DATING ADVICE Archives - Page 3 of 16 - Love TV

Save Yourself From These Dating Pitfalls

A MUSEUM

I am a firm believer that no one really likes museums, they just think they should. Ok maybe that’s not true and I’m just culturally ignorant but still… You can’t drink and you have to whisper. It is very challenging to get to know someone when you can barely hear them. Let’s also not forget that all the famous artists like Michaelangelo and Van Gogh were total unstable maniacs; this might not be the most conducive environment for the beginning stages of a relationship with their ghosts floating around. If you have a proclivity for the arts or happen to be dating Fraser or Niles Crane, a gallery opening or an art event might be more suitable.

OUT WITH YOUR FRIENDS

No one wants to meet your friends, they don’t even know if they really want to meet you yet. WAY too much pressure. This can also be a huge insult. You are basically saying you can’t sacrifice one night with your friends to get to know someone. If your date feels like a low priority out the gate, chances are things won’t go much further. You also want to be the one to make the decision about a potential mate, introducing your friends too early gives you too many opinions to mull over before you have the chance to come up with your own. Friends are like family, save this introduction for when you are sure about someone.

COFFEE

Maybe this works for some people, but I just can’t imagine falling in love with someone in broad daylight while I’m getting hopped up on caffeine. It is very important to set the tone and mood in a relaxed environment where people feel like they can have their guard down. Coffee says “Good Morning, what’s on the agenda for today?” It’s the exact opposite of the vibe you want for a date. It can lead to an interview type situation instead of natural flow of conversation. Also, nothing says cheapskate like asking someone out for coffee. If you can’t even invest in a drink, how are you ever going to invest in a life with someone?

Unique Romantic Surprises for Making Love Last a Lifetime

Looking for Romantic Ideas to surprise your mate? Romantic surprises are a lot of fun to organize for your sweetheart. Use the romantic ideas below as inspiration for your own creativity. Making love last a lifetime is worth the little bit of effort and ingenuity it takes to thrill your beloved with some of these romantic surprises.

  1. Hide little romantic love notes everywhere. In pockets, in wallets, in purses and in the glove box; in the fridge, under the keyboard, in the dryer and in the toolbox; in a book, in the newspaper, in a magazine and in the phone directory. Hunt around your home to discover unique hiding places. Some of your love notes might not be found for months! What fun! SURPRISE! Go to Romantic Ideas for Heartfelt Words of Love.
  2. Arrive home with their favorite take-out food. Be sure that your mate hasn’t already prepared dinner or the effect may not be so “romantic”. SURPRISE!
  3. Write a romantic love letter. Send it to them the old fashioned way, snail-mail! A romantic idea that’s been around for centuries! They will appreciate the time you took and the love pouring from the page. Need inspiration? Check out our Free Romantic Love Letters or our Romantic Love Letters to Copy. SURPRISE!
  4. For a romantic idea with a bit of drama,try a little role-playing. Decide who your “character” will be and dress the part. Do this away from one another. Arrange to rendezvous in a public place like a bar, restaurant or museum at a certain time. Pick a place where no one knows you or is unlikely to recognize you. Arrive at the meeting place early and practice being your “character”. At the meeting time, find eachother. You can keep the characters around as long as they are useful. This one is a lot of fun! SURPRISE!
  5. Do something unexpected for your partner just to make them happy. Fix something broken or spiff up the house. Be careful not to do something that makes them feel like they “should have” done it but you beat them to it! Sometimes a romantic idea doesn’t seem so romantic until you see the love and appreciation in your partner’s eyes. SURPRISE!
  6. Serenade your love with a song. If singing is not your best thing then bring a DVD player along and lip-synch. If you are brave enough to really sing, it will be a much more powerful romantic surprise idea, but do what you can… SURPRISE!
  7. Have dinner in some unexpected place like on the roof or in the barn or in the attic. Be sure to remember the candles and a nice bottle of wine… SURPRISE!
  8. Commission a romantic portrait drawn from a photograph of the two of you. This makes a wonderful personalized keepsake, , a very romantic idea. Some artists will even draw you in the setting of your choice or show you doing something fun or romantic. SURPRISE!
  9. An easy romantic idea: Deliver a nice cuppa tea or coffee to your sleepy sweetheart before they get out of bed in the morning. SURPRISE!
  10. Place a single flower (a red rose is classic) on the seat of your baby’s car before they go to work in the morning. SURPRISE!
  11. Hide romantic coupons in unexpected places. Tuck inside a CD or DVD case. Slit open food packages or boxes, slip inside and tape or reseal. The same can be done with any kind of packaging; toothpaste boxes, soap boxes or laundry detergent. Another romantic idea: Steam open a piece of mail that you know they will open and insert the coupon. (bank statement, credit card bill, tax refund check) Reseal. SURPRISE!
  12. Fill a room with helium balloons. Present them with a needle. SURPRISE!
  13. Here is a sneaky and romantic idea. Blindfold your beloved and take them on a drive. See if they can guess where you are before you let them remove the blindfold. Have a friend set up a romantic picnic in advance, with all the trimmings. “Accidently discover” it with your partner. SURPRISE!
  14. Have a limousine pick up your sweetheart at work and whisk them away for a fancy lunch and for an even sexier romantic idea, plan on making love too! SURPRISE!
  15. Buy tickets to an event that your partner really wants to see or do. Keep your romantic surprise a secret until the day of the event. If it takes place after dinner, then you can eat dinner beforehand at a restaurant and have the waiter give them the tickets when they give them the check. Or if you usually pay, the tickets can be tucked into the dessert menu…SURPRISE!
  16. Pay attention to what your partner marks or circles in a mail order catalogue. They will probably even show you what it is that they like. Here is the romantic idea: without them knowing, order what they have marked and have it sent to their work or wrap it up and give it to them yourself. SURPRISE!
  17. Sneak away from a party or family gathering and make out or even make love. Ask your sweetheart for “help to get something from the car” or “their opinion about something in the den”. You get the romantic idea! SURPRISE!
  18. A summertime (or warm climate) romantic idea. (unless you are a polar bear!)Play a game of Hide and Seek with your sweetheart. Find a hiding place that is very private. Strip. Wait for your lover to find you. SURPRISE!
  19. Most people will love this romantic idea.Conspire with your partner’s boss, to arrange a “Day Off Work” for your mate. When they arrive up at work, they will be sent home. You can take it from there… SURPRISE!
  20. When your beloved must travel for business, pack a Body Guard in their suitcase for “protection”: A small teddy bear. SURPRISE!
  21. For a relatively inexpensive and sweet romantic surprise idea:Show up at home with a fancy coffee drink or a decadent sweet. Choose something special that your loved one wouldn’t ordinarily buy for themselves. SURPRISE!
  22. This romantic idea takes a little bit of planning but is well worth it.Take your sweetheart out to dinner to a restaurant where they have never been. Plan everything in advance so that your table is ready when you arrive, the food and drinks are ordered; no waiting. You have prearranged everything. When the wine is served, they will bring a bouquet of flowers for your beloved. The note in the flowers can read something like, “To the Sweetest Love I’ve Ever Known”. When dessert is brought, the waiter will deliver a small gift with a romantic greeting card that says, “Thank you for an Enchanted Evening and a Lifetime of Love.” SURPRISE!
  23. When your sweetheart is trying on an outfit, pay for it before they leave the dressing room. SURPRISE!
  24. Show up at your partner’s work with a single red rose for them. SURPRISE!
  25. Be waiting in the bathtub when your beloved comes home from work. Offer them a glass of wine and suggest that they join you. SURPRISE! This is one of my personal favorite romantic ideas!Go to more Romantic Bath Ideas.
  26. Take your partner on a short walk. The romantic idea is to have everything set up for you while you are out. Have a friend deliver and set the table with a gourmet meal. They can even stick around for a while to serve the dinner and “wait” on you. You can offer to reciprocate with a surprise romantic evening for them and maybe they’ll even clean up… SURPRISE!
  27. For the romance readers, here is a romantic idea just for you!Order a personalized romance novel written using your names and details. The perfect romantic love story for reading out loud… SURPRISE!
  28. Here’s a romantic surprise idea that will help banish the winter weather blues.On a miserable winter day,go to the beach…at HOME! Decorate a place (basements and attics are great for this) with lounge chairs, beach towels and maybe even real sand. Buy coconuts, pineapples and mangos. Make some of those tropical rum drinks with the little umbrellas. Put on some Hawaiian hula music or reggae. Turn up the heat! (Bathing suits optional). SURPRISE!
  29. Put a blanket down on your lawn. Pretend you are on a deserted island with your mate. Don’t forget the Daiquiri’s and “Wilson”. (Like in the movie Castaway) SURPRISE!
  30. Tuck a romantic love note in a small plastic bottle and float it in the bath—under the bubbles! SURPRISE!
  31. Bake a treat like cookies, brownies or browse our free romantic recipes for other romantic ideas you can eat. Have them delivered to your sweetheart at work. SURPRISE!
  32. Fill your partner’s car to the brim with red or pink balloons. Alternatively you can fill the trunk with helium balloons. When they open it, the balloons will come streaming out. Attach a card that reads, “You Raise Me Up” or “I’m not just full of hot air when I tell you I Love You!” SURPRISE!
  33. Turn your home into a five star restaurant complete with menu, wine list, fresh flowers, candle light andromantic music. Have a delicious meal prepared and give them extra special table service. Don’t forget dessert! (and dancing?) SURPRISE!
  34. Here is an idea that I originally used with my children one Easter morning. It is excellent as a romantic surprise idea too.Make a String Maze for your mate to find a small gift or token you have made or bought for them. You will need a ball of yarn or string. If the gift is small enough, start by winding the end of the string or yarn around it. Starting at the gift, unwind it all over your house (and yard, weather permitting) over and under and all around (Sh-h-h-h-h!) until it eventually leads to your sweetheart. They must follow the string (winding it up as they go) until they get to the end and the gift. SURPRISE!
  35. Go on a helicopter tour of your area with your sweetheart. If the pilot is willing, visit your neighborhood and other romantic landmarks of your relationship. If you can get them from home and all the way to the helicopter blindfolded, then so much the better! Don’t forget the wine! SURPRISE!
  36. Here’s a particularly decadent romantic surprise idea that you and your beloved will always cherish the memory of. Reserve a room in a nice hotel in your town or a nearby town. Arrange to meet your beloved in the lobby at a certain specific time. Make sure it is after “check in”. Before they arrive, go up to your room and put a big bouquet of fresh flowers by the bed. If the hotel doesn’t have “turn down” service, you do it, complete with decadent chocolates on the pillows. Sprinkle the bed with rose petals. Put romantic music on a CD player you have brought from home. Putcandles in the bathroom and run a hot bath with sensuous bath oil or romantic aromatherapy bath salts. Have an ice bucket and a bottle of champagne chilling. Put more candles by the bed and some massage lotion. Light the candles, start the music and get down to the lobby with your bags before your sweetheart shows up. SURPRISE!

