Super Sexy F/F Excerpt from BELLA KEY by Scarlet Chastain!

bella-key1mMaddie sunk into the deep feathertop of the full sized guest bed. The rhythmic push and pull of the surf lulled her into a state between sleep and wakefulness. Slipping into an exquisite dream, she lay on a beach blanket, the sun beating down on her back as she grabbed a fistful of sand and let it slip from her fingers. Warm liquid drizzled along her shoulder blades and down her spine. Her muscles relaxed under strong but soft and delicate hands massaging the oily substance evenly over the planes of her back. Her nerve endings stood on end as she gathered her hair into one hand. The pads of fingertips circled the base of her exposed neck, before traveling over her shoulders. Maddie sighed as the same talented hands continued down her spine, applying pressure to her lower back and pushing her pelvis into the warm sand. Heat surrounded her mound while her bikini bottoms slid down inch by inch until the sun kissed the bare skin of her ass cheeks. She tried to pick her head up to discover the owner of such wonderful hands but her heavy head and eyelids wouldn’t cooperate. She gave up without a fight and settled in to enjoy the erotic massage. More oil drizzled over her newly exposed skin and her bottoms were swiftly whisked down her legs. Warm skin nudged her thighs apart while administering circular patterns over her ass. The hands were familiar but not large and calloused as those of most men she’d been with. They were delicate with smooth fingernails, which raked over her sensitized flesh. She moaned louder when those fingers slid down her ass to her desire-swollen nether lips.

“Please…yes…”

The words weren’t from her lips. Maddie held her breath. More muffled moans combined with the crashing surf put her body on alert. But she also recognized another sound – a softly grinding motor. Maddie sat up and perked her ears. Her heartbeat pounded in her chest as she realized Sunny’s breathy moans filled her ears.

“Mmm…yes…”

Maddie slid out of her bed and crept to the partially ajar door. The floorboards creaked and she froze. Sunny’s moans stopped for a moment before resuming with a flurry of audible breaths. Maddie’s curiosity got the best of her and she slinked into the hall, the call of Sunny’s passion beckoning her like a moth to a flame. The hallway was dark but a sliver of moonlight shining through Sunny’s door offered enough light for Maddie to view Sunny on her knees. One hand gripped a post of the headboard, the other held a pink device at the apex of her thighs. Maddie retreated a step as Sunny threw her head back. But she couldn’t return to her room. She couldn’t look away from Sunny’s raven hair caressing the crease where her hips met her smooth waist. Maddie yearned to trace her fingers along the woman’s curves. She leaned against the wall outside of the woman’s room and slid into a crouch. Cupping her panty-covered mound in her palm, she rubbed circles around her outer lips over the fabric in unison to Sunny’s moans. The purr of Sunny’s vibrator changed from a steady hum to quick short revs. Maddie bit her lower lip so as to not allow an audible moan to escape her lips, as she slid her hand inside her panties. She closed her eyes and imagined that Sunny’s moans and cries were coaxed by Maddie’s own touch instead of a powerful vibrator. Spreading her legs further apart, Maddie’s fingers mimicked the rhythm of Sunny’s device. Sunny’s grip on the headboard tightened and she called out Maddie’s name. For a fleeting moment, Maddie considered making her presence known. But instead she stayed in the shadows and her own climax soon followed. Shocked at what she witnessed and the arousing effects it had on her, she slowly crept to her room. It wasn’t her first experience getting aroused by another woman but it was the first time she was close to acting on her desire.

copyright © 2013 Scarlet Chastain

For more steamy, erotic encounters between Sunny and Maddie, check out Scarlet Chastain’s new book “Bella Key” available on www.ScarletChastain.com / Evernight Publishing / Amazon US / Amazon UK / AllRomance eBooks / BookStrand

DESCRIPTION:

Maddie Jacobs must be crazy. At least that’s what her mother thinks. Professionally, she’s confident and secure; personally, she’s a hot mess. Not even a marriage proposal from a man who adores her can quell her search for something more.

