ArcaMax

You can commune with God as you perceive Him while you're out walking or riding in a car -- anytime the need surfaces. Out of that fundamental craving for connection comes a deeper hunger to go beyond known boundaries and reach a level higher than human.

That hunger I call "churchness" draws some people toward one another, and their common ...Read more

Linking yourself to the community is the next step to widen your circle of connectedness. By joining a voluntary organization or international agency (whichever seems more important to you and seems to need you more), by manning a hotline for a battered-women's shelter or helping to organize and international fast day for world hunger, you're ...Read more

Married or not, each of us walks single file through life's landscape, because everyone has a "single" part , our unique individuality -- separate and apart from the crowd. Yet from time to time we may travel in lockstep, two by two, when someone we like comes nearby and walks with us. Drawn by love's force, this person may stay with us a ...Read more

From one of my favorite books, "Risking," by David Viscott, here are some truths that resonate today as powerfully (maybe even more so) as they did when they were first published. Please give each one the time it deserves, and let me know your thoughts about them.

--For a relationship to work, both partners must have all the freedom, privacy ...Read more

I love mystery. No, not the grisly murder-mayhem crime scene. The mystery that moves me (and maybe you, too, after I make my case) is the aura, the enchantment, the spell we women can weave around our femininity. But before we get to that, I want you to know my concept of feminine mystery has absolutely nothing to do with game-playing ...Read more

You sigh for it -- and sometimes, your sighing deepens into outright yearning. You dream of discovering a lover and best friend in one wonderful one. Your yearning is hidden from the daylight a zillion ways, but in the dark of night, masks slip and our yearning for The Real Thing becomes our bedmate. (Deep, deep sigh).

Listen up. Did it ever ...Read more

Ask yourself when love comes to a halt: What now, what can I do to nourish myself, to fill the emptiness? Has my life changed so totally that I need to figure things out again? Or is there something I postponed for the sake of being coupled? And is this the perfect time to get it done, no excuses accepted? But for the next romantic go-round, am ...Read more

Somewhere along the way, you may find one man you like better than the others. He may not look like Hugh Jackman (look him up if you're not familiar with the name), but there will be something about his sense of humor or the way he sees life that hits home. This is the moment the real challenge presents itself: to continue treating a man like ...Read more

Opening your mouth isn't only for feeding; it's also for complaining. But let's face it: Most women don't have much experience expressing negative opinions; our function as the calmer of troubled waters is so deeply ingrained it's almost a genetic trait! We've been conditioned to skirt around confrontation and head-on collisions in any form. So ...Read more

Skip today's column if you're looking for startling new techniques guaranteed to benefit the children of mateless mothers like you. As much as I feel a special tenderness for young people who grow up with a single parent (my own son Scott was only 4 when he became part of a two-person family), what we're interested in right now is you. Resilient...Read more

Goal-oriented, ongoing, meaningful work is the ultimate connection, the taproot into the world around you. By its very nature, it places you in the middle of a varied support group -- from the bank clerk who cashes your check to the salesperson who sells you clothes for the office to the people who work beside you. The routine of work itself is ...Read more

Today, start thinking about how much togetherness you require and how much on-your-own-time you want combined in one relationship. The starting point is to look within yourself -- you don't want to kid your best buddy, do you? -- and come up with an honest answer. Remember, this exercise is strictly between you and you. No one else is entitled ...Read more