Curated by Erbe
Original Article

Who’s My Emergency Contact Now?

Celebrate your freedom.

You are now living an autonomous lifestyle! If you want to listen to Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” thirty times in a row, nobody’s there to tell you that you can’t. You can watch all the movies they didn’t want to watch, eat at restaurants they didn’t care for, and operate as the ruler of your own domain.

Do take care of yourself

Even if all you want to do is wallow in your misery and drink Scotch, it’ll be better for your body and brain if you get up and get moving sometimes. Make some endorphins to flush out the sadness, and feel better about your body!

Young Beautiful Woman Relaxing In A Bath

Be Selfish

Take time for yourself. Make plans with girlfriends but you want to stay home and watch a whole season of So You Think You Can Dance? Do it. A recent breakup is one of a few Get Out Of Plans Free cards. Use as needed.

Remember that you will heal.

That’s what we do, as humans. Your emotions are just chemicals your brain makes, and as badly as you hurt, next week it will be less, and the next week, even less! The cells in your body are constantly dying and and being replaced by new ones, and those cells didn’t even know that guy! Someday soon you’ll see him buying wine at Von’s and hardly want to spit on him at all. Until then, don’t spit on anyone!

How to Argue–From a Debate Professor

Couples argue. When two people share a life (and thus a lot of time) together, it’s unavoidable. Whereas you might feel totally comfortable telling a coworker or friend where to stick their unsolicited opinions, the stakes feel higher with a partner. You care about them. You want them to be happy. But sometimes… you just want them to see that you’re right and they’re wrong and to stop being so difficult. I hear you.

Arguing can be a good thing for a relationship if you do it right. Now, I’m not a psychologist, relationship expert, or professional mediator. What I am is a former internationally competitive debater and teacher of debate. Since this is a safe space and we’re all close, personal friends I’ll be honest: I love to argue. I love the pace and exchange and demand that I think on my feet. My partner — a truly wonderful and patient human — does not find this to be my best quality. I’m here to tell you that there are approaches to contentious moments in a relationship that ensure your voice is heard and can even strengthen your connection.

“The Pregame”

Many arguments are rooted not in the topic being argued, but the perception of what the argument says about one of the involved parties. The best way to mitigate this kind of dynamic is to make a habit of being supportive and constructive in common conversation with your partner. When they say something insightful, tell them you find it interesting. When you glean new information from a discussion, let them know you learned something. The goal isn’t a flattery-off, so don’t force these moments. Saying the little things you think in your brain as you talk with someone you care about can have a big impact when emotions run high. Even a simple “Huh. I hadn’t thought about that. Super interesting” can go a long way when you need it later on.

