the braille of a man’s heart is not so different from my own

September 1, 2010 by rachel

I wrote “How the Men Want to Fly!” more than a decade ago, and every so often it asks to come into the light of day — to honor the men who struggle mightily with the notion of what it means to be strong and manly and vulnerable and free. This one’s for you, guys, as well as for your own Inner Divine Feminine and the Inner Divine Masculine that lives within every female body. Sorry, I lost track of […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, men, poetry, spirituality, transformation • Tags: divine feminine, divine masculine, divine union, masculine, surrender

what there is to love about a man: heart

August 16, 2010 by rachel

Today, this excerpt from my out-of-print bok, What There Is To Love About A Man (Sourcebooks, 1999). If you’re feeling the desire to more fully appreciate any man you know, or to connect with your inner Divine Masculine no matter what kind of body you inhabit, check out the “Men” category of this site via the “Browse My Archives by Category” box in the right-hand sidebar. Oh! To feel the beating of a man’s heart! To trace the rutted pathways […]

Categories: inspiration, love, men, prose poetry, transformation • Tags: divine masculine, heart

what there is to love about a man: arms, indecision, prayers

June 2, 2010 by rachel

Here are three pages from my out-of-print book, What There Is To Love About A Man (Sourcebooks, 2000). Learn more about the book in the right-hand sidebar; learn more about a man however you are able. These words are for women, too: it’s all about the balance and union within. Arms Yes! to the right to bare arms. Sunned and weathered arms, farm arms, hot and spicy arms swaying to a Latin beat. Arms presented in tank tops and muscle […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, men, personal growth, prose poetry • Tags: masculine

the 7 words of well-being for men (redux)

May 18, 2010 by rachel

The ground is shifting under the feet of us all, but perhaps even more so for men determined to release themselves from old ways of being. Someday, the gender distinction will likely prove itself irrelevant. Until then, this feels like a good time to revisit this post, which first appeared in April 2008 and again in February 2009. Even though my books and writing may be labeled “for men” or “for women,” these distinctions often reflect publishing-world realities more than […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, men, personal growth, transformation • Tags: empowerment, masculine, men's work, personal growth, words

what there is to love about a man: journey

June 17, 2009 by rachel

This excerpt is from my out-of-print book, What There Is To Love About A Man. The art is by British artist David Preston-Earley, who adds, ” This image is about a mythical journey where the people of the world are carried on the back of a turtle. The turtle is a symbol of fertility and long life. To the Native Americans it was associated with the lunar cycle and also female energies. The spirit of the turtle can also teach […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, health/healing, inspiration, men, personal growth, spirituality, transformation • Tags: awakening, body mind & spirit, consciousness, David Preston-Earley, empowerment, hero's journey, inspiration, men, mysticism, personal growth, spirituality, transformation

what there is to love about a man: conflicts

April 6, 2009 by rachel

Excerpt from my out-of-print book, What There Is To Love About A Man (Sourcebooks), which honors and celebrates masculine qualities of body, mind and spirit. Used and imperfect copies can be found here and there on the Internet, if you feel like digging. How can I show you who I really am, when I don’t even know myself? How can I share with you my vulnerable side, when everybody told me I had to be strong? What if I want […]

Categories: health/healing, men, personal growth • Tags: body mind & spirit, change, inner conflict, life, masculine, men, personal growth, transformation

the 7 words of well-being for men (redux)

February 16, 2009 by rachel

The ground is shifting under the feet of us all, but perhaps even more so, for men determined to release themselves from old ways of being. Someday, the gender distinction will likely prove itself irrelevant. Until then, this feels like a good time to revisit this post, which originally appeared in April, 2008. *    *    *    *    *    *    *    * Even though my books and writing may be labeled “for men” or “for women,” these distinctions often reflect publishing-world […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, health/healing, inspiration, men, personal growth, prose poetry, spirituality, transformation, word of the day • Tags: awakening, body mind & spirit, consciousness, empowerment, eros, healing, hero's journey, higher consciousness, inspiration, life, masculine, men, men's groups, prose poetry, sanctuary, spirituality, transformation, truth, voice, wisdom, word of the day, words, work

what there is to love about a man: tears, treasures

December 24, 2008 by rachel

A pair of Words of Well-Being(tm) from my book, “What There Is To Love About A Man,” which, alas, is currently out of print. Used or imperfect copies are available here and there on the Internet. Just a heartfelt collection of waxings poetic by a woman honoring and celebrating masculine qualities of body, mind and spirit. Glorioski! Imagine that! Tears Who first planted the idea that real men don’t cry? They tense and tighten every muscle,  hundred-weight pounds of pressure […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, love, men • Tags: body mind & spirit, inspiration, life, love, male, masculine, men, prose poetry, tears, treasures, VanGogh, Vishvarupa, Weeping Man

your three words for today: question. push. empower.

