— Brian A. Ortiz

Passionate women are like fires: often misunderstood and unfairly written off as wild, troubled, broken. And a fire left unchecked can be destructive; for example, a wildfire traveling through a forest. They’re unrestrained passion bordering rage.
Yet if that same fire is burning in a fireplace, people are able to appreciate its natural beauty and warmth, especially when they can feel how cold the outside world is. All because the fireplace has the depth (and through that, the capacity) to channel the fire’s unbridled energy.
Passionate women are the same way. They need someone who loves with a depth that matches their passion; someone they can burn for, and in the sense of having that love reciprocated, to burn within.

— Can we literally stop the world together - drunk-and-dis0rderly

“I have a craving, so delightfully strong, I want someone. I want the moment with that someone. The moment in which you’re stuck, just the two of you. Smiling into each other’s eyes. The split second where nothing happens, yet you feel everything.
I want the first kiss with someone. Someone that can leave a magical feeling just floating around my world. Looking into her eyes and knowing she’s smiling so freely back at me, knowing she’s in this moment waiting. Leaning in, with my hand cupping her face and holding her close to slowly kiss her. Feeling her smiling through the kiss, slowly breathing together as our bodies become one. Meshed together in soft love, stress evaporates through the air.

Everlasting, still intertwined forgetting the world is passing us by. Because in this moment we can last forever and a day. Because whilst we are kissing, our spirits are twisting and shouting in joyful glee.

I want that first raw kiss with someone. A crazed surge of lip biting, neck sucking, arse grabbing, euphoria. Taking each second in with a raw love.

Pulling her hair to the side and kissing down her neck, hearing the gentle moans of pleasure escaping her body as I suck presciently along her collarbone, before holding her face in place and kissing her again, and again, and again. Each time harder, passion erupting between us.

Slowly our clothes fall away, until I’m kissing her neck again, then her chest, then her stomach. Taking my time, leaving purple love bites every inch. Writing a new chapter of our story with my mouth and tongue. Licking gently up her body and into another kiss, then a pause. And a deep breath almost simultaneously.

I want that first kiss, I want the passion of a new love. I want the world to stop spinning and wait for us. I need that first kiss. I need the desire to have someone who wants me just as much that we can literally stop the world.”

— For When You Think That No One Will Love You

So you have chosen aloneness. You have chosen the security and the relative freedom of solitude, because there is no risk involved. You can stay up every night and watch your TV shows and eat ice cream out of the box and scroll through your Tumblr and never let your brain sit still, not even for a moment. You can fill your days up with books and coffees and trips to the store where you forget what you wanted the second you walk in the automatic sliding door. You can do so many little, pointless things throughout the day that all you can think of is how badly you want to sleep, how heavy your whole body is, how much your feet hurt. You can wear yourself out again and again on the pavement, and you do, and it feels good. No one will ever bridge that gap and point to your stomach or your hair or your eyes in the mirror and magically make you see the wonderful things about getting to be next to you. And maybe that’s it, after all, this fear that no one will ever truly feel about you the way you want to be felt about. Maybe what you want is someone to make you love yourself, to put sense into all that positive rhetoric, to make it so the aloneness of TV and blasting music in your ears at all times isn’t the most happy place you can think of. Maybe you want someone who makes you so sure of how wonderful things are that you cannot help but to tell them your feelings first, even at the risk of being humiliated. Because you will know that, when you’re telling them you love them, what you’re really saying is “I love who I become when I am with you.”

— Bob Marley

“Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”

10 Tips for Making Friends

1. Listen to people when they’re talking; show an interest in what they have to say.

2.  Make an effort to remember peoples’ names and use them the next time you meet them.

3. Follow up with people you are interested in staying in touch with. Call them up, send them an email or arrange to meet for a coffee or drink.

4. Treat everyone the same – and as if they are the most important in the world (at least while you are talking to them).

5. Get involved in clubs and activities. Force yourself to go out and be with others.

6.  In conversations, stick to safe topics before you know someone well. Don’t be quick to share your political or religious views, or to go on about your pet grievances.

7. Make sure you come across as someone who’s friendly the first time you meet someone new. Greet them warmly, smile, share your name and ask them theirs.

8. Be aware of other peoples’ culture and be sensitive to any potential differences. You don’t want to offend other people – either deliberately or inadvertently. The goal is to be seen as a person who is friendly, respectful and warm.

9. Don’t rush your interactions with people as that sends the message that you’re not interested in them, or what they have to say.

10. Don’t be false – just be your normal self. People would prefer to find out who you are.

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, by Sogyal Rinpoche. This book over all had the greatest impact on my life.

Most notably there was a poem in this book entitled "Autobiography in Five Chapters", by Portia Nelson:

1) I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost...
I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I'm in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in...it's a habit
My eyes are open; I know where I am;
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

4) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

5) I walk down another street.


I think of this poem often. It helps me remember how I want my life to be, thus helping me stop behaving in ways that are not conducive to having the life that I want.