“The Mind Buck”

When it comes to a loved one, there is no such thing as “stuck” in a conversation. Weird Gene cornering you at the office at the holiday party is “stuck.” Changing the way you think about a situation has powerful implications for how your brain will allow you to process information. Often times we can feel an argument coming on, based on past experience. This generates stress, which does some pretty interesting stuff to brain chemistry and function. Most notably, stress can decrease activity in the parts of the brain that allow for higher level reasoning. If you feel like your critical thinking skills get worse as you get steamed, you might be right.

In this instance, you need to give your brain something else to focus on. Some people try a basic counting exercise, where counting backwards from twenty of fifty, (if you go from zero to Michael Bay in no time flat) de-escalates a situation. I found that a mantra, practiced in calm times but invoked prior to big debate rounds worked well for me. When it comes to fights with my partner, I’ve got a few choice mantras that relate to our connection that I cycle through. “My eyes sparkle when you laugh at my jokes,” reminds me of one of the best small shared moments we have. “You bring me coffee and smell my hair every morning,” is a more practically-focused meditation, and keeps our familial rituals at the forefront. “No matter what you say right now, you’ll still fart in the bed,” pulls double duty as a very true thing that makes me laugh but also something that keeps the situation in perspective. You might really want to, but don’t let your brain freak out or shut down.

“Listen, Breathe, Repeat”

The hardest but most effective rhetorical tool I’ve encountered. Even if the information being presented to you is incredibly objectionable, let the speaker run their course. Then, prior to your response, breathe deeply. Like, I’m talking diaphragm expanding, theatre warm up levels of deep breathing. Then, repeat what you’ve heard as best you can recall it. This does three things:

  • Let’s the other person feel heard;
  • Regulates your heartbeat, avoiding that “rage tremble” feeling we’ve all experienced;
  • Gives your mouth a second to catch up to your brain.

The kinds of people I used to debate against were not ones for brevity, so you’ll have to develop your own ways of remembering points you want to hit while they run out their words. I would pop a knuckle when I heard something I wanted to respond to, which was probably not great for my joints but effective in connecting a sensation to a statement I’d hear. I’d then try to pop the same knuckle and magically find that I was able to recall whatever point to which I’d wanted to respond.

“The Trump Card”

The bottom line is that for most people, anything is preferable to arguing. If your goal is to navigate the shortest distance between contention and drinking an IPA on the couch and laughing about your dumb tiff, nothing beats honesty. “I love you and want to enjoy our time together” tends to throw folks for a loop. That’s okay. So long as you stay levelheaded (see “The Mind Buck”) the relationship world is your oyster.

Romantic Gestures, Do They Pair With Sushi?

Ten minutes later, a security guard for the building calls me.  He asks me why I haven’t come down to get my lunch and tells me the delivery guy is getting frustrated.  I explain to him that the food is a gift for a friend, that I work in a completely different part of town and am not in the building and that they just need to deliver the food to Katie.  He seems to get it and he gets off the phone. At this point I texted Katie to say “There’s a very confused sushi delivery guy wandering your building with food for you.”

A half hour after that I receive another phone call, this time from someone who works in Katie’s office asking me if I worked there and if so, did I order lunch?  Apparently in the time after I spoke to the security guard, he’d sent the delivery guy upstairs, but didn’t call them to explain the situation, so it basically rebooted when the delivery guy got upstairs, but like most reboots it got bigger and more obnoxious when that happened.  During the time in between my two phone calls, Katie had been called at her desk several times by pretty much anyone who the delivery guy was able to show his bag of food to in order to let her know it was there. Because Katie hadn’t seen my text, she kept having to repeat that she had not ordered food, and that there was some sort of mistake.

By the time Katie saw my text and figured out what was happening, the entire office was wondering about the mysterious sushi, so when she got up and walked over to the front and got her food, she immediately became “the Sushi Girl.”  My attempt at being subtle but sweet turned into a giant red arrow pointing at Katie for everyone at the office where she had only recently started working to see.  To put it in her words “the largest order of flowers with the brightest balloons would have been less embarrassing.”  That day she reassured me that it was still a very ‘sweet’ thing to do, but to please never do it again.  Still, while she didn’t outright credit it, I’m sure her new nickname at work made her impending termination of the relationship a whole lot easier.

The “Sushi Incident” was the last time that I tried any sort of overt romantic effort, and it was a stellar way to go out on a career of one hundred percent perfect failure.  It’s not that I don’t believe in love now, I still definitely do.  Now I just believe in expressing it via things like cooking dinner or binge watching a show on Netflix together.  One day I may even just say “I love you.”

Speak Your Truth and Build Happiness Together

After years of emotionally abusive relationships, I currently have a loving and supportive partner, but it hasn’t come easy.  Most of my past relationships fell apart due to miscommunication and feeling unheard.  I had to learn from my missteps and change my approach to communicating effectively, and although this is a difficult and ongoing process, proper communication skills are key to a relationship’s sustainability.

Here are some useful communication tools that I’ve acquired over the years after learning from past mistakes.

1)  It’s okay to ask for what you want.

It was never easy for me to request anything from my ex-partners because I was deathly afraid that they would either think less of me or leave me.  More importantly, I didn’t feel like I deserved to be treated well.

One of my ex-girlfriends would tease me about my weight constantly and I never let her know how much it hurt my feelings.  Instead of having a potentially uncomfortable conversation, I built up resentment towards her over time.  The main reason I never confronted her was because I had such low self-esteem that I thought she was doing me a favor by being with me.

By treating myself like a charity case, I didn’t put any value in myself which made it harder for us to put any value in our relationship.  I still think it was unkind of her to constantly shame me for being overweight, but it’s also possible that she didn’t mean any harm, and I’ll never know how she would’ve felt if I communicated that she genuinely hurt my feelings.

Over the years, I’ve learned to value myself more, which means that I have to occasionally request that my emotional needs are met.  I try my best to bring up the conversation gently and reassure her that my words are not meant as a personal attack.

These conversations generally aren’t comfortable and can get contentious, but I would much rather cope with some discomfort than to let years of resentment build up.  It’s better for your relationship–and for you personally–to realize that you are valuable enough to ask for what you want.  You owe it to yourself to let your voice be heard.

2)  Don’t demand to have your needs met.

Asking for what you want is different from demanding to get what you want.  When you become forceful in conveying your needs, you are selfishly disregarding your partner feelings.

I became incensed in a past relationship when my ex-girlfriend would take too long responding to texts.  Instead of simply letting her know that this was bothering me and discussing this issue like adults, I told her that she needed to text me more often, and I accused her of not caring about me if she didn’t comply.  Needless to say, we didn’t last.  Coercion is an unhealthy way of connecting with someone.

The mistake I made was conflating her actions with my self-worth. I thought that her lack of texting meant that I was an unlovable person. When you expect your partner to do whatever you ask, you are neglecting your partner’s needs and not taking ownership of your own feelings, meaning that you are deflecting responsibility onto someone else.  This hinders your own growth as well as the growth of your relationship.

Communicating your needs is not about getting your partner to comply by any means necessary (this would be considered emotional manipulation bordering on emotional abuse).  The purpose of asking for what you want is to assert yourself and let your voice be heard, not to get anything and everything you want. Remember that speaking up for yourself is its own reward, and remember that your partner has feelings, too.

3)  Don’t take criticism personally.

There will be times when your partner will request that his/her emotional needs are met, and when this happens, it’s very easy to react defensively and harshly which isn’t helpful to either party.

My natural impulse when my partner criticizes one of my behaviors is to defend myself angrily because I generally view criticism as a personal attack against my character.  I have to remind myself every day that this is not the case.

I was once told that I should lift my knees slightly higher when I run in order to improve my technique and burn more calories.  I automatically began making implications that weren’t there.  “So she thinks I’m bad at running, meaning she thinks I’m lazy, and lazy people aren’t desirable, so she thinks that I’m a lazy undesirable person?”

It took many years for me to realize that my self-worth is not wrapped up in any behavior.  Behaviors are something that can be fixed, improved, or even ignored, but none of that has anything to do with my worth as a person.

Once I learned to depersonalize criticisms, I became more able to hear my partner’s needs and assess whether her criticisms are valid or invalid, and either way, I’m thankful that she trusts me enough to communicate her needs to me.

Although criticism can oftentimes feel initially unpleasant, it never has to be negative.  You can either take your partner’s advice, or you can respectfully disagree, but either way, your self-worth will always stay intact.

4)  Take yourself out of the situation when tempers are flaring.

When you’re in a relationship, it’s inevitable that you and your partner will eventually have tempers.  When this happens, it’s hard–if not impossible–for logic to seep into your brain.  In these instances, it’s okay to temporarily take yourself out of the situation until anger subsides.

The good news is, anger has a time limit and cannot sustain itself forever.  When I feel like I’m about to lose control, I’ll leave my apartment for a few minutes to clear my head.  This gives me time to calm down which minimizes the possibility of saying something I’ll later regret in the heat of the moment.

It also gives me a chance to consider why the initial argument made me so angry in the first place, and when I can analyze my thoughts in a calmer manner, I can re-enter the conversation after I’ve calmed down.  In my experience, if the argument is resolved by the time you have calmed down, it’s okay to let it go and never bring it back up again.  But if there is still lingering resentment, it’s important to resolve the issue and not sweep the problem under the rug because it will always resurface down the road.

5)  Use positive reinforcement instead of negative reinforcement.

I was raised on negative reinforcement where my parents would shame me for any type of indiscretion.  They thought this would force me to behave well in order to save face.  What they didn’t realize was the irreparable damage this has done for my self-esteem.

I’ve found that many people were raised the same way, so they use similar tactics in communicating with their friends and spouses.  When you shame people for making a mistake (or what you deem as a mistake), they are actually more likely to repeat the behavior because shaming increases the likelihood of lower self-esteem, self-sabotage, and self-fulfilling prophecies.

Since I was used to being treated this way, I gravitated towards women who would treat me in a similar fashion and thought that constant shaming was the only way to get my point across, too.  It wasn’t until my current relationship when I realized that this is a toxic and inefficient way of communicating with your partner.

Instead of shaming me whenever I make a mistake, she congratulates me whenever I make her happy or when I achieve something.  Not only has this increased my overall self-esteem, it has also incentivized me to continue positive behavioral traits knowing that it makes both my partner and me happy.  My life feels less stressful as a result.  I don’t feel a sense of constant impending doom.  Positive reinforcement has allowed me to forgive myself whenever I make a mistake instead of feeling ashamed.

Conversely, you can return the favor and let your partner know whenever he/she makes you happy, and it’s a wonderful feeling to share your happiness together.  The only drawback of positive reinforcement is how difficult it is to break a bad habit, but otherwise, there is no discernible downside.  It is better for your relationship in every way.

Is it Time to Talk or Walk?

Its the 3 month checkpoint of dating a new partner! Is it time to commit? Or are you ready to leave?

Question: When should you broach the subject of where the relationship is going? I have been seeing a guy for two months and we are having another date this weekend. I know it’s kind of early but I want to know if he is dating other people. I’m also curious why he’s listed as active on the online site we met at and why we really only talk through text. What’s the best way yo handle this?

Answer: After 2-3 months of dating, it’s a good time to make a commitment. Ask yourself: Do his actions say that he’s ready to make a commitment? His actions show more about his intent.


Curated by Erbe
Original Article

 

Breaking My Heart Open Through Heartbreak

Heartbreak is the biggest cliche conceivable, but somehow always feels uniquely painful through the scope of our own experience. Contrary to the belief that heartache gets easier as we shed our awkward teen cocoons, the pain felt familiarly sharp with each of my “Big Three.” As I embark upon what I like to call the “Age of the Great Drought of Fucks to Give, While Simultaneously Getting One’s Business Together;” otherwise known as turning 30, I present the Saga of Three Heartbreaks.

Heartbreak #1 Gillam. My Puppy Love. Age 14.

I saw him in my step-sister’s school play and my adolescent loins that burned for Ryan Gosling twinged for him. I called him in advance of our first date from a payphone when I discovered I had won tickets to go see a very cool-by-teenage-standards rock band. Putting the cart squarely before the horse, on our first date, we sat on the edge of a slab of wood resembling a dock with no water, and he wrote me a note explaining to me that he “fell for [me] like a blind roofer” and if I ever doubted his feelings I should read the phrase “Isle of View” aloud. Pretty smooth for a gangly 16 year old. Gillam lived a half hour drive away in an entirely different province (that’s Canadian for “state”). This was my first taste of long distance romance, but certainly not my last. I visited his family and bonded with his younger sister. It was she who had to eventually break it off with me over the phone; when out of nowhere he changed his mind about the whole thing. Everything is so intense at that age, that the serotonin from a rock concert or new love was like a hit of MDMA and sent me into heavy withdrawal for a day or two afterward. When we broke up, I had lost the will to go on, like a real damsel in old days. I went catatonic and watched the portable phone spin on the floor for what felt like an eternity.

Heartbreak #2 Sam. My Delayed High School Sweetheart. Age 20.

Sam was from the same suburb as mine, but we met at a bar in the city, while he was hosting an open mic night, and I had taken a job putting up posters promoting their events. When he confided in me that his parents were going through a divorce (something that I was an old pro at dealing with by now), I felt compelled to offer support even though we barely knew one another. We met at the library in between our houses and talked until the sun came up. We eventually had to be rescued by his father when his parents’ car battery died after we had jointly decided it was a great idea to climb into the trunk and get our awkward flirt on.

