http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:03:07 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2011/02/sometimes-real-needs-are-silent-when-love-looks-like-a-vacuum/ http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2011/02/sometimes-real-needs-are-silent-when-love-looks-like-a-vacuum/#comments Fri, 11 Feb 2011 03:32:35 +0000 Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2011/02/sometimes-real-needs-are-silent-when-love-looks-like-a-vacuum/ Sometimes.. The way we organize and systematize “Love”, usually in the form of primary care, is not bad, but seems to cause people to go on some sort of “care auto pilot”, and weaken our muscles of empathy and compassion. Sometimes when we think “help” we think of people in certain organizational categories “homeless”, “needy child”, “elderly”. Of course this is true, helping orphans, widows and the like, is good. But it seems that it can become hard to REALLY listen, to someone outside of the “weak box” who is REALLY hurting, and not just send them off to the ‘Democratic Dept of people who help you with our tax dollars’. Because we may get THAT feeling too. The one that cares. The Read more...

]]> Sometimes.. The way we organize and systematize “Love”, usually in the form of primary care, is not bad, but seems to cause people to go on some sort of “care auto pilot”, and weaken our muscles of empathy and compassion. Sometimes when we think “help” we think of people in certain organizational categories “homeless”, “needy child”, “elderly”. Of course this is true, helping orphans, widows and the like, is good. But it seems that it can become hard to REALLY listen, to someone outside of the “weak box” who is REALLY hurting, and not just send them off to the ‘Democratic Dept of people who help you with our tax dollars’. Because we may get THAT feeling too. The one that cares. The Read more...

]]> http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2011/02/sometimes-real-needs-are-silent-when-love-looks-like-a-vacuum/feed/ 1 http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2011/01/valentines-without-agenda-at-starbucks/ http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2011/01/valentines-without-agenda-at-starbucks/#comments Fri, 21 Jan 2011 18:16:26 +0000 Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2011/01/valentines-without-agenda-at-starbucks/
I was in Starbucks talking with Katie, the barista and my friend. She was the “drink maker girl”, an outstanding one at that. An upbeat and chatty quadriplegic customer in a wheel chair came in and ordered some specially pressed iced coffee, with just the right kind of milk, and the right kind of syrup and the right amount of ice. He asked Katie lots of questions about the drink and the syrups as she was creating this special drink for him. Katie gracefully managed to care for his drink while she cared for a few other customers all at the same time. When Katie came around from the counter to had the man his drink, he requested that she give him a sip to try. He requested a tad more syrup, and then another sip, or two. Back around the counter and back out front she Read more...

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I was in Starbucks talking with Katie, the barista and my friend. She was the “drink maker girl”, an outstanding one at that. An upbeat and chatty quadriplegic customer in a wheel chair came in and ordered some specially pressed iced coffee, with just the right kind of milk, and the right kind of syrup and the right amount of ice. He asked Katie lots of questions about the drink and the syrups as she was creating this special drink for him. Katie gracefully managed to care for his drink while she cared for a few other customers all at the same time. When Katie came around from the counter to had the man his drink, he requested that she give him a sip to try. He requested a tad more syrup, and then another sip, or two. Back around the counter and back out front she Read more...

]]> http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2011/01/valentines-without-agenda-at-starbucks/feed/ 1 http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2011/01/daily-valentines-without-agenda/ http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2011/01/daily-valentines-without-agenda/#comments Sat, 15 Jan 2011 01:19:25 +0000 Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2011/01/daily-valentines-without-agenda/ In a month it will be Valentine’s Day, the heart candies and dog biscuits are already at The Home Depot checkout. Inside of me and you, and everybody, even grouches and hard hearts, there is something just as sweet and love-evoking as candy. I would like for us to share it here on the Love Without Agenda blog. This ‘sweet stuff’ we humans have is a mixture of inspiration, innovation, collaboration, sacrifice and hope. These are energies that all humans and only humans are born with. Sharing them guarantees that we can keep them, while the adversaries of life seek to take them from us. Everyday I will post a ‘Love Without Agenda’ action, or valentine. I invite you to post your valentine as comment for others to see, some of these we will repost or Read more...

]]> In a month it will be Valentine’s Day, the heart candies and dog biscuits are already at The Home Depot checkout. Inside of me and you, and everybody, even grouches and hard hearts, there is something just as sweet and love-evoking as candy. I would like for us to share it here on the Love Without Agenda blog. This ‘sweet stuff’ we humans have is a mixture of inspiration, innovation, collaboration, sacrifice and hope. These are energies that all humans and only humans are born with. Sharing them guarantees that we can keep them, while the adversaries of life seek to take them from us. Everyday I will post a ‘Love Without Agenda’ action, or valentine. I invite you to post your valentine as comment for others to see, some of these we will repost or Read more...

]]> http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2011/01/daily-valentines-without-agenda/feed/ 1 http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2010/08/love-threw-cheerios-on-the-ground/ http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2010/08/love-threw-cheerios-on-the-ground/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 18:46:11 +0000 Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/?p=1289 Read more...

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]]> http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2010/08/love-threw-cheerios-on-the-ground/feed/ 15 http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2010/02/learning-to-love-with-jessie-part-2/ http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2010/02/learning-to-love-with-jessie-part-2/#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:53:28 +0000 Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/?p=980 Read more...

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]]> http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2010/02/learning-to-love-with-jessie-part-2/feed/ 1 http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2010/01/learning-to-love-with-jessie-pt1/ http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2010/01/learning-to-love-with-jessie-pt1/#comments Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:31:51 +0000 Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/?p=974 Read more...

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]]> http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2010/01/learning-to-love-with-jessie-pt1/feed/ 0 http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2008/06/loving-lives-we-dont-live/ http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/2008/06/loving-lives-we-dont-live/#comments Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:12:08 +0000 Lisa O'Brien-Wentzel http://www.lovewithoutagenda.com/?p=70 Read more...

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