodies impacts our relationships. Don’t miss this sweet and...
Practices for Emotional Resilience
The truth is that the most challenging and significant relationship in any and every life is the one you have with yourself. It is the foundation for all the other relationships that your life holds and, in fact, dictates both your capacity to love and be loved by everyone else. Seeing through this lens, it is clear that the circumstances and relationships on the outside are a mirror of the peace or turmoil that is present within my relationship with myself.
Taking Back Valentine’s Day
As early as 44 BCE, the Romans hosted a fertility celebration called Lupercalia, in which they sacrificed animals and procreated. Romantic? I’m not so sure. It wasn’t until the 14th century that Valentine’s Day as we know it really started to emerge. And no, it wasn’t named after just one saint; in fact, it was named after three!
Day 79: The Scent of Positivity
“When I was a boy, I thought scent was contained in dewdrops on flowers and if I got up the morning, I could collect it and make perfume.” -Oscar De La Renta
The most underrated sense that we have is our sense of smell. Whether it is the smell of food at the ready, fresh flower blossoms on a tree or the scent of someone leaning in to kiss you, our sense of smell wakes up one of the most primary...
Asking for Help
“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” -Dalai Lama
I spend most of my days trying to help but am only just learning how to receive help. The weakest link and most meaningful learning in my fledgling practice to receive help is in having the courage to ask and believe I can get the help I need. This applies to everything from...
Inventing a Language for Sex
I rarely speak directly about sex. I feel like I am still inventing a language that I can use comfortably in the world, one that envelops the physical, but also transcends it. It is important to talk about orgasm, and to understand the power of it in daily life. But so much of this language has been usurped by an industry that sells us cheap images of organs, or people who feel like they just met...
Day 31: Positivity in Action
“I believe, in some ways, agitating for social change is the most positive form of thinking there is. In order to do so, we must believe that one person can make a difference, that our opinion is worth voicing, and that the world can become better — if we are willing to make an effort to shape it that way.” -Barbara Ehrenriech
Every now and again I get suggestions about topics for the...
39 & Feelin’ Fine
by Elizabeth Spannuth
I turned 39 on Tuesday and in the weeks leading up to my birthday I was having mixed feelings about it. Typically, I don’t mind getting older, because I enjoy the mental journey. I am fond of saying “I miss my 20 year old body, but I don’t miss my 20 year old mind.” But being the birthday before the big 4-0, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I don’t have the trappings that...
Another Chance
This week I had a near miss. The gynecologist’s office called to have me redo my mammogram because there was a lump present. Every woman’s worst nightmare and one that becomes a life transformation for one out of seven. After a few harrowing hours I learned that it was benign. A new lease on life. The sky seemed bigger and the relationships that define my life so much more precious.
Valentine’s...
Positivity Again: How Many More Times
The most effective mind-shifting, gratitude-awakening thought I have is when I ask myself to seriously consider how many more times I will have to do the thing right in front of me. I remember reading this thought somewhere where the author realistically assessed just how many more nights like this one would you see a sunset that makes your jaw drop? I can’t remember how many nights I watched my...
Day 329: Most Amazing Day
“i thank You God for this most amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything wich is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth day of life and love and wings: and of the gay great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing brea...
It’s A Wonderful Life: Your Wonderful Life
Welcome to the newest reader-friendly contribution page. Since we at Good Clean Love are always striving to see the good in life and to cultivate gratitude in our lives every day, we’d like you to join us! In honor of our favorite movie, and one of the most obvious movies about small gratitude- It’s A Wonderful Life,we want to hear what you’re grateful for in your wonderful life! Whether it be big...
Giving Up Abstinence
Always happy to see signs of reason returning to the headlines of our newspapers- today the LA Times reported five states: Wisconsin, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Montana and New Jersey, which despite the dwindling coffers of public funding have turned down the Just Say No to Sex money being doled out to only teach abstinence. Not only does the money carry the obligation to forgo any real education...
Day 254: Envisioning
“When we create something, we always create it first in a thought form. If we are basically positive in attitude, expecting and envisioning pleasure, satisfaction and happiness, we will attract and create people, situations, and events which conform to our positive expectations.” -Shakti Gawain
I have been studying my visioning board lately and realizing how much of my future I have already formed...
Day 157: Humanity In The Airports
“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” -Ryunosuke Satoro
For me there is probably not a more intense interaction that I can have with humanity than when I become an air traveler. While I am intellectually conscious of the enormity of the world’s population, it is when I move through airports that I experience the vastness of humanity trying to move through space. It is in...
Turning a Grateful Corner
“What you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it. Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life.” -Oprah Winfrey
I could jump for joy, it seems that finally I have turned the gratitude corner. My persistent focus on finding the grateful perspective on everything is taking...