Tag: relationships

  • The power of being ‘with’

    The power of being ‘with’

    There was an intense, seemingly overwhelming ache in my heart. Separated by 2,500 kilometres for our third school year apart, I longed for my sweetheart. I read her letters over and over, and again once more. They offered a delightful glimpse into her mind and heart, but they just didn’t cut it. I wanted nothing…

  • Paddling down the river

    Paddling down the river

    To celebrate our wedding anniversary, my husband and I canoed on our neighborhood river. Due to extremely low water levels, the first stretch was quite challenging, not unlike some stretches of marriage. This was abundantly clear when the stern yelled, “Draw!” and the bow replied, “What’s a draw?” Immediately after, the canoe lodged on a…

  • Paddling down the river

    Paddling down the river

    To celebrate our wedding anniversary, my husband and I canoed on our neighborhood river. Due to extremely low water levels, the first stretch was quite challenging, not unlike some stretches of marriage. This was abundantly clear when the stern yelled, “Draw!” and the bow replied, “What’s a draw?” Immediately after, the canoe lodged on a…

  • We’re Better Together

    I wrote this post about community long before I heard the research. But now it’s neurologically true – community makes things easier. During the attachment conference at Eastern Mennonite University earlier this year, James Coan, an “affective neuroscientist” at the University of Virginia, presented his research in the regulation of emotions, such as fear and threat,…

  • As you wish

    As you wish

    In The Princess Bride, a 1987 comedy film, the haughty princess takes great pleasure in giving orders to her farmhand. He readily complies, often with the slightest of smiles on his face—perhaps even a smirk—and the words, “As you wish.” The princess eventually realizes that her servant’s accommodation is a declaration of his love for…

  • The “New” Science of Love

    The “new” science of love, she calls it. Well, I wouldn’t say it’s so new, except in perhaps in western scientific knowledge. There’s nothing much new that she said. It’s just that she had sources to cite and specific western scientific research, and some eastern knowledge, to refer to. Nevertheless, it’s exciting. Finally the western…

  • Recent Korea Reflections

    Recently, I’ve been asked a lot of questions about “things” in Korea. It’s hard to know what to think about the recent violence on the peninsula from the English and Korean media I read and the comments from friends and family around Seoul. I may write more in the future, but I wanted to share…