In need of an escape, Maddie flees to Key West’s most southern island, Bella Key, to rest and recharge at Casa Bonita. She almost gives up on weekend retreat when the Bed & Breakfast is closed for repairs until Sunny Rojas, the inn owner, extends an offer of friendship, sweet tea and a room. Still reeling from a breakup with her longtime partner, Sunny is thankful for the diversion from her own broken heart.

The arrival of a fierce storm forces the women’s emotional journey to a head and leads them into each other’s arms. But can Maddie throw her hangups to the wind and go with her heart? The magic of Bella Key teaches her that passion cannot be placed neatly into boxes labeled right and wrong, because love knows no boundaries.

AUTHOR BIO:

Scarlet Chastain is the semi-secret pseudonym of a multi-published, best selling author of sensual erotic romance. Scarlet’s focus is female-centric sizzling stories written about women, for women.

She lives in the suburban shadows of New York City but her heart belongs to the beaches of Key West. Scarlet can usually be found in her favorite chair of her newly acquired writing cave with her maltipoo, Coco.

Stalk Scarlet here:

Website: http://scarletchastain.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scarlet-Chastain/524838890901873

Twitter: @scarletchastain

Email: scarletchastain@gmail.com

 

 

Carpe Sex! How To Change Your Sexual Attitude

By Lady Cheeky

d1b649d7a1dd257acec4d62941b366d2_XS

Ahhh January – the crisp, bracing air, the relief that the holidays are behind us and the optimistic promise of a whole new year ahead. Each January my friends, colleagues and nosy grocery store clerks ask me the dreaded question “have you made any New Year’s resolution’s?” My reply is always the same one I give for anyone asking me my age “Fine thank you”. The confused look on their faces never ceases to amuse me as I slink away; proud I’ve escaped answering that question yet again.

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. I’ve always been an immediate gratification gal and didn’t make the yearly over-promise because it always seemed too high aiming and unachievable in a satisfying amount of time … at least for this impatient writer.

Yet, I can’t deny there is some wisdom in making a resolution and sticking to it. The discipline and drive to commit to an immediate improving of one’s condition is a great way to ameliorate … Click HERE to read the rest of the article on EVOLVED WORLD!

 

A Users Guide: How To Show Up to F*ck a Turned On Woman

I loved this when I first read it and recently went back to it again. So smart. -LC

tumblr_m6ijz9zb3H1r3s0uho1_500

By Nicole Daedone  Originally published on her blog www.NicoleDaedone.com on 8/8/12

This is what I have come to understand. There is absolutely zero context for men to know how to fuck a Turned On Woman—meaning a woman who is free, who is capable of what I call Unconditional Sex; sex that is not saddled with “conditions” such as promises of wedding proposals, dishwashers, babies. A woman who owns her sex and does not need to use it for barter, who has the wealth and luxury—both energetic and emotional—to use it for her pleasure.

A man I’ve been seeing said, “Yeah, we (men) don’t know what to do because that kind of woman is like a unicorn”.

Sex has been the purview of men, and as such its uses have mostly been masculine. Not a problem in and of itself, but in my opinion a woman’s touch is needed in the arena of what it “means.” I see a polarization of sorts, where, running from sex-as-gravely-significant or sex-for-procreation, the masculine veers way to the other end of the scale: devoid of any emotion, connection or caring; wanton, gluttonous. The only reasons for a woman to engage would be (a) desperation, (b) the “god-given” woman’s agenda (to snag a man in her snare) or, worst of all, (c) that she approaches sex “like a man.” In the present context it is absolutely impossible that a woman could maintain her femininity; still like to yield and surrender; want deep connection and love sex… with—gasp!—more than one person. (Oh, and not be salacious and therefore open to anything from BDSM and gang bangs.) Within the game as it exists, this is a total non-sequitur.

We lack gradients, we live in an either/or perspective. Either a woman’s legs are locked and closed and safe and healthy or else they are open to just about anything flying in there. In the present context it is unthinkable that a woman could both practice discernment and feed her beast. I suppose that it is assumed that she is too fragile to tame the thing. And I suppose this is because we underestimate the power of love as the most powerful trainer.