November 6, 2008 by rachel

Today feels newer, bigger, and more significant than just one word! Here’s a trio, all taken from my book, 365 Words of Well-Being for Women (McGraw-Hill softcover version, $12.95) / Words of Wisdom for Women (Barnes & Noble hardcover version $7.98). It’s for the feminine in us all, the masculine in us all, and every stripe and hue and gradation in between. Don’t let a few tiny pronouns get in your way of reclaiming your personal power and moving into […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, health/healing, inspiration, men, personal growth, transformation, women, word of the day • Tags: 365 Words of Well-Being for Women, body mind & spirit, empower, empowerment, inspiration, life, men, motivation, personal development, personal growth, push, question, Rachel Snyder, self-discovery, transformation, wisdom, women, word of the day, Words of Wisdom for Women

what there is to love about a man: humility

August 28, 2008 by rachel

A humble man isn’t lowly; he just lives close to the earth. He bows and scrapes to no other man; he simply pulls himself down from the heights of pride and pretension and lives a life free of arrogance. A humble man is rooted in modesty. A humble man assumes nothing. When the spotlight shines on him, he quietly steps aside. When credit is tossed in his direction, he passes it to his teammates, his employees, his co-workers, his God. […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, men, personal growth, prose poetry • Tags: body mind & spirit, development, humble, humility, inspiration, life, love, men, personal growth

what there is to love about a man: rhythm

August 17, 2008 by rachel

To find his own rhythm, a man needs to discover the beat of his own heart. He begins slowly by taking off his watch, turning off the automatic coffeemaker, and finding the cadence that is his alone. He notices when the sun rises and sets, when the moon swells to fullness, and when the leaves begin to turn. He acknowledges — indeed, welcomes — the changes in his body as he ages, and the changes in those around him. In […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, love, men, transformation • Tags: body mind & spirit, flow, folk artist Cher Shaffer, life, love, man, masculinity, men, transformation

what there is to love about a man: tenderness

June 20, 2008 by rachel

When a man tends not to be tender, chances are he’s pretending. Does he think we don’t notice those quiet moments when he is gentle as a fawn? Does he imagine the nurses were too busy to hear him whisper so softly into his wife’s ear during her thirty-fifth hour of labor? Could he actually believe they all looked the other way when he held the young boy’s hands close in his own, and slowly told the news it was […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, love, men, personal growth • Tags: body mind & spirit, gentle, inspiration, love, masculine, masculinity, men, personal growth, tenderness

what there is to love about a man: fatherhood

June 15, 2008 by rachel

There’s a moment when a man becomes a full-fledged father, and it’s not when his child is born. It’s that first night the two of them are alone and he figures out that lying heart-to-heart with a baby is an all-around soother when everybody gets a little colicky. It’s being there the first day of kindergarten and the last year of college. It’s giving an unqualified No to all-night keg parties down by the graveyard and a tentative Yes to […]

Categories: inspiration, men, personal growth • Tags: father's day, fatherhood, fathers, inspiration, love, masculinity, men, parenting, prose poetry

what there is to love about a man: scent

June 6, 2008 by rachel

Musk and moss and a pine forest sunrise. Red-walled canyons and grass freshly mowed and sheets warm from the dryer or never washed at all. Diesel and motors, paper and wood and ink and feathers and bone. New leather, old leather, leather that his great-uncle wore to war. Bread baking and espresso, incense and eucalyptus, cognac and cigars, citrus of any kind, and yes, tobacco. A light breeze coming in from the coast, shaving cream and soap, or no soap […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, inspiration, love, men • Tags: appreciation, citrus, man, masculine, men, moss, musk, prose poetry, scent, scent of a man, tobacco

what there is to love about a man: arms

May 31, 2008 by rachel

(Cut me some slack here: It’s Springtime!) Yes! to the right to bare arms. Sunned and weathered arms, farm arms, hot and spicy arms swaying to a Latin beat. Arms presented in tank tops and muscle shirts and short-cropped T-shirts with the sleeves ripped off. Arms offered before crossing the street or stepping off the ladder and onto the roof. Arms that lightly brush up against us on the bus and double-wrap around us as we sleep. Biceps lifting boxes, […]

Categories: body mind & spirit, men • Tags: appreciation, arms, biceps, men, Rachel Snyder, what there is to love

what there is to love about a man: sorrows

May 22, 2008 by rachel

His father left for the war just after he was born, and never came back. His mother was an artist who never had the freedom to paint, and once she left home, there was nothing he could do to help her. He was young and scared and he didn’t stick around long enough to meet his first-born child. He betrayed the one he loved most, for the favors of one he never loved at all. He turned away from his […]

Categories: inspiration, men, poetry, transformation • Tags: body mind & spirit, empowerment, inspiration, life, love, masculinity, men, personal growth, prose poetry, sorrows

what there is to love about a man: presence & wonder

May 20, 2008 by rachel

This post was inspired by a conversation over here at Malcolm’s blog. These two excerpts are from my out-of-print book, What There Is To Love About A Man (Sourcebooks, 1999). Remainder(perfectly imperfect) and used copies can be had for cheap around the Internet, in places like this website and this website. Presence How we feel gifted when a man is truly present. Eye to eye, heart to heart, tete-a-tete. Right now. Right here. Fully engaged in the moment and distracted […]

