ArcaMax

I have attended houses of worship, meditation retreats, friendship circles, yoga sessions and book clubs where everybody greets everybody else with an expression of love, whether or not you're a stranger. I used to think that these expressions "cheapened" the whole love concept, but I've changed my mind.

I now think this sort of brotherly-sisterly-humankind love is beautiful and has a way of opening up a person. As I get older, I regret not expressing love to more people in my life, including family members, teachers, readers, friends and fans.

One suggestion is that you might examine what it would be like to fill this awkward space with, "Oh, love you, too." I suspect that the minute you said it, you would feel an interior shift.

However, if you don't want to do this, you can respond with, "Thank you! I feel very lucky. You two are great, and I always enjoy talking to you."

Dear Amy: I am in high school. I live with my parents and siblings. I have had a mainly happy and healthy childhood. Right now my family's relationship and my parents' relationship seems to be going well.

I recently found out, through invading my father's privacy, that my father cheated on my mother. He was acting suspiciously while messaging after he returned from an event and I snuck a look at his phone.

Disrespecting my father's privacy was wrong of me, but I feel that what he did was much worse than what I did, and I cannot undo or ignore what I found.

From what I saw, my father and this other woman plan to continue contact. My father does not know that I know, and my mother does not know about the situation at all.

I have no idea what to do, but doing nothing is not an option, as I am hurt as a result of this.

I do not want to tell my mom. It would definitely hurt her. I'm hurt, too, but I have other things (school, etc.) to worry about, and I do not want to mess up what I thought was a strong family dynamic.

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