One of the responses I get most often is that it is intimidating to be with a woman who is facile in the arena of sex. Not “thank god,” not “finally we can see what this thing can do,” but “how do I compare to other guys?” Which leads me to believe that men are not liberated sexually either. Their prowess only goes so far, it is in the hunt, but the having, the devouring is beyond both sexes. There is a hungry ghost rattling around the male psyche that rarely gets exposed. When it does, it goes something like this: I am good at wanting, craving, reaching, begging, but when the food is placed on my table, for some reason I am incapable of eating it. Part of the conditioning of the male psyche is that for a man to admit that he didn’t pounce, it would mean that he was of all things a “pussy,” the worst thing for a man to be, and her sexual appetite makes her a harlot, too man-like—put your negative connotation here—the worst thing she could be.

What I am getting is that we are in one of those Chinese finger locks, both are stuck, each hoping the other has the solution. Yes, the solution is to stop pulling away from each other. It is to stand in the face of this orgasm and brave our various sets of conditioning in order to enter and meet inside of it.

As far as I can tell the biggest challenge for women is a sense of hopelessness that it will ever be “any good”, that it will ever be sex from her native land, the kind where her body can open and she can lose herself. Time and again I hear, he’s too rough, he’s too fast, he doesn’t have enough attention. When I ask these women if they show these men what to do or slow them down, they sink into the paralysis of learned helplessness with an underlying preemptive anger. (And the unconscious fear of being the deer who suddenly turns and tells the lion how to take this meal to the next level.) The assumption is that a man doesn’t want to learn. And I would say, yes, learning occurs in the brain as physical pain. Yes learning is hard. No one likes it. And ultimately it is the only thing that brings us gratification. And I sincerely have never met a man who was not open to suggestion—sometimes they feel clumsy and stupid and try to hide it with bravado (like we all do), but with care and communication, they do have a deep desire.

The biggest challenge I see that men face is the “what is in it for me” mentality, which is devastating in the arena of sexuality. Great for business, bad for orgasm. The daemon which is a fundamental sexual energy, the necessary element of self-seeking that takes her, has run a bit rampant in the conditioned psyche of man such that no matter how much he grabs, he never gets his. That is the real nature of a hungry ghost. The conditioned psyche of men in this culture is that they can grab and grab but they cannot ingest. The daemon has got a hold of them and they are doing its bidding and it will never be gratified. This is why we see masculine driven sex in this culture as empty calories; that devoid of emotion, it is based solely on consumption but not nourishment. And it is a catch-22 in that the constant craving for more that in turn leads toward self seeking prevents the actual nourishment that would bring gratification.

Women hold the counter-pose or the antidote. But dammit, we won’t administer it. We won’t administer it because to do so we would need a place to plug the IV into and that would be straight into the vein of sex. And all the things that would signify about us that we are unwilling to claim. But this isn’t mere weakness or petulance. It lies in the fact that one’s capacity to stand in truth, to not lose oneself in a sea of opinions, to live essentially in an autonomous mind, a room of one’s own, is a result of contacting one’s own daemon as one does through… you got it… orgasm. Again, catch 22— she does not have the muscle to steer sex into the arena of what she likes and wants because she is not having the sex she wants which would develop that muscle. In other words, women do not have the power surging thorough them to withstand judgment about their sex and so do not bring the “other half” of sex, that would nourish both, into the equation.

579178_10152237903185494_755372263_nBut someone’s gotta give. You can’t go to the gym to look good enough to go to the gym. At some point you just gotta face the fact that it is going to hurt. Guys, it is going to screw with your masculinity but you are going to have to be with a woman who is facile enough in the sexual arena, free of all of the signifiers that make you a man, like the agreement to play chaste and subservient. And you are going to have to reward these women for giving you an education that hurts in the receiving. And that will require you to postpone the “getting yours” because in this case “yours” is the receiving of this education which is more a marathon than a sprint and will result in you shifting into a mindset that goes from mere quantity to quality, which ultimately nourishes you and quells the craving or converts it into depth.

And women friends, you are just going to have to withstand the throwing of tomatoes. What is the alternative? Keep your orgasm tamped down for another thousand years because you were unwilling to be called a few names or forego the illusion of there ever being a savior. Yes, there is a savior and guess what— you are it. You are here to save sex from the devastating state it’s in, unless porn, and weird sex where you have to use foreign words like yoni, or medicalized sex replete with medication, is your thing.

Here’s where you start. You admit you want it. Then you determine that are going to make it good. Not that you are going to hope and pray beyond all hope that this guy will be the one to magically “get it.” You are going to insure beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is brilliant and successful. You are going to make it through the dip. The dip is where everyone quits. It’s what Organic Chemistry is to medical school: the class that filters out about 80 per cent of students because it is so challenging. And the dip in terms of your orgasm is your willingness to withstand judgment about being a Turned On Woman. If you can make it through that dip, you have earned your stripes and deserve to have access to the power that orgasm can bring. But you’ve got to earn your chops and withstand the presumptions and assumptions about what it means for a woman to be sexual and then even worse, right when you want to konk them on the head and say “are your out of your friggin’ mind?”—you are going to educate. You are going to educate people into a new way— a way where sex without conditions does not mean sex without consciousness. In the same way it is not weakness that has one able to love unconditionally, it actually stems from strength, it is not desperation that has a woman sex unconditionally, it actually stems from power.

With this in mind, I thought I would give a little guide for the guys as to how to prepare to meet with a Turned on Woman. Sort of like when you are going to camp and they tell you how to prepare—this is How to Prepare to Fuck a Turned On Woman. Mind you, this is just how to prepare to fuck this turned on woman, but in holding up my end of the deal, the one where I make sure that you are brilliant and successful with me—here goes.

We can make this very easy. Set a time and show up on time. Both of us will be feeling a certain anticipation. We will be riding that edge of turn on and irritation. The more we can both stay inside the parameters we agree on in terms of logistics, the more we will develop trust and the more powerfully we can let go. I know how to manage sexual tension in my body, how to allow it to build and build. To a point. Often you hear about a woman being dramatic. Its not drama—it’s screech level anticipation. I want it to be that you show up and I am in the sweet spot—that line where I am having you and wanting you both. I cannot tell you how many guys “got lost on my way” coming over to have sex.

A context needs to be set because this is neither a bootie call nor a marriage ceremony. Alan Watts once said that life is far too serious to be taken seriously. This is as well. Again we are looking for a sweet spot where, on the one hand, we acknowledge that we are exploring together in the most charged, intense, potential that exists on the planet; and on the other, in the same way Suzuki Roshi says that enlightenment is just sitting—this is just sex. The experience begins when we agree to meet, and from that moment everything from wondering what I should wear for you to feeling a throb in my pussy when I imagine you being here, is part of it. I include everything, which makes it that much richer. It is like going to the symphony and being attuned to every note. Somehow doing this creates an experience of losing oneself. That is the ultimate experience that I am looking for with you—for each of us to lose ourselves and discover what is there when we do. =

For this reason I like it when you text or email me your thoughts, desires and hopes and fantasies about what is to come as they arise. It’s a way I get to be inside of you. In the private place. Sometimes it is like I get a whiff of you beforehand, or I will think about the night and feel my pussy swell. I want to tell you. I want to know anything and everything you want to share with me. All of it. I want to know your guts and your soul. I am an infinite player, and as such everything is of consequence. I want to know all of your wiring so that I can flick as many switches as possible. I am willing to share anything and everything with you.

Please show up sans scent. I am an animal. I need to smell you. I don’t want you to mask your fear, your desire, your lust. There is no scent to me that is better than your scent—you are in my bed because you are you and I want to know exactly what that is. This is not to say that I am in any way averse to you showering. I’m not. I like Dove, Ivory and Dr. Bronners soap on a man. And I am good with deodorant although I will not get to stick my face in your underarm pit: a favorite of mine.

I am good at guiding us so if you are nervous or tentative let me lead. I will feel for the transition points and guide with nods. If necessary I will direct you. If you feel comfortable, confident and at ease you are welcome to lead. I was born to surrender—I lead only to make it more comfortable for you but I have no particular desire to do so. I would love to be a woman in your arms. And I am happy to be a woman with you in mine.

That being said, you will determine the intensity and dimension of the experience. I once had a teacher say that the heartbreaking thing is that so much is available and people want so little. I have a similar experience. I am happy to “just fuck” or suck your cock. But you should know that there is an infinite world available. Fucking is great but flying is really what it is about. And how you fly is you open to every potential imaginable. We could fall—into climax, into an abyss, the unknown, in love. We may glimpse eternity. I have no idea what our particular configuration will animate when connected. The only thing that I know is that to the extent that we are open to every possibility—irrespective of who we are in a dimension outside this one (the everyday world with its list of preferences) the more complexity and momentum we can get—hence the more beauty we can access.

FYI, I am not freaky-kinky. If we happen to fall into a scene where it is resonant for you to be some kind of bad spanking daddy—so be it. If it is an experience that actually increases sensation and connection I am down. But my experience is that most people crank up the activity in place of the missing sensation. Were we to lie face to face lips touching barely for 9 hours and the sensation were explosive, I would be just as happy. In other words I am interested in what wants to happen, not in making something happen, not in following an agenda for hot or an instruction manual for sexy. My pussy is turned on already so I can guarantee the turn on. And the more natural and organic it is the more turned on my pussy gets. So there are a few things that every guy wants—the infamous threesome, the banging that pussy from behind and ride’er hard, the fucking her throat with your cock. I can tell you that I have no predisposition towards these—not because I am opposed but because they tend to be clunky and uncomfortable for the most part. They are far too complex to do well in most cases. But should it be that it feels right. Okay.

I know, I know—its okay to confuse this with a bootie call. Perhaps think of it more like church, because if it’s up to me you will see god. Reverence is the appropriate response. You can afford to be nice—a nice you’ve never been. You can afford to be gracious. You can afford to let me in and see how good it feels, that maybe you’ve never felt like this before. I will know it all anyway, I am down in your basement, remember? The more you express it though, the deeper we can go, the less separated behind the glass wall we remain. I am willing to love you wholly and completely. I am not afraid of losing myself in you. First of all because I know my way back. But secondly because if you are so good that I get lost, then that is a place I am happy to be lost inside of. Consider doing the same.

If the sensation decreases we can slow down and talk or lie there together. I look at our relationship as an ongoing experience. I like to end on the peak so that we are left still tasting a certain hunger for each other. There is always more available so there is no need to stuff ourselves.

That said—up front and honest—how I work is that if you can have me, then you can have me. I do what I do, I do see more than one man. I know that it can get confusing as to how to be with me. I know that part of the turn on of sex is possession. In fact without it, there is no grit. So this pussy is yours so long as you command my attention. And should it be that you have the capacity to hold my attention until the end of time, I am perfectly happy with that. You do not ,however, need to demand anything of me, or try to guilt me into doing anything, or attempt to make me feel like a bad person in order to get me to love you. That one only works with a woman who isn’t full, who is desperate for love and attention. I come to you as a gift, as an offering. The way you get more is you appreciate what you get. Oh, and this one seems beyond most people—you simply ask. My predisposition is to say yes—no need to angle or cajole. If you want something, make a request and know that my desire is to say yes, and if I can I will. If I can’t I won’t. I will be clear.

I’ve mentioned it before but the bed is our island. Say anything and everything you feel and desire. We will not be held accountable for what is said on the bed. If you ask me to marry you on the bed, I will not drag you to the jewelry store the next morning. I want it to be that all things involuntary can occur. Freely. Because underneath that top layer is the really good stuff but it is usually locked down by the “things we can’t say.” By the way, I’ll be saying it too. And then we will get out of bed, put on our clothes, kiss good night and be on with our lives. When we get back in that bed, we can pick up where we left off, like picking up a good book.

about-nicole-daedoneNicole Daedone is a sought-after speaker, teacher, and author who has spent her groundbreaking career redefining orgasm from a woman’s point of view. Starting with her fundamental belief that a woman’s sex is her power, she treats supposedly taboo subjects with unparalleled humor, intelligence, and insight.

Nicole is the author of Slow Sex: The Art and Craft of the Female Orgasm (Grand Central/Hachette, May 2011) and is the founder of OneTaste, a company that offers training in orgasm, communication, and man-woman relationships through online media and in-person coaching and courses. The practice at the heart of her work is called OM or Orgasmic Meditation. OM uniquely combines the tradition of extended orgasm with Nicole’s own interest in Zen Buddhism, mystical Judaism and semantics. Helping to foster a new conversation about orgasm—one that’s relevant and real—she has inspired thousands of students to make OM a part of their everyday lives.

Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the New York Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and 7×7 Magazine, among others, and her writing has appeared in Tricycle magazine. She is also a featured speaker at the 2011 TEDxSF conference.

For more about OneTaste and OM, visit www.onetaste.us. Nicole’s blog appears at www.nicoledaedone.com.

Vulnerability, the last taboo?

By Cyndi Darnell   Originally published on www.CyndiDarnell.com on 5/30/12

In fragile times, it’s often our most intimate and close relationships that suffer. Intimacy is the glue, the enhancer that gives us the drive to connect, and in many situations, also the factor that can be a passion killer for some and the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

I have been reflecting a lot recently on what it means to be intimate with someone, what vulnerability is and how honesty plays a role in all of this. This of course in turn affects the way we can approach sex, but of course not all of our relationships are sexual or erotic, but that doesn’t have to mean they lack intimacy. Intimacy has many faces which can be misunderstood or worse still, ignored when we only relate to intimacy as something sexual or erotic. Intimacy is the essence, the determining factor that decides how close someone gets to us and what we’re prepared to do or share to maintain it.

Intimacy comes from sharing and bonding. People share and bond in hundreds of ways; from a drink at the pub, to a long, lazy dinner , to a friendship that has been cultivated over years, a cry on a shoulder, a rewarding hug, a sporting win  or a love of the same activities, revealing a truth about yourself that you trust another person to take care of, asking for help , asking for attention or allowing yourself to be seen as you really are, flaws and all, in the hope that you won’t be judged for it.

Whilst most of us have these requirements at different stages in our lives, very few are able to acknowledge this need within ourselves, let alone share it with others. It can often be the core of a nagging internal voice that manifests as only a hum or faint murmur rather than bolt of clarity. It can also be the trigger that releases aggressive outbursts, where words said, are later regretted because it’s easier to cast the uncomfortable sensation / feeling out and onto another, than to claim it as our own. It’s easier to blame others than to take a little agency, and while at times this is effective; what is the long-term cost? When this is the perpetual default setting, there is no recourse.Your default setting is powerlessness.

The rise of anxiety among not only Australians, but Westerners in general as a primary emotional default saddens me, but does not surprise me as we become less and less intimate, less and less able to acknowledge our own feelings and thus less able to share with others or learn how to listen to others without judging, being judged or feeling attacked.

While I generally tend to avoid binaries of any kind as a measure for looking at the world, it seems when it comes to emotions, we have only two options. We either allow them to be there, accept them, in all their discomfort and learn to work with them rather than against them; (thus having control over them or even better still, a relationship with them); or we can ignore them. (The latter in my experience can only last for so long before manifestations of ill health become apparent; excessive anxiety, delusion, sleeplessness, depression and a general corrosion of relationships as a result of any one or all of these things.) Shakespeare grasped the ultimate quandary: To Be or Not To Be, that IS in fact the ultimate question, the question that hundreds of years later we still philosophically ponder, but most of us avoid for the sheer terror of facing our internal truth, our shadow, that which makes us vulnerable.

So what is this vulnerability that can make even the most mighty a quivering wreck, or the mostfeeble a guilt-ridden avoider, keen to maintain the facade or status quo at any price, even their own well-being?

Vulnerability for many may be the shadow, the hidden that which dare not be revealed, OR it may also be the default, wherein manipulation and carelessness can take centre stage to avoid speaking a truth that is more confronting, potentially freeing but also downright terrifying to the inexperienced.

The vulnerability I am talking about here is the genuine kind, not the ‘’tantrum’’ or ‘’drama’’ kind where the protagonist is actually quite capable of helping themselves, but prefers instead to use manipulation or passive/ aggressive tactics to get their needs met consciously or unconsciously. True vulnerability here is acknowledging what is actually going on in the relationship in question, whether the relationship is with the Self or another. Vulnerability is a resource to actually achieve a mutually beneficial outcome rather than as a tool to wage messy, dirty conflict.

Vulnerability needn’t equate to meekness Being vulnerable is actually one of the most assertive things I for one have ever done. Having the gumption to tell someone I love them, to tell them I miss them to tell them I am angry with them is absolutely fucking terrifying when I don’t know whether or not I will be heard or acknowledged. (This of course requires that such statements are made as declarations rather than ultimatums or any kind of manipulation.) Acknowledgement of another person’s feelings is a vital part of communication and creating intimacy through vulnerability. If / when you acknowledge that you are actually valuable in another person’s life, you are then compelled to be responsible for your own responses and behaviour toward them. Acknowledging responsibility is an act of both vulnerability and power. Pretending it doesn’t matter that someone you’re close to just told you how they feel is not only inharmonious it’s also a form of rejection and an inhibitor to intimacy. They wouldn’t have been close to you in the first place if you didn’t actually care about them.

For example, we can all think of situations where for one reason or another we have wanted, or even needed to be taken care of in some way, shape or form, to be soothed if you like, or just supported and appreciated for a day, a night, a month, a life time. Where a need to be understood was crucial, but where the ability to recognise that need was impossible because the mere thought of allowing such a realisation was too much to bear. It was only with hindsight that we realised what we needed, but were too fearful to acknowledge it; instead judging our own feeling for example as ‘’weak’’ or ‘’inappropriate’’, rather than seeing it for what it is, a basic human desire to be understood and acknowledged. Somehow to admit our humanness is weak, is animalistic, is dangerous. My belief is that not acknowledging our feelings is far, far, far more dangerous. As my dear friend Cath says: What you resist; persists! I can think of few cases where this is not a universal truth. When your strongest motivator is actually also your blind spot, communication can get very very messy.

So where do we go from here? The concept of acceptance has been around for ages, thousands of years in fact. Buddhists cottoned-on to it yonks ago, and have been its greatest advocates ever since. Recently psychologists have decided it’s OK too, even beyond OK; downright effective! Good stuff! So we finally have science and spirit intersecting. (For the atheists who walk among us, substitute the word ‘spirit ‘for ‘feeling’ instead). So, what does this mean for us lay-people? It means two things that I can see so far. One is, we have one of the most powerful tools available to us to give ourselves the leverage to get a bit real with ourselves and stop pissing-about on the edges, and Two, it enables us to understand that being honest with ourselves first, and then with others (whilst being a bit scary at times), is actually a very assertive practice, and at times, a whole lot harder than running in on the defensive, but ultimately more fulfilling and anxiety reducing!

Are you more powerful when you act or re-act? Who is more powerful,  the initiator or the reactor? When it comes to relationships (not just sexual ones, remember?) the most effective work can be achieved when we take action, rather than just re-action. When our default is thoughtful, emotive and inspired rather than an act of defence strategy and one-upping, we are operating from a place of creativity and agency.

Here’s the thing; a wise teacher once asked me and I will ask you; Do you want to be rightOR Do you want to be close? Depending of your values, you may struggle with choosing between what may seem to be opposing alternatives. Sometimes (but not always) you can’t be both. Sometimes you just have to accept what is there, without judging it. Your answer to that question may actually be a cause of vulnerability for you…………… and so the cycle starts again.

