Category Archives: What is Love?

It changes EVERYTHING!

Posted on January 30, 2012 by John

There seems to be a double standard at the heart of most intimate relationships, and that is that we tend to consistently expect the best for ourselves while not nearly as often expecting the best out of ourselves. We want our … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthony Robbins, Antilove, Conscience, Conscious Love, Courage, Differentiation, Emotional Maturity, Gandhi, Generosity, Love, Love is a Choice, Love is a Commitment, Love is an Act of Will, Love is Not a Feeling, Matthew 7: 1-6, Mature Love, Real Love, Self-Extension, Spiritual Growth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Love, Gratitude, and Perspective

Posted on January 11, 2012 by John

Love is not primarily about how another makes us feel or what he or she does for us; it’s about how we show up to a relationship and treat another human being—gratefully or ungratefully; as someone valuable—nay, invaluable and priceless … Continue reading →

Posted in Emotional Maturity, Generosity, Gratitude, Immature Love, Intimacy, Mature Love, Mental Health, Real Love, Spiritual Growth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

How To Fall In Love Again (updated 1/10/12)

Posted on January 10, 2012 by John

“I have no way of knowing whether or not you married the wrong person. But I do know that if you treat the wrong person like the right person, you could well end up having married the right person after … Continue reading →

Posted in C.S. Lewis, Conscious Love, Courage, Emotional Maturity, Gandhi, GinaParris.com, Immature Love, Intimate Relationships, Love, Love is a Choice, Love is a Commitment, Love is a Decision, Love is an Act of Will, Love is Not a Feeling, M. Scott Peck, Mature Love, Mental Health, Real Love, Self-Extension, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Happy Birthday: Intimacy & the Birth of One’s (Deepest) Self

Posted on January 9, 2012 by John

This is what intimacy is all about, in my opinion: it’s about having some real depth to oneself, continuing to develop your own depths, yet finding another who is also similarly and compatibly deep, and sharing your depth and exploring … Continue reading →

Posted in "The God Who Loves You", C.S. Lewis, Carl Dennis, Conscience, Conscious Love, Courage, Death, Emotional Maturity, Immature Love, Intimacy, Intimate Relationships, Love is a Commitment, Love is a Decision, Love is an Act of Will, Mature Love, Mental Health, Real Love, Responsibility, Rilke, Sarah Ruhl, Self-Extension, Spiritual Growth, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Love Is More Than A Feeling—Much More Than A Feeling; It’s A Virtue

Posted on January 5, 2012 by John

. . One of the things that we as a culture have forgotten (did we ever really know it? Has any culture every really known it?) is that love is much more than just a feeling. Love is equally, if … Continue reading →

Posted in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7, Conscience, Conscious Love, Courage, Differentiation, Emotional Maturity, Immature Love, Intimate Relationships, Mature Love, Mental Health, Real Love, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Dedication to Truth & Love versus a Dedication to Comfort & Lies & a Lack of Love

Posted on January 1, 2012 by John

Our capacity to love–to truly Love ourselves or our partner or children, et cetera–is inexorably connected to our dedication to truth and reality and to truly growing up.  If we’re not more dedicated to truth than our own comfort, if … Continue reading →

Posted in Antilove, Borderline Personality Disorder, Conscience, Conscious Love, Courage, Dependency, Emotional Maturity, Immature Love, Love is a Commitment, M. Scott Peck, Mature Love, Mental Health, Real Love, Self-Extension, The Road Less Traveled, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Practicing the Art of Losing: Are You a Good Sport in Life or Just Another Troubled Guest Darkening the Earth?

Posted on December 28, 2011 by John

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” – Norman Cousins On this blog and my others (http://fullcatastropheliving.wordpress.com, http://aweektolive.wordpress.com), I write a lot about death, mortality, loss, impermanence. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Death, Love, Mature Love, Mental Health, Montaigne, Thoreau, Uncategorized, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Reason for the Season: “There’s Life without Love, but It’s Really Not Much of a Life”

Posted on December 24, 2011 by John

Or “Get Busy Loving or Get Busy Dying” There is no neutrality in life: every moment of our lives is up for grabs, being claimed by Love and counter-claimed by fear.  Both options, both alternatives, are present in every moment … Continue reading →

Posted in "Shadowlands", Bukowski, C.S. Lewis, Courage, David Whyte, Gurdjieff, Hazrat Inayat Khan, John 10:10, John 12:24, John 3:19-21, John 3:3, John 3:30, Ken Wilber, Kierkegaard, M. Scott Peck, Mature Love, Mental Health, P.C. Cast, Real Love, Spiritual Growth, The Road Less Traveled, Thomas Merton, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How to Ruin Your Relationship

Posted on December 23, 2011 by John

I watched this 90 sec video this morning, and in it psychologist Harriet Lerner hits on about the three or four things that a person can do to destroy his or her relationship–http://www.aol.com/video/youve-got-harriet-lerner/517234776/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cvideo-module%7Csec3_lnk1%7C122475 So how do you ruin a relationship? — 1.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Conscious Love, Emotional Maturity, Harriet Lerner, Immature Love, Love is a Choice, Love is a Decision, Real Love, Self-Extension, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

What is Real Intimacy?

Posted on December 2, 2011 by John

Intimacy means self-disclosure and self-revelation. Put another way, it means transparency. It means tremendous openness, candidness, honesty. Our capacity for intimacy with another is determined by and limited by our level of intimacy (or openness and honesty) with ourselves. When … Continue reading →

Posted in G. K. Chesterton, Intimacy, Intimate Relationships, Living the Questions, Mental Health, Real Love, Rilke, Theodore Roethke, Waking Up, What is Love? | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments