Happiness

At the bottom is a link to a fascinating column I found today by David Brooks in the New York Times called the Haimish Line. It is a Yiddish word that suggest warmth, domesticity and unpretentious conviviality.

I suggest you read the column, but he starts out by saying that in a safari in Africa, his family stayed in seven tents. The simple camps were friendly warm and familiar. The more elegant ones were colder.

He talks about Comfort Inns with the free breakfasts where people chat at the waffle machine. At the four-star hotels, they are quiet. He mentioned a book called "The Lost City'' about life in an old densely packed Chicago neighborhood where kids ran from home to home and people hung out on stoops. They moved to the suburbs and didn't know their neighbors.

He says on vacations we think of the Where. But when we come back we treasure the memory of the Who -- people you met in faraway places. And he links to an article on research on happiness that is worth reading. It says you should buy experiences instead of things, many small pleasures instead of a few big ones. Pay now for things you can look forward to and enjoy later.

If you click on the link, it says if money doesn't make you happy, then you probably aren't spending it right. It says rich people have better toys, better nutrition, more free time and better jobs but they don't tend to be a lot happier than people who have less because they don't spend it right. The things they think will make them happy often don't. For example, they say you can spend a lot of money on a new hardwood floor and it soon is just the floor but the memory of seeing a cheetah at dawn on a safari continues to provide delight.

The quality of our social relationships is a strong determinant of our happiness. You tend to be happier giving money to a food bank than spending it on yourself.

It also says that while people who have sex are happier than those that don't, it says the optimal number of sex partners in a 12-month period is one. It says that multiple partners are occasionally thrilling, but regular partners are regularly enjoyable.

And that people who enjoy the mundane joys of daily life are happier than those that don't. Which is why rich people don't get to enjoy small pleasures.

I could go on and on about this topic but you can read the link and then click on the link in the story for more details. And this whole topic of happiness may not interest you as much as it does me. Let me know your thoughts.

FD (I suggest you click on the following link and then to the link in the story)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/opinion/brooks-the-haimish-line.html?_r=1&hphttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/opinion/brooks-the-haimish-line.html?_r=1&hp

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

I just read a story about a woman at UCLA who is not going to look in the mirror for a year, including covering her wedding date. And she blogs about it in a blog called Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall.

Here is the link to the story:

http://www.stylelist.com/2011/08/20/kjerstin-gruys-mirrors_n_931699.html?ncid=webmail6

The story says some women look in the mirror 70 times a day.

Do you look into the mirror often? Do you like looking in the mirror?

Your thoughts?

More on Submission

I've been on the topic of submission lately and I thought I'd share the comments on submission I found on Submissive Awakening's site at sensualfreak-submissiveawakening.blogspot.com

"Submission is beauty. It is a beauty that comes from the very soul of a submissive woman..It is a breaking down of the walls built up in her lifetime, allowing the beautiful, sensual woman to come through.

"Submission is about sensuality. It is about trust, communication, vulnerability, caring and honesty. It is about being a graceful, sensual, beautiful woman thatresides within.

"Submission is about knowing who you are, and what you want. A submissive is NOT a weak person but just the opposite. She is strong. She is strong in herself and in the iknowledge of who she is. She NEVER submits out of weakness or desperation. She submits out of strength, love and trust.

"Submission is freedom. It is a letting go of one's self, knowing that the Dominant is there to catch her if she falters. It is about pushing to be the very best one can be, not only as a submissive, but as a woman.''
The author is listed as unknown.

And here's a quote from a sex therapist named William Henkin:

"Submission can actually engender power: realizing that you have something to give, and that you are capable of mastering your own will to give it up the way your top wants it, can inspire pride: Not false pride of an inflated ego, but the true pride that, like humility, comes from knowing the depths of yourself.''

And a quote from Valraen:

"Without my dominance you cannot submit. Without your submission I cannot dominate. You are my equal in this, though our roles a different.''

Your thoughts?

A Submissive Wife

I'm a political buff, but rarely write about political things because that is not what this blog is about. But I wanted to bring up a question that was asked of Michelle Bachmann at the debate in Iowa.

And this is not about what you think of her although she tends to be a gaffe machine. She once said "our forebears, who worked tirelessly, men like John Quincy Adams, who would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country.''

Of course, Adams was not a founding father. His father was. And the founding fathers did not work tirelessly to end slavery. Many were slave owners and they decided not to tackle the issue. They even decreed slaves to be counted as 3/5s of a person. They let Lincoln decide the issue with the Civil War. But I digress. Americans are noted for knowing their own history.

Now to my point. Yes, I am going to get there.

In a recent Washington Post profile, her older brother said, "He is her godly husband. The husband is to be the head of the wife, according to God.'' And in a 2006 speech to congregants of the Living Word Christian Center, when she stated that she pursued her degree in tax law because her husband told her to, she said, "The Lord says "Be submissive, wives. You are to be submissive to your husbands.' ''

So she was asked at the Iowa debate if she was submissive. She seemed to handle it well, saying, "I respect my husband. He's a wonderful godly man, and we respect each other.''

The interesting thing, though, was that the crowd booed and hissed loudly at the question.

It was another sign that being a submissive wife does not appear to be a popular thing in our society even though many submissive women are very strong women in the work place and in their careers.

Your thoughts?

FD

A Submissive Woman

I found this on the site of Histoy33916.blogspot.com that was written by an unknown author.