The old adage we teach what we most need to learn rings absolutely true. I have spent years working through issues of accepting and embracing my vulnerability. It’s still a challenge for me, but I’ve been practicing for years and it gets better and easier. Believe me. I spent years feeling nervous, anxious and profoundly deranged trying to keep all the plates spinning, while trying to look cool as a cucumber. Will I ever have it totally mastered? Probably not! But then again, I don’t know that mastering emotions is the kind of goal I am looking to achieve anyway. Emotions by their very nature are erratic and arousing. Some are pleasant, others are not. But emotions in their essence are a necessary part of life, as necessary and water, air, food and sleep, yet these things are not judged as invalid, in the way that emotions often are. Feelings add value, colour and texture to what would otherwise be rather rudimentary and cardboard lives. Why would anyone want to dominate the one thing that gives their life its authenticity, its spark and its vigour. Conversely, being a slave to one’s emotions is also unsavoury and potentially deadly. Common Sense is calledcommonsense for a reason. It’s everywhere and everyone has access to it………. in theory at least! Learning to allow access to feelings, process them and foster acceptance is where the magic lies. Find the edge, find the distance you’re prepared to get to, wait and see. Don’t judge it, don’t push it. Just wait and see. …………………. What CAN you see? Let me know.

Cyndi Darnell: I have always been a pleasure enthusiast. For as far back as I can remember, my fascination with pleasure and sexuality has been part of my identity. Having travelled the world extensively in my 20s in the pursuit of self-knowledge and then my 30s exploring more introspective wonders and delights, I have come to embrace the understanding that sexuality and pleasure is not something separate from our lives, but part of our lives as a pathway to genuine wholeness, contentment and wellbeing.

My pursuit of quality sex-knowledge has led me down a variety of avenues to get the expert and diverse know-how I have today. From the dedicated hands on approach I took during the 1990s through workshops, seminars (including Sexological Bodywork and contemporary tantra) and good old fashioned trial and error; through to the academic and clinical studies I have completed in the 2000s in both general counselling and specialist clinical sex therapy, I am thrilled to be able to bridge the world of sexology from a variety of perspectives and approaches that embrace, understand and challenge the diversity of human sexuality.

I am also the founder and creator of Pleasure Forum Australia , a monthy  adult to adult sex education program where the emphasis is on pleasure and practical education, not sleaze and clinical theory. More recently my educational and therapeutic skills have been heard on Australia’s Triple J radio program The Hack for Sex Week, as well as working with Australia’s most outspoken darling,Catherine Deveny, on a series of free-to-air educational podcasts about sex, pleasure and the human condition. I am a mentor for the Minus 18 Sex Gurus, a queer  sex and health project for young queer identifying and gender questioning people. I work predominantly in Melbourne, but also offer my workshops and therapeutic sessions across Australia and globally via Skype.

 

Jada Pinkett-Smith: “The War on Men Through the Degradation of Women”

 

From Intentblog 12/6/12

After speaking out against critics of her daughter Willow’s new haircut, the mega-articulate actress and activist Jada Pinkett-Smith earlier this week used her Facebook platform to bring awareness to a much larger issue: how the degradation of women in the media negatively affects both men and women.

Talk about a woman who knows how to use her words as a weapon for justice and equality. We’re with you, Jada.

“How is man to recognize his full self, his full power through the eye’s of an incomplete woman? The woman who has been stripped of Goddess recognition and diminished to a big ass and full breast for physical comfort only. The woman who has been silenced so she may forget her spiritual essence because her words stir too much thought outside of the pleasure space. The woman who has been diminished to covering all that rots inside of her with weaves and red bottom shoes.

I am sure the men, who restructured our societies from cultures that honored woman, had no idea of the outcome. They had no idea that eventually, even men would render themselves empty and longing for meaning, depth and connection.

 

There is a deep sadness when I witness a man that can’t recognize the emptiness he feels when he objectifies himself as a bank and truly believes he can buy love with things and status. It is painful to witness the betrayal when a woman takes him up on that offer.

He doesn’t recognize that the [creation] of a half woman has contributed to his repressed anger and frustration of feeling he is not enough. He then may love no woman or keep many half women as his prize.

He doesn’t recognize that it’s his submersion in the imbalanced warrior culture, where violence is the means of getting respect and power, as the reason he can break the face of the woman who bore him 4 four children.

When woman is lost, so is man. The truth is, woman is the window to a man’s heart and a man’s heart is the gateway to his soul.

Power and control will NEVER out weigh love.

May we all find our way.”    ~ Jada Pinkett-Smith, via Sinuous Magazine