As we continued to see one another, it began to feel as though were in a boat, just the two of us. Whenever we saw one another, the rest of the world would disappear, and we were alone on the water together. After several months, Sam went away for a school trip. He had been nervous about a presentation and didn’t have an outfit he felt confident enough to present in, so before dawn on the day he left, I slid my way across frozen tundra that lined the path to his house that winter, and presented a care package that I had meticulously put together of his favorite colors and prints in an outfit for his presentation. His father drove us to his pickup point where we shared a sweet goodbye and then, rather than introduce me to his group of classmates, Sam awkwardly pointed me toward the bus stop (inconveniently, 2 minutes after his father had left for our neighborhood) and then scurried over to join them.

I would later learn he was leaving me for one of the classmates he had avoided introducing me to. I was okay, I had convinced myself; until I curled up in my mother’s lap like an infant, and wept a heavy sob that squeezed every drop of moisture out of my body.

He moved across the country with his new girlfriend from school, and then eventually came back home after she cheated on him. We both happened to be back in our hometown, and ran into one another at the bar where we had both met. As we embraced for the first time in years, I felt the familiar comfort of our boat. This time, however, it was as if he had a dark cloud looming above him. He had become embittered, and I felt compelled to stay as far away as possible. Our mutual friend relayed snidely to me that Sam thought I wanted to marry him and was afraid of seeing him, lest I lose all composure. I responded matter-of-factly that I didn’t mind if I never saw him again. This felt like I was saying it as much to him as I was to myself. Somehow, the universe caught the message and seven years later, we haven’t seen each other in person since.

Heartbreak #3 Jonathan. My Rock Bottom. Age 27.

Truthfully, it was by now that I thought I had aged out of feeling this devastated. Jonathan knocked the wind right out of me. I was empowered and in my element while pursuing a life I loved and taking everything by storm; so when I met Jonathan and discovered our shared feelings, I took the bull by the horns, throwing both caution and boundaries to the wind. As I seized what felt like destiny, it occurred to me how fully engaged and attracted to him I was physically, emotionally and intellectually in an as yet undiscovered way that formed a perfect storm of vulnerability. At first, I felt charming, understood and cherished as we celebrated the prize we had both won in finding each other. A small voice inside me knew it was trouble, but I was a warrior and this felt powerful. I could handle it if things went sour, I convinced myself. This wasn’t my first rodeo and love is worth risks, I bargained. I walked a razor’s edge with Jonathan; he was every bit what you would consider to be the human equivalent of the purest, most deadly addictive drug. Even as I type this, I feel like crumbs of scar tissue are still working their way through my emotional lymphatic system.

Recovery and the Slow Burn.

After a great deal of personal reflection and time alone, I started slowly seeing a stoic man who possesses a quiet calm. He is a sleeping angel in the bed we share as I type this on our nearby couch. I never really felt any fireworks, I didn’t feel like I was in a boat. He didn’t create riddles to explain how he felt (Except for this week, when he compared the evolution of his feelings to a speedometer). When we met, I was still pulling shards out of my fragile psyche. I was not ready for anything serious, I thought. It wasn’t until several months into our relationship that it occurred to me that he was someone I had grown to cherish. I would pick fights and shut down emotionally and start exhibiting all of the traits that had hurt me and had nothing to do with him. He remained sweetly quiet, stoic and unaffected. He just wanted to get us dinner, watch movies and hang out together. He occasionally voiced some concern, but did not think much of my emotionally stunted behavior. I thought he must not really care, so I acted out— until I learned not to. Mostly. As time passed, my fuse grew longer and my sanity began to restore itself. As my head poked out of the sand, there he was, watching movies and hanging out. Without much fanfare, I grew to find myself loving, and eventually (this is an important distinction) in love with him. Little things, mostly silly mannerisms, how he laughs in his sleep, or personal reflections on life that should be a book which straddles self help and unintentional satire. What we share has developed into a cherished depth of connection I haven’t felt with anyone else before. I call it the slow burn.

I probably would not have ever seen Walker (the name I imagine he’d like me to use for him) as a potential partner even a couple of years ago, because I craved the drama, the high stakes, the boat. I needed the excitement. Relationships had to make me high otherwise they didn’t feel real. I wanted to feel the impact, even if it hurt. I couldn’t manage anything between euphoria and total collapse. As I depart the emotional roller coaster of my 20s, I’ve learned to enjoy the nuances in between.

Communication Guide to Booty Calls

13. It’s okay to be tipsy, but if you are stumbling drunk and unable to perform the basic duties of the booty call, don’t make the move in the first place. It’s is the height of rudeness to text if there is ANY chance you may vomit on or near your booty call.

14. Both parties should be armed with condoms and dental dams at all times.

15. Don’t leave personal items behind.

16. Faking is a no-no (that is reserved for the most dysfunctional relationships and miserable one-night stands). Each party deserves at least one real one.

17. If you’re not having fun, then by definition, it isn’t a proper booty call.

18. Never call a fuck buddy just to say hi.

19. If your booty call is in the same social circle, and you are out together in a group, then either go home together or go home alone.

20. Just because the sex is casual doesn’t make it an appropriate topic for casual conversation. Be discreet.

21. Assume that you are not the only booty call in your b.c. partner’s rotation. If this is not cool with you, then you must communicate your desire for casual yet monogamous sex and then negotiate from there.

22. Don’t assume that duration implies relationship progression.

23. You should always be honest about where this is going, other booty call partners you may have, sexual health history, etc., but keep unsolicited details about your other partners and sexual experiences to yourself.

24. The above rules may be amended at any time if both parties are in explicit agreement.

25. No matter how casual the set-up, remember that your booty buddy is a human being, and not a fucking machine. If you can’t play well with others, get yourself a sex toy. This final rule may not be amended and trumps all others at all times.


Curated by Erbe
Original Article

 

How Do You Feel about Tinder?

Here are a few reactions to the Tinder rant:


Curated by Erbe
Original Article

Capture his Heart and Go Deeper in Love

Are you longing to go deeper in your dating relationship but not sure how to connect and take your relationship to the next level? Eric Charles gives a man’s point of view on what your beau is looking for. 


What does it take to get a man to truly commit and want only you? It’s a question I’ve been asked more times than I could ever quantify.

What men desire most is a woman who inspires them to be their best self. Being that woman is a much different mindset than what most women typically do these days.

So what’s the major error that trips women up? It’s their focus. Instead of focusing on the feelings and experience they create for the man, the woman fixates on her own wants, her own worries, her own fears. And amidst this completely self-absorbed mindset consumed by what she wants, it’s no wonder that she’s unable to hook a man’s interest in a significant way, one that goes beyond just hooking up.

Sure, that woman might cook him dinners, perform in bed, and tell him how much she likes him, but none of that stuff penetrates a man’s psychology on a deep and meaningful level. Forget about just getting commitment. When you really understand and master the art of tapping into the deep parts of a man’s psyche, he will want to move mountains to possess you.

Men don’t start out there when they first meet a woman, though. She needs to reach him at that level by recognizing his ambitions, his fears, his motivations, his “mission” in life and where he ultimately wants to “win.”