Categories: health/healing, men • Tags: appreciation, body mind & spirit, empowerment, honor, masculine qualities, men, personal growth, presence, transformation, wonder, words

what there is to love about a man: rituals

May 8, 2008 by rachel

Every year they do it, and have for as many decades as he can remember. Rain or shine, sickness or health. They pick up a cheap bottle of wine and toast the Old Man and curse him and bless him. They drive to the Nation’s Capital to leave homemade Valentines and pictures at the foot of the Wall, and to run their fingers over the names of the fathers they never met. At the Summer Solstice, he takes a young […]

Categories: buy more rachel now!, inspiration, men • Tags: body mind & spirit, cheap wine, fathers, homemade valentines, inspiration, men, poetry, prose, rituals, sons, soul, The Wall

what there is to love about a man: needs

May 2, 2008 by rachel

A man needs to learn what it means to be a man. He needs to meet his own needs, and to ask for help when he needs it. He needs time with himself and time with others. He needs one or two authentic friends, be they women or men, and he needs to trust them without reservation. A man needs a companion, two-legged or -four. He needs to know his history — who were the men who came before him […]

Categories: inspiration, men, spirituality, transformation • Tags: empowerment, inspiration, life, love, men, what a man needs, wisdom

the seven words of well-being for men

April 20, 2008 by rachel

Even though my books and writing may be labeled “for men” or “for women,” these distinctions often reflect publishing-world realities more than anything else. Each one of us resides (and from time to time, slides) along a masculine/feminine continuum. Much of the work we undertake to be whole now, involves integrating our inner masculine and inner feminine in a divine marriage. Liberation from cultural and family oppression and repression is not the province of any particular gender or lineage: It’s […]

Categories: inspiration, men, spirituality • Tags: empowerment, eros, fertility, fire, inspiration, life, masculine, men, prose poetry, sanctuary, spirituality, truth, voice, wisdom, words, work

what there is to love about a man: courage

April 15, 2008 by rachel

What, then, is the courage befitting a man? A man’s true courage rises from his heart and infuses his spirit. It strengthens him to fight for what matters, or to choose not to fight. To be the fifth of his line who attends the academy, or to be the first in the family who will not go. One kind of courage leaves his warm bed and cries out Who goes there? in the darkened night. Another peers into his darkened […]

Categories: inspiration, men, spirituality, uncategorized • Tags: celebrate masculine qualities, courage, cry for help, heart, honoring men, inspiration, men, poems, spirit, Vet Center, What There is to Love About A Man

happy bloggiversary: we’re one month new!

April 8, 2008 by rachel

1 MONTH since be whole now was unveiled to the world (March 9, 2008) 1,653 TOTAL PAGE VIEWS to date (not counting the 47,382 times I peeked!) MVP (MOST VISITED POST/PAGE) ordinary oracles: the tao of automobiles (Thunderous applause!) Revisit the post here, check out the comments, and request your very own AutoMotiveOracle reading! (Impress your friends and ditch your therapist!) #2 MVP the beauty of a restraining order, and other gifts (Sweet smiles and gentle nodding of heads) Grace […]

Categories: blogkeeping, eclectica, inspiration, men • Tags: AutoMotiveOracle, bloggiversary, eclectica, grace, inspiration, manifesto, men, ordinary oracles, personal growth, poetry, spirituality, transformation

poetry month: how the men want to fly!

April 6, 2008 by rachel

How the Men Want to Fly by Rachel Snyder I am holding men’s hearts in my hands these days, running my fingers over toughened scar tissue, tracing the rutted pathways of emotion run roughshod, and breathlessly lingering when I feel myself sinking into soft spots around the edges. The braille of a man’s heart is not so different from my own. They come one after another, dragging their piecemeal armor on the ground behind them, rusting and clanging and kicking […]

Categories: inspiration, men, poetry, spirituality, transformation, uncategorized • Tags: descent, feminine, goddess, hero's journey, inspiration, masculine, men, mythopoetic, national poetry month, poetry, priestess, soul, surrender, transformation

what there is to love about a man: choices

March 25, 2008 by rachel

When it mattered most, he chose love over fear and compassion over judgment. He listened to his own intuition rather than the din of voices around him, and from there on, all his choices became easier. Sometimes he flipped a coin, but he made his choices and he lived with them and never had any regrets. After weeks of sleepless nights, he decided to start his own home-based business and pass on the lucrative contract that came with a three-hour […]

Categories: inspiration, men • Tags: inspiration, life, men

spotlight on shoulders

March 14, 2008 by rachel

Shouldn’t something be said about shoulders? Broad shoulders with room enough to lean on and cry on and sit on to see above the crowd. Shoulders that carry sleepy toddlers up the stairs, and fifty-pound backpacks down into the canyon. Shoulders bent and a bit droopy from trying to carry the weight of the world, because someone once told him he should. Because someone once told him a man shouldn’t lean on anybody. Because someone once told him a man […]

Categories: buy more rachel now!, men • Tags: men

only for men, or anyone who knows any

March 10, 2008 by rachel

Here’s one for the boys! Now appearing daily (and nightly) in the Pages section on your right, manifesto: men, come alive!

Categories: men • Tags: empowerment, men