— (NJ.) // tired eyes & weary soul but still a beating heart #2

I want to be your passions. Include your frustrations when things don’t go as planned, and you run your hand through your hair or you bite your bottom lip excessively or you make that groaning sound from your throat. Include your fascinations when epiphanies hit you and your eyes sparkle like Christmas lights, or when you discover new things and your lips curve in that half-upturned way, halfway between a smile and a smirk. I want to be the first sip of coffee or the languid way you put on clothes when you haven’t had your coffee yet. I want to be the refreshing moments, like when you just got out of your shower. Or when you laid on your bed after a long, tiring day and you feel the knots on your back unravel. Or when you put on clothes freshly taken out of the dryer. Or when you learn something new, something good, something special, about yourself. I want to be the scent that takes you back to your childhood days when your mom would kiss your bruised knees, or when your dad would lift you up on his shoulders because you were the ruler and the world was for your conquest. I want to be a remembrance of family Saturday brunch, of the first day in kindergarten and the excitement in your eyes, of playground swings, and of making blanket forts with friends. I want to be your favorite song. Oh I wonder what it would be like to be the melody that soothes you. The music that creates slow dances in your heart and spins your soul into circles. Maybe I just want to be any song that knows your heart thoroughly and leaves imprints of memories in its wake.

– Meryl Streep

I no longer have patience for certain things, not because I’ve become arrogant, but simply because I reached a point in my life where I do not want to waste more time with what displeases me or hurts me. I have no patience for cynicism, excessive criticism and demands of any nature. I lost the will to please those who do not like me, to love those who do not love me and to smile at those who do not want to smile at me. I no longer spend a single minute on those who lie or want to manipulate. I decided not to coexist anymore with pretense, hypocrisy, dishonesty and cheap praise. I do not tolerate selective erudition nor academic arrogance. I do not adjust either to popular gossiping. I hate conflict and comparisons. I believe in a world of opposites and that’s why I avoid people with rigid and inflexible personalities. In friendship I dislike the lack of loyalty and betrayal. I do not get along with those who do not know how to give a compliment or a word of encouragement. Exaggerations bore me and I have difficulty accepting those who do not like animals. And on top of everything I have no patience for anyone who does not deserve my patience. 

Marry someone who....

“Marry someone who lets you have a bite of their brownie, even when you said you weren’t hungry. Marry someone who lets you drink their juice, even after you said you weren’t thirsty. Marry someone who laughs at the same things you do. Marry someone who kisses your nose on a cold day. Marry someone who you can watch Disney movies with. Marry someone who is proud of you whether you earn £5 a week or £5,000 a week. Marry someone who you can tell everything to. Marry someone who isn’t afraid or embarrassed to hold your hand in public. Marry someone who lets you take over when decorating a cake. Marry someone who you can spend the day in Ikea with without feeling stressed. Marry someone who wraps you up inside their coat in the winter. Marry someone who accepts your fears and phobias. Marry someone who gives you butterflies every time you hear their key in the door. Marry someone who you don’t always have to shave your legs for. Marry someone who accepts you all day every day, even when you don’t look or feel your best. Marry someone who puts three sugars in your tea, despite telling them “just the two”. Marry someone who doesn’t judge you when you eat your body weight in cookies. Marry someone who doesn’t make you want to check your phone, because you know they will reply. Marry someone who waits with you to get on the train. Marry someone who understands that you need to be alone sometimes. Marry someone who gets on well with your parents and isn’t uptight about family events. Marry someone who calms you down when you get mad about stupid stuff, and never tells you it’s “only stupid stuff”. Marry someone who makes you want to be a better person. Marry someone who makes you laugh. Marry someone who you love. Marry your soulmate, your lover, your best friend.”

who reads

“If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are. Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.”

— Grey’s Anatomy

“A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. ‘Never leave that ‘til tomorrow,’ he said, ‘Which you could do today.’ This is the man who discovered electricity. You’d think more of us would listen to what he had to say. I don’t know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I’d say it had a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure. Fear of pain. Fear of rejection. Sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because what if you’re wrong. What if you make a mistake you can’t undo. Whatever it is we’re afraid of, one thing holds true. That by the time the pain of not doing the thing gets worse than the fear of doing it. It can feel like we’re carrying around a giant tumor. And you thought I was speaking metaphorically.”

— Mockingjay

““But his arms are there to comfort me, and eventually his lips. On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale’s fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that. So after, when he whispers, “You love me. Real or not real?” I tell him “Real.””

The Faults In Our Stars

I nudged my head into his shoulder.
“Thanks for offering to come over.”
“You realize that trying to keep your distance
from me will not lessen my affection
for you,” he said.
“I guess?” I said.
“All efforts to save me from you will
fail,” he said.
“Why? Why would you even like me?
Haven’t you put yourself through enough of
this?” I asked, thinking of Caroline Mathers.
Gus didn’t answer. He just held on to
me, his fingers strong against my left arm.
“We gotta do something about this frigging
swing set,” he said. “I’m telling you, it’s
ninety percent of the problem.”