Here are four ways to reach a man deeply and make him want to commit and devote himself fully to you.

1. Understand: Choice is Everything

I have a confession to make, when I was revising this article to get it ready for publishing, it was three ways to make him commit… not 4.

The original article came off cold, harsh, and even depressing because I had left out the most important element of all.  So in this revised version, I made sure to convey the most important piece of the puzzle right at the beginning.

Who you choose is by far the most important factor in all relationships.  So one of the most important ways to make a guy commit is to get really good at understanding the reality of relationships, love, and your specific guy.

In my personal life, I meet all sorts of people.  Some people are easy and fun to be around… I can spend hours with them, talking about things, laughing about things, and just genuinely enjoying their company.  Being around them doesn’t require effort and I don’t want anything from them.  I would have just as much fun driving in the car with them and chatting as I would doing something “exciting.”

On the other hand, there are people who I meet that immediately make me feel uncomfortable and defensive.  I feel like I have to constantly be  on my toes, choose my words carefully, and being around them is far from pleasurable.

Between those two extremes, there are all sorts of people who fall somewhere in the middle.

As a writer who talks about dating and relationships, what has always amazed me when it comes to relationships is how people completely disregard compatibility.  They describe what it’s like to be with their guy and it almost sounds like they’re talking about their arch-enemy… there is no comfort, no trust, no compatibility.

Sometimes the relationship started out well and then over time disintegrated into something that resembles resentment and abuse rather than love or respect.  Sometimes the relationship was never good to begin with, but the woman wants me to show her “relationship magic” to “make it work.”  This is what I equate to trying to shove a square peg through a round hole.

Personally, I needed to date around and experience several relationships before I had a good understanding of what I really wanted, valued, and resonated with in a relationship.  In my late teens and early twenties, for example, I knew that I wanted a girl that had a hot, fit body and a beautiful face.

Now, in my thirties, I realize how much I value having a woman who really “gets” me… a woman that I can talk to for hours every day and never feel bored… a woman who I can laugh with for hours and hours on end… a woman that I know how to be there for and who knows how to be there for me.

It took me a while to figure that out. When I realized it, I mentally revisited my past relationships and realized something very important that I want to pass along to you…

When I think of relationships that didn’t work out for me in the past (ones where I wanted things to work out and I got dumped), I realize that the woman I was with at the time was never going to be that woman with me.  Even if she wanted it to work.

I can clearly see now, years later after all the emotion and attachment is completely gone, we never would have reached that level of intimacy that is ultimately valuable to me in a relationship.

I couldn’t see past my attachment to those relationships, though, or past my blind desire to make things work because I didn’t want to fail, I didn’t want to be rejected, and I didn’t want to lose someone.

All those emotions have nothing to do with love or compatibility.  They’re just fear, ego, and a false sense of identifying with relationship success.

Real relationship success is not about making a relationship with someone work when, at your core, you and him are ultimately incompatible.  It can be hard to see if you’re blinded by fears of loss, self-doubt and relationship fantasies that you want to come true…

The thing to realize is that people with great relationships don’t have the great relationships because they know great relationship secrets or psychological loopholes of the male mind.  Fundamentally, people in the best relationships all have one thing in common: they don’t have relationships with people who are not a good match for them.  They don’t let them into their life.

And what’s the easiest way to know if they’re a good match or not?  Plain and simple – how do you feel about yourself when you’re with that person? Do you feel better about yourself?  About life? About the things that upset you?

Or… do you feel insecure?  Do you feel like you’re walking on eggshells?  Do you feel like you’re suffocating… holding your breath in anticipation of a relationship that you desperately want to come into existence but always seems just out of reach?  Helpless, powerless, and afraid they’ll do something to hurt you?

How you feel with the person you’re with is the best indication of whether you’re with someone who’s compatible or not. How much you want it to work is the worst indicator of a good relationship (in fact, usually the people who tell me how desperately they want something to work are highlighting how incompatible they really are from their partner)

2. Attraction:

The guy you’re into has to be sexually attracted to you. This is not a radical claim, it’s just fact. If he doesn’t feel a sense of biological, physical attraction to you, then nothing else I say will matter. His physical attraction isn’t the end-all be-all of his desire to be with you, but it is a required foundation.

That’s the bad news… if you want to call it that. The good news is that some of the most powerful seductresses the world has ever known were not the most beautiful.

My advice is to strive to be as attractive as you possibly can, and fortunately, this is largely in your control. And for the things you can’t control…. own it.

Too many women kill their attractiveness by walking around with insecurities and no self-esteem because they feel that something about their appearance is flawed and they’ll never be good enough to attract the man they really want.

Whatever your supposed fault is, I can guarantee that your self-doubt is far more unattractive. Nobody is perfect and no man demands or expects perfection. But those who own their imperfections are massively more attractive than those who do not or cannot.

There is definitely something attractive about a woman who owns her imperfections and is totally OK with them. Conversely, being insecure is a massive energy drain to you and the people around you. Insecurity stinks of desperation and desperation kills attraction.

So change what you can to be sexier and more physically alluring and appealing. Spend more time at the gym, eat healthier, learn how to apply makeup to enhance your best features, train your voice to be pleasant and seductive (tape recording yourself works wonders), master attractive body language and facial expressions, dress to flatter your figure, you get the point.  And that which you can’t change… own it.

3. Reach Him Deeply


What makes you irreplaceable in the eyes of your man? Your ability to reach deep into the depths of who he is and inspire him. To put it more bluntly, you must offer something that is much more rare and valuable than sex if you want him to treat you as something important in his life. I mean… duh, right?  And yet this obvious truth gets distorted and overlooked.

Ask yourself: what are you bringing to the table besides a physical hookup that he values deeply?

Sex is readily available. Having it isn’t enough to make a relationship and withholding it isn’t enough to cast some kind of “love spell” on a guy (maybe it worked 100 years ago, but withholding sex till X date is just plain obsolete now….he’ll just go somewhere else).

Men have a deep unconscious fear that their life, their contribution to the world and their existence is pointless, meaningless, and insignificant. At the same time, every man has hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

And here’s the major lesson: In order for a man to feel truly alive and truly fulfilled, he needs to be pursuing his deepest aspiration and his “mission” in life.  Your ultimate gift as a woman is to inspire him to do that, to realize his ultimate potential as a man.

4. Put Energy Into the Right Places

Creating the foundation for a strong, healthy relationship comes down tot putting energy into the right places. Worrying and stressing is not putting energy into the right places.

If you’re still stuck in feeling needy and out of control, you’re not going to see the necessity of bringing that value to the relationship because you’ll still be fixated on your own worries, your fears, your insecurities. And with that fixation, you won’t be able to put energy into the relationship, you’ll have wasted all your energy needlessly worrying about stuff.

