Beyond Conventional Wisdom

Does your sex life fulfill your need to feel loved? Are you able to have satisfying conversations with your sexual partner about your sexual likes, dislikes, fears, shame and need for both freedom and emotional connection? Are you able to listen compassionately and understand more when your partner talks about his/her sexual feelings, needs, desires and difficulties? If the answer to all of the above questions is “Yes” then don’t bother reading any further.

To those of you still here, join the crowd. Conventional thinking reduces sex to a performance designed to produce better sexual gymnasts. With all the advertisements proclaiming the wonders of pills that produce erection, aids to stimulate orgasm and enhancement surgeries, it’s no wonder that most sexual discussions focus on sex as merely a physical act.

(more…)

Community is typically thought of as a group of people living in the same locality or regularly gathering together such as in a work, social or on-line community. But, for many of us, just being in the same neighborhood, home or in cyberspace is not satisfying. My hunger for community is not met just by being together.

The heart of a community is meaningful connections. That’s what feeds my intellect, emotions, physical body, spirituality and creativity and nourishes my soul. Heart talk involves being emotionally touched with important personal learning, and feeling seen, heard and appreciated. With an intention to make heart connections an important and integral part of the community, any activity is an opportunity to be meaningfully together.

(more…)

As far back as I can remember play was for kids. Games were serious and competitive contests. Winners were better and more masculine than losers. Parents bragged about winners and avoided talking about losers. Rules were written and unbreakable. Mature people didn’t play, they put their noses to the grindstone and were productive. I had lost my playfulness until the day that I met Fred.

I felt really odd and nervous entering a room full of strangers who were going to learn about play. But Fred immediately put us at ease. On his T-shirt were the words, “You don’t quit playing because you get old. You get old because you stop playing.” With his soft manner and entertaining stories, he masterfully created a safe environment.

(more…)

Have you ever come to the realization that something that was supposed to make you happy, did not? Or, that what you were taught was the “right” way to be or think changed somewhere along the line? The Beyond Conventional Wisdom blog reflects my lifetime of struggling down paths that never fulfilled their promise.

It took years for me to discover the simple truth that all the things for which I truly yearn, such as happiness, peace of mind, joy, abundance, serenity, and meaningful connections with myself and others, happen when I’m connected to my heart.

(more…)