Okay But Can We Live Here

Studies and sketches of standing male nudes by Ladislav Mednyánszky

Possibly the only fear great than death is love, real love. Finding out that you do love, that this is your nature, is the beginning of the end for everything in you that thinks it is separate. When you get upset with people, it's really because the love is there and you don't want it to be. That's why people who get divorced are often at each other's throats. They think that since they are getting divorced, there shouldn't be love. But it is there. You may not like it, you may not want to live with someone, but the love is still there because there is no such thing as loving once and then not loving. When people are able to face the fact that the romantic part of love may be gone but the caring or connection is still there, it can actually free their energy. And you might as well get used to it with one person because you will find eventually that it is there with all beings. It's just there. It's a done deal. It doesn't matter who it is. If you can accept love you will know when to stay with someone and when to leave them.

— Adyashanti, emptiness dancing

Liz Berube’s “Beauty on a Budget” feature that appeared in romance comics. 1960s-70s.

no love is ever lost. i used to feel like I wasted my love on the wrong people but in the course of my healing, not only have i felt the love I've poured out come back to me in different ways, but i have been reminded that love is not expendable at all. love cannot be measured nor contained. discarded nor wasted. it has no form or shape. it surrounds us. love is essential. it's abundant. it's powerful. its potency makes it capable of finding its way back to you. again and again and again. love is a whole phenomenon. don't ever regret the love you give to anyone. it's theirs. it's yours. it's everywhere. the cycle is infinite

Me, still insane: I used to be sooo crazy

i want to have a garden full with flowers and fruits and vegetables and trees and a pond and nice little spots where i can read and drink tea and be happy and in peace

Vincent van Gogh. Evening Landscape, Nuenen, 1885.

Fuses (Carolee Schneemann, 1967)