I understand that after you’ve been continually hurt and disappointed by men using you, you may have formed some insecurities and frustration around relationships. But in the end, those emotions do nobody a favor – they repel men, they waste your energy, and they make everyone miserable.

The only way to get out of that cycle and move towards building a firm foundation that leads to a good relationship is to find your own self-love and fulfillment independent of a relationship.

Remember: a relationship will never fill an emotional void, complete you, or “make you” happy. You have to show up to a relationship “whole” and happy already. If you show up “broken,” the guy will either leave or you’ll attract the type of guy who will take advantage of you… then leave.

The energy you put into the relationship is the only thing that matters. Putting energy doesn’t come from a self-absorbed place, it isn’t attached to feelings of anxiety, fear, worry, anger, rage, resentment. You are outside of yourself and putting energy into giving him that “extra something” that makes you valuable, rare, and inspirational to the guy.

I don’t care if you like it.  I don’t care if you think it’s fair or unfair. It is a simple truth that people value those who bring a unique, special, meaningful value to the table.   If you honestly think that you can have a man want to choose you and only you forever without bringing something deeply valuable to him… then you’re either choosing very low quality men or you just haven’t thought through reality yet.

Sex is not enough. And loving him the way you want to be loved is not enough either. When it comes to him choosing you, you have to love him in the way that’s deeply meaningful to him. Your energy would be better spent figuring out what this is rather than worrying about him leaving you.


Curated by Erbe
Original Article

 

Recipes for Making Up, Shacking Up and Getting It On

I don’t recommend this gesture unless you are absolutely sure it will be well-received. It worked for me in this instance as I was confident that he still carried a pretty powerful torch for us. My Cusack-with-a-Boombox moment could be your grounds for a restraining order. It occurred to me ever so briefly when he didn’t answer the phone right away on my arrival. By the grace of white beans and pretzel bites, it worked in our favor and provided us with a whirlwind make-up story.

Picknick Temptation

On my first ever successful Valentine’s Day, my date made us homemade tacos, with mango salsa from my favorite restaurant. For dessert, I made chocolate covered strawberries, which are quite a bit easier than you might think and nowhere near the premium you’d pay on them if purchased in store. We both decided it was our favorite valentine’s day; low key, relaxed. And i think it may have been a strong contributing factor to us sealing the deal on this being an actual “boyfriend/girlfriend” type relationship.

In appreciation of these memories and hope for you to create your own, I’ll close with a simple recipe that can be adapted to almost any fruit. I also tried this with prunes when on a visit to New Zealand where they us prunes to make raisinette style prunes. Rather than chopping them up, I dropped mine in whole. The result were giant, ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’-style treats, which I think we can all agree is the way to go with this.

Foreplay With The Use Of Strawberry

Boil water in a small to medium sized pot

Place broken up pieces of your favorite chocolate in  a glass or metal bowl, balance carefully on the pot (make sure to use an oven mitt to hold the bowl steadily). Add a bit of your favorite cooking oil if you are having trouble softening the chocolate.

Drop fruit in chocolate (use a fondue skewer for more control if you have one.), give it a little spin to cover it.

Place your chocolate covered fruit on a sheet of wax paper on top of a plate or cookie sheet.

Place in fridge for an hour or freezer for 20 minutes, and voila, you are now a casanova. Enjoy and thank me when you’re gettin’ it later.

Enchant Your Partner with Ease

How are your flirting skills? Have you ever tried to lure your partner in with enchantment?


The enchantresses in the legends of King Arthur brought balance to a society ruled by male domination. Through their seductive, female magic they magnetized the men of Camelot– the King’s warriors set aside their brutish behavior and broke their backs to court these women. They acted with chivalry in the hopes of earning a smidgen of feminine admiration and tender, female affection.

You, too, can be a modern-day enchantress and inspire a man to honor the laws of chivalry in your relationship. You can magnetize and hypnotize the men you are dating by embracing the power a woman has when creating intimacy with a man!

By having the right energy around a man and using the right words and body language when interacting with him, you can ignite long-lasting flames of passion in his susceptible heart!

Here are 3 ways you can be a more seductively intimate woman and effortlessly enchant men:

1. MAGNETIZE HIM WITH YOUR SOFT SIDE

When a modern enchantress is with a man, she no longer is the power-playing professional or the multi-tasking, in-charge mother of three children—she is a leaf on the river.

To be a leaf on the river, you slow down, set aside all strategies and ideas you have about how to ‘hook a man’, and just go with the flow of the moment when with men. You take deep breaths, sit back, feel soft inside, warm in your heart and just enjoy the memories created by chemistry and romantic connection.

An enchantress is a master at ‘just being’. She knows how to feel feminine and vulnerable around a man and can relax into that vulnerability. She doesn’t try to improve upon the relationship or scramble to seal the bond. She doesn’t fill in all the awkward silences when with him or struggle to make his experiences, when around her, more enjoyable.

She just lets the moments unfold as they will. She allows a man to come forward at his own pace, and she lets him nurture her with HIS attention and affection.

An enchantress knows that her soft side is ALWAYS open to receiving. See, many of us women can’t receive. We complain about our loneliness and unmet needs and we desperately want areal man to come in and sweep us off our feet, but we have to do our part to achieve this. We have to have feminine energy to attract masculine energy.

Many of us have a hard time doing absolutely nothing but being available to a man’s advances. We want to do what we do best: bring the woman we are at our job and our mothering energy into the room so that we can fix, control, and manage the relationship at the pace we want and in the amount of time we want.

An enchantress is sexy because she never attempts this.  She knows that desperately wrapping herself into a pretzel to get what she wants when she wants it from a man actually gives a man too much power over her heart and life force.

She is a goddess who has an unwavering, tranquil, slow-paced energy about her that invites calm, love, sensuality, cuddles, tenderness and soft, sweet connection.

2. LISTEN WELL TO HOOK HIM

An enchantress can draw out a man’s vulnerability within minutes. She knows how to make him feel nervous and safe, at the same time.   She can make him feel so honored to be in her presence that he feels unnerved, while at the same time, she can make him feel so emotionally safe that he will open up entirely with her about his life.

The best way to make a man feel unnerved yet safe enough to expose his secrets is to listen to him at the right moments! This is so important.

When you are with a man, try to really hear what he says to you. Don’t speak over him, don’t glance down at your phone, don’t let your thoughts drift, don’t promise him you are listening when you are doing two other things at the same time, etc.

There are so many ways in which our minds keep us from connecting with other people. An enchantress uses her female energy to be in the moment and not a victim of her mental energy.

Ever go to a psychologist? Know how they sit calmly in front of you, looking at you and waiting for you to speak? They are inviting your feelings and thoughts out into the open. They are acting like vessels into which you can place your feelings and thoughts.

An enchantress does the same thing with a man— she draws a man toward her through her capacity to hear and HOLD his feelings and thoughts. She LISTENS to his soul as his mouth speaks.

