I believe that we want because we want to give.

We ache for what we can’t give rather than for what we don’t have. Giving of yourself and your gifts is a profoundly transformative experience.

I give twenty to twenty-five percent of my time, energy, wisdom, and connections to the social sector, including organizations in the developing world, which successfully use entrepreneurship as a tool for social and economic change.

I also work with emerging artists who help us to see the world in new ways.

My gift is in the working of and the inspired connections I am able to make within my network. Networks have generosity as their underlying structure. Robust networks do not run on debt and obligation but in a free-flowing generous way—with acknowledgement as their fuel. They are part of the gift economy, which runs in parallel to the market economy.

Letting my gifts flow, to causes, people, ideas, and organizations that inspire me energize and feed me, my work, and the worlds in which I operate.  That is why I give.

This post also appeared on the official blog of Catchafire on April 13th.

Housework may seem like the ultimate romance-killer. But guess what?

“A new study shows that for husbands and wives alike, the more housework you do, the more often you are likely to have sex with your spouse.”

So begins an entertaining and illuminating piece by Sue Shellenbarger in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, titled “Housework Pays Off Between the Sheets.”

Earlier studies have hinted at this connection for men; the sight of a husband mopping the floor or doing dishes sparks affection in the hearts of many wives. But the more-housework-equals-more-sex link for wives, documented in a study of 6,877 married couples published online recently in the Journal of Family Issues, is a surprise.

“Scrubbing the floor is no aphrodisiac, and seeing your spouse doing it usually isn’t either. ‘My husband loves doing laundry, yet I don’t get any thrill out of his doing it,’ says Chicago writer Julie Danis. ‘And I don’t think he thinks it’s sexy when I go around gathering the detritus of his daily life.’”

Read the rest of the article here.