52 Ways to Show I Love You: Accepting Responsibility

and Old, Familiar Ones.... Last week, in “Recognizing Mistakes”, I introduced some ways in which a close relationship can become derailed. Misunderstandings, poor or missing communication, failures to clearly express wants and needs and to consider ways to meet them can all offer occasions to show love. Taking these opportunities a bit further, we can Accept Responsibility for a challenge within the relationship. What needs accepting? Individual responsibility — I did it! People vary in how they experience their inevitable errors, especially those [...]

“Showing Up” Powerfully Demonstrates Your Love

Being there for performances, events, dates and times of need shows love. Source: cocoparisienne/Pixabay Woody Allen is often credited with saying “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” I don’t know what the statistics would say about the proportion of love that is expressed through “showing up” but my guess is that, in successful relationships, it is large. “Don’t tell me, show me.” “Don’t talk the talk; walk the walk.” There was even the hit song from My Fair Lady, “Show me”. What do we show up [...]

52 Ways to Show I Love You: Expressing Love Through Observing

Observation, the first task of scientific inquiry, can also express love. Source: nightowl/Pixabay With careful observation, people can identify the sources of their own happiness, meaning and joy. For example, using discernment, they can evaluate what money can and cannot buy. Yes, it can secure a good bit of comfort, beauty and freedom, providing relief, pleasure, and opportunity. But it cannot buy respect, love, trust, or creativity. While purchased pleasures can also offer distraction from intensity or relief from the grind of discipline, they can also [...]

A Lifelong Love of Writing

One letter at a time/Unsplash When I was a child, I was slow to speak.  Family lore had it that I ran before I was a year old but waited until I had passed my second birthday to utter a word.  At that point, sentences tumbled out of my mouth.  Maybe writing is like that for me now – so much mulled over across the years, so many ways of expression considered.  Today, convinced that my journey and [...]

2018-01-31T21:03:58+00:00March 27th, 2017|Categories: Uncategorized|

52 Ways to Show I Love You, Inaugural Column

Today, I am delighted to wish you a Happy New Year.  May the year 2017 bring you excellent health, many joys, and the very brightest of discoveries.  I am also delighted to share my first column for "52 Ways to Show I Love You", written for my blog on Psychology Today, "Life, Refracted".  You can sign up to receive the column directly from Psychology Today on that page or on my own website.  If you sign up to automatically receive [...]

Christmas Concert Showcases Countless Careers

Last night David and I attended a concert at the Maison de Radio France.  David had purchased tickets months ago, securing seats in the first balcony of the magnificent renovated Auditorium, reopened on November 14, 2014.   Architecture combined with aesthetics to render acoustics astonishingly clear.  After a short walk from where we stay when in Paris, we arrived on a balmy December night to join others in the reassuring Security lines in front of the main entrance.  Soon seated in [...]

2018-01-31T21:03:59+00:00December 25th, 2016|Categories: Uncategorized|

You CAN Marry the Right Person; It’s NOT a Mystery!

When I read the New York Time’s “Modern Love” column this morning, “Mysteries of the Heart, Unsolved,” written by Ann Hood, I was reminded of Alain de Botton’s opinion piece in the New York Times “Sunday Review” on May 28, 2016 and my rejoinder: Why You Can Marry the Right Person! Alain de Botton wrote an opinion piece that appeared in the New York Times “Sunday Review” on May 28, 2016, Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person. The article sparked a slew of letters in response. Because I am convinced that [...]

2018-01-31T21:03:59+00:00October 18th, 2016|Categories: Uncategorized|

A Libra Granddaughter Creates Harmony in a Wardrobe Rescue

She was born under the sign of Libra.  From her earliest days, she was pedestrian-stopping beautiful, alert and engaged with the world around her. She showed a preference for balance and simplicity in toys, textures, tones. Her future interest in creating combinations that brought pleasure to the eye, the palate, kinesthetic senses could be predicted by her tea-parties with dolls and imaginary playmates, her earliest cookie-decorating, her natural love of dance. The latter went beyond leotards, although those also offered [...]

2018-01-31T21:04:04+00:00October 11th, 2016|Categories: Uncategorized|

Military Rituals Honor a Life Well Lived

The funeral was short, meaningful, perhaps a quarter hour of memories and prayers.  A daughter had organized a slide show of his life, in chapters.  Childhood.  Marriage, a union that had lasted more than sixty years.  Military service.  Children.  Work.  Grandchildren.  Travel. Adventure. The sanctuary was crowded.  He had touched many lives and we wanted to say goodbye.  To pay tribute as his soul moved on. Presenting the American Flag My husband and I had not been close [...]

2018-01-31T21:04:04+00:00September 5th, 2016|Categories: Uncategorized|

Loving the Little Girl Inside Me

French T-Shirt We took a ridiculously long time to get to know, respect and honor each other.  For years, I pushed her aside, unconsciously trying to silence her with bribes of ice cream, candy, and other high calorie sleep-inducing treats.  Sometimes I gave her chocolate when she needed enough energy to get something done. I refused to consider her worthy of legitimate claims on my attention and energy. Once the adult in me earned enough money to [...]

2018-01-31T21:04:04+00:00August 29th, 2016|Categories: Uncategorized|
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