Jade Butterfield

My first love was everything all at once. The kind that you never fall back from. Never try to. Never want to. My love's so big. So strong. It never dies. Never fades. Never losses its electricity. The kind of love you fight for. The kind of boy you fight for.

The text that broke your heart.

Ever had that? Ever received a text message from someone, whether you woke up to it, got it during the day or before you ended your night & you looked at your phone & saw this long message, filled with words that hurt you, that completely changed your mood, that stopped you from breathing & put you in total disbelief? That everything you guys went through just ended by that text message? Crazy how a simple text message can make you feel complicated inside.

remember the three L’s

“My mom always told me to remember the three L’s: live, laugh, and love. She always asked me which was most important and I would say live because if you don’t live you can’t laugh and love. However, she was always there to correct me and tell me love was the most important because if you never find love, you’ll never fully laugh and never completely understand the meaning of living with the one you love.”

— Sarah Dessen, Lock and Key

“What is family? They were the people who claimed you. In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they were the ones who showed up, who stayed in there, regardless. It wasn’t just about blood relations or shared chromosomes, but something wider, bigger. We had many families over time. Our family of origin, the family we created, and the groups you moved through while all of this was happening: friends, lovers, sometimes even strangers. None of them perfect, and we couldn’t expect them to be. You can’t make any one person your world. The trick was to take what each could give you and build your world from it.”

— Junot Diaz, This is How you Lose Her

“You must learn her.

You must know the reason why she is silent. You must trace her weakest spots. You must write to her. You must remind her that you are there. You must know how long it takes for her to give up. You must be there to hold her when she is about to.

You must love her because many have tried and failed. And she wants to know that she is worthy to be loved, that she is worthy to be kept.

And, this is how you keep her.”

— three questions

“My mother tells me
that when I meet someone I like,
I have to ask them three questions:
1. what are you afraid of?
2. do you like dogs?
3. what do you do when it rains?

of those three, she says the first one is the most important.
“They gotta be scared of something, baby. Everybody is. If they aren’t afraid of anything, then they don’t believe in anything, either.”

I met you on a Sunday, right
after church.
one look and my heart fell into
my stomach like a trap door.

on our second date,
I asked you what you were afraid of.
“spiders, mostly. being alone. little children, like, the ones who just learned how to push a kid over on the playground. oh and space. holy shit, space.”
I asked you if you liked dogs.
“I have three.”
I asked you what you do when it rains.
“sleep, mostly. sometimes I sit at the window and watch the rain droplets race. I make a shelter out of plastic in my backyard for all the stray animals; leave them food and a place to sleep.”

he smiled like he knew.
like his mom told him the same
thing.
“how about you?”

me?
I’m scared of everything.
of the hole in the o-zone layer,
of the lady next door who never
smiles at her dog,
and especially of all the secrets
the government must be breaking
it’s back trying to keep from us.
I love dogs so much, you have no idea.
I sleep when it rains.
I want to tell everyone I love them.
I want to find every stray animal and bring them home.
I want to wake up in your hair
and make you shitty coffee/tea
and kiss your neck
and draw silly stick figures of us.
I never want to ask anyone else
these questions
ever again. ”

— What People Really Look Like

“I’ve been a massage therapist for many years, now. I know what people look like. People have been undressing for me for a long time. I know what you look like: a glance at you, and I can picture pretty well what you’d look like on my table.
Let’s start here with what nobody looks like: nobody looks like the people in magazines or movies. Not even models. Nobody. Lean people have a kind of rawboned, unfinished look about them that is very appealing. But they don’t have plump round breasts and plump round asses. You have plump round breasts and a plump round ass, you have a plump round belly and plump round thighs as well. That’s how it works. And that’s very appealing too.

Woman have cellulite. All of them. It’s dimply and cute. It’s not a defect. It’s not a health problem. It’s the natural consequence of not consisting of photoshopped pixels, and not having emerged from an airbrush.

Men have silly buttocks. Well, if most of your clients are women, anyway. You come to male buttocks and you say — what, this is it? They’re kind of scrawny and the tissue is jumpy because it’s unpadded; you have to dial back the pressure, or they’ll yelp.

Adults sag. It doesn’t matter how fit they are. Every decade, an adult sags a little more. All of the tissue hangs a little looser. They wrinkle, too. I don’t know who put about the rumor that just old people wrinkle. You start wrinkling when you start sagging, as soon as you’re all grown up, and the process goes its merry way as long as you live. Which is hopefully a long, long time, right?

Everybody on a massage table is beautiful. There are really no exceptions to this rule. At that first long sigh, at that first thought that “I can stop hanging on now, I’m safe” – a luminosity, a glow, begins. Within a few minutes the whole body is radiant with it. It suffuses the room: it suffuses the massage therapist too. People talk about massage therapists being caretakers, and I suppose we are: we like to look after people, and we’re easily moved to tenderness. But to let you in on a secret: I’m in it for the glow.

I’ll tell you what people look like, really: they look like flames. Or like the stars, on a clear night in the wilderness.”