(an excerpt from the upcoming book, Journey to the Ecstatic Self) My husband and I were traveling in Germany and wanted to experience some local culture. There, nudity is a social pastime—the Germans enjoy getting naked at beaches, in the woods, and at government-run bathing complexes. We were advised to patron one of Munich’s state-sponsored bathhouses—and when we arrived, we …
Ah — happiness! That elusive, golden ring that so many of us seek. Day in and day out, we strive for the perfect circumstances that will finally make us feel those blissful few seconds of radiant joy. Happiness! And nearly as suddenly as it arrives — it fades away. We are back in the murky existence of everyday living. We gradually return to seeking …
We’ve all had it happen. We are at a social event, we strike up a conversation with someone dynamic, and—before long—we notice ourselves feeling tingles of attraction. The trouble is, this person is outside the bounds of who we normally feel chemistry with. Perhaps they’re a different gender—or an atypical presentation of the gender with whom we ordinarily connect. Maybe …