I'm not into harsh punishments, but thought the sentiment about being a strong woman who

serves from pride and strength was right on.

Your thoughts?

FD

--

I am a submissive Woman

I find pleasure, joy, and fulfillment from being submissive

to another

in a loving relationship.

I am not weak, or stupid. I am a strong woman, with firm

views

and a clear concept of what I want out of my life. I do not

serve out of shame or weakness, but out of pride

and strength.

I look to my loving Master for guidance and protection,

for never

am I more complete than when he is with me.

I know that he will

protect my body, my mind, and my soul with his

strength and wisdom.

He is everything to me, as I am everything to him. His touch

awakens me and his thoughts free me. Only in serving him

do I find complete freedom and joy. His punishments are harsh,

but I accept them thankfully, knowing that he has my best

interests always foremost in his mind. If he desires my body

for pleasure, I shall joyfully give it to him, and take pleasure

myself from knowing that I have brought him happiness.

However, the pleasure of the flesh is but one facet of

any relationship. The love, the trust and sharing, the words

spoken and felt, those are all parts of this relationship.

My body is his, and if he says I am beautiful, then I am.

No matter what I look like to others, I am beautiful in his

eyes, and because of that I hold my head high...for who can

tell me that my Master is wrong in seeing the beauty in me?

If he says I am his princess, then I am that...regal and graceful,

and if I see laughter at me in the eyes of others, I do not

recognize it, for who are they to call my Master wrong?

If he says I am his toy, his slut, his tramp, then I am

that...as wanton and dirty as he wants me to be, and

if others do not see this, then it is they who are blind,

not my Master.

My mind is his, to expand, to explore, to know as only he can.

I have no secrets from him...for secrets are a thing that

would keep me from being more perfectly his. Secrets

would put a wall up between my Master and myself..

.and I do not want walls. His lessons are not always ones

I would seek on my own, but they are lessons he has

decided I need, and so I learn from him. My soul is his,

as bare to his touch as ever my skin could be when

I kneel naked at his feet. Never a moment goes by when

I do not feel his presence, be he miles away or

standing over me.

If I were to ever displease him, his displeasure would

be a blow to my soul, worse punishment than any

physical pain could be. The anguish of my soul

that I feel when I disappoint him is harder to bear

than the physical anguish. I spend my days knowing

that the energy and thought he puts into our

relationship is as much for my benefit as for his,

and look forward to each lovingly crafted scene

that we do together.

His part is much harder than mine, and I know this

and am grateful that he cares enough about me to

spend his time and energy so freely on me. I have

the easier job: to feel, to experience, to let myself go

and abandon everything to him. I am his pleasure

and his responsibility, and he takes both seriously.

I am a submissive woman. I am proud to call

myself that. My submission is a gift that I do not

give lightly, and can only be given to one who

can appreciate that gift and return it tenfold.

Only to he who has that strength will I give

myself fully, because I am strong and proud.

I am a submissive woman.

author unknown

Planking

Have you heard of planking?

It is the art of being photographed face down with with stiffened arms and legs.

It supposedly started out in Australia and geekosystem.com says it is sweeping the world.

The Huffington Post had a photo of several of Hefner's playmates face down. They were
clothed but their butts look so inviting for a spanking. You can google it.

Have you heard of planking? I don't get the point if it is not followed by a spanking.

Your thoughts?

FD

Best Movie Kisses

I saw this list of best movie kisses on a site called thirdage.com and thought I would share them ith you.

1. Of course, it has to be Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr on the beach in "From Here to Eternity.'' What sparks. They had bathing suits on but it was so sexy with the waves crashing on them. I'd love to makeout on that beach. And Lancaster and Kerr were amazing. That was the golden age of Hollywood.

2. Breakfast at Tiffanys with Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in a rain drenched kiss based on the famous Truman Capote novel, which was based on a real person. She is an icon but he faded from the scene. I saw the movie but frankly don't remember the kiss.

3. Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio in the Titanic. I liked the scene better when she posed topless for a drawing for him.

4. Meet Joe Black with Brad Pitt aqnd Claire Foriani. I didn't see this one.

5. Shakespeare in Love with Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow. I remember her pretending to be a man in the movie, which was a stretch.

6. Cold Mountain with Jude Law and Nicole Kidman. I didn't see it.

7. The Notebook with Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. Didn't see it.

8. Cashback with Sean Biggerstaff and Emilia Fox. Didn't see it.

9. Slumdog Millionaire with Dey Patel and Freida Pinto. I remember the movie but not the kiss.

How could they leave out Bogey and Bergman in Casablanca (my all time favorite) and Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind?

Do you have your favorite movie kiss?

FD

Dress code

Did you see the story about the woman who was apparently ejected from a Walmart in Eugene, Ore.for wearing a string bikini top with shorts.

If you haven't seen her, you can google woman ejected from Walmart for wearing a string bikini. She is not a young babe, but a 51-year-old woman with a shaved head and tatoos who says she has disabilities from motorcycle accidents.

She says she was escorted out of the store. The store officials have a different version.

Regardless of what happened, the question I have is should women wear anythng they want in public as long as their private areas are covered or do you feel some things are inappropriate.

I go to the beach a lot and many women won't even walk from their car to the beach in a bikini. They wear a T-shirt top they take off on the beach.

Anyway. I am curious to get your thoughts on what is appropriate for women to wear in public.

FD