You must clear your thoughts and open your heart to do this. You have to drop what you are doing and fully listen with your ears, heart, mind, and body.

3. SEDUCE HIM WITH TOUCH

If you gently touch a man when you feel extra connected to him– in moments when he has touched your heart with wonderful laughter or deep empathy– it can show him that his feelings matter to you and that his intentions have landed with your heart.

Don’t touch him too often and don’t use touch to force a connection. Just touch him in key moments, and make your touch a gift to him to show him that you are available to the connection.

When you can use your touch to show him that you both are “on the same page” and are “in tune” physically, spiritually and emotionally, love will start to brew in his heart and he won’t understand why but he will know it’s real.

Love is about deep intimacy that’s created in the space between two lovers. A highly intimate woman is always going to know the best way to use her caresses to bridge that space and fill it with understanding, desire and compassion.

Enchantresses of old were masters at using their feminine energy to magnetize men. They understood that men wanted desperately to feel brave, honored, respected and supported.  These knights also wanted to feel soothed and calmed inside through the power of a woman’s serene and sensuous love. Enchantresses were able to use all this knowledge about a man’s needs to hypnotize and magentize them during intimate moments.

Enchantresses are able to get strong, pridefilled men to step up and honor them.  They got these knights in shing armor to respect and tend to their female feelings and needs without doing much more than just sitting back and channeling their soft, seductive, connected sexy side.


Curated by Erbe
Original Article

Love Advice You Can Ignore

4. Love hurts: Betrayal hurts, pain hurts, heartbreak hurts, but love is the one thing that should make you feel good. A lot of people repeat the “love hurts” mantra to themselves to justify being in a hurtful relationship. True love should never bring about pain and despair. Yes, there will be stormy waters, but true love should be the only light during this time.

5. Love is blind: Finding someone you love should never be a decision to be made blindly. You cannot go through the true challenges of any relationship if you entered into it blindly.

Couple fighting over a credit card

5. Money does not matter: Money is never everything, but it sure matters. You cannot have a strong relationship without having some sort of financial stability. You might not have it all, but in a relationship, you have to both be content with where you are with the belief that things can and will get better. Pretending money is not an issue will only lead to each of you feeling discontent and not being able to discuss it or find a solution.

6. True love is forever: There will be times in your relationship when you are not even sure you love your partner. There will be times you feel numb or unhappy with them but this does not mean what you have is not true love. Love ebbs and flows. Sometimes you love them so much you cannot imagine life without them, and sometimes, you just want  to run away, but underneath it all, you both share a bond that will never be broken. That is love.

7. Follow your heart: Your heart is important in determining what you feel for someone but you should not make all your love decisions based on how you feel. It is important that you use your brains and intuition to also determine whether or not someone will make the best fit for you.


Curated by Erbe
Original Article

 

Build Your Relationship on Communication

Building a strong relationship takes time and mutual effort. The Cornerstone of success starts witht he way you connect and communicate.


You likely don’t need to be convinced that communication is foundational to a great marriage. If you’ve been married for any length of time, you know how hard it can be to understand that person to whom you’ve pledged your life. You’ve seen molehills transformed into mountains because of miscommunication and misunderstood. You’ve experienced the frustration of feeling like you’re not being heard.

If a couple knows how to talk to and listen to one another with understanding and respect, there are few problems that can’t be overcome. On the flip side, when the communication skills are lacking, it doesn’t take much to break a marriage.As you evaluate your own relationship, here are some things to focus on.

Communication Begins with Listening

If you’ve ever tried to talk to someone who just wouldn’t listen, you know it doesn’t work too well. Instead of creating understanding and connection, it produces frustration and isolation.

All of us, men and women, have got to learn to listen patiently. It isn’t easy though. Sometimes we assume we understand what our mate is saying, and instead of really listening to them when they are talking, we spend the whole time plotting our response. We mentally shoot down points that they may not even be making, and we miss their point entirely.

My spouse deserves to be heard. I need to fight the temptation to “know what she is going to say.” I must be quiet, stop and listen to her – and I don’t just mean physical quietness, either. I need to refrain from mentally rehearsing my argument and really give her my full attention and focus. My undivided attention validates who she is and conveys my respect for her feelings. It gives her a sense of value, and it fosters co-operation, rather than competition, between us.

In many couples there is one person who is more verbal than the other. Two thirds of the time the woman is more verbal than the man, but sometimes it is the man who talks more. It is especially important for the talker to learn good listening skills and to give your mate the time to talk. If you feel like your spouse isn’t communicative enough, make sure you’re giving them a chance to open up. If you are filling the air with words, your spouse won’t be able to share unless they are willing to fight for “air time”. That isn’t likely to happen, and instead it drives them deeper into privacy.

If you want to improve the communication in your marriage, start here. Invite your spouse to share what’s going on in their heart. Shut everything else out – the TV, the computer, the phone – and focus on them, resisting the urge to pass judgment or argue. Keep an open mind and hear out their perspective.

Make the Effort to Truly Understand

How many times have you and your spouse had an argument, only to discover that the fight could have been avoided if you had truly taken the time to understand one another? My wife and I have had times where, as we worked through an area of disagreement, we discovered that we didn’t really disagree at all…we only thought we disagreed because we were too impatient to fully understand one another.

Too often we’re just listening to the words and not really to the heart. We have to listen to the whole message. There needs to be a clear commitment to listening to what my spouse is trying to say, and to be a safe environment in which they can share their deepest feelings.

The key word here is empathy – where I’m trying to see what it‘s like to look at life through their eyes. Sure, my viewpoint is so clear to me and my position seems so right, and I’ve got my points that I want to make in this discussion. But winning the argument can’t be what it’s about. As it says in Phil. 2:3-4, “look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” We’ve got to work hard to empathize; to see life from our spouse’s perspective. And when we do that, we can connect so much better because we’re stepping into their world. It feels so good to be understood.

We need to listen with more than just with our ears; we really need to go below the surface. Researchers estimate that 65% or more of our communication is non-verbal. Paying attention to body language and your spouse’s actions will help you grasp what they mean by the words they say. And the more our spouse senses that we are truly hearing them, the more secure they will feel to continue sharing at deeper levels.

The deeper we go, the more intimate the relationship becomes. A good marriage is one in which the couple is continuously growing in transparent disclosure. We need to seek to understand our spouse to their core. Rather than growing complacent or trying to fit them into your own mould, put in the effort to get to their heart. Just listen and let them express who they are. As you get to know their heart, you’ll likely grow in your desire to be with them.

Authenticity and Sensitivity

If we want to grow in our marital intimacy, it requires that we be authentic with one another. There is no place for deceit or dishonesty within marriage. The intimacy we are pursuing is one in which we are fully known, and yet fully loved.

Full transparency is risky, because it requires us to lay our heart bare for another to see. We fear sharing at this depth because there is a chance we will be rejected when the person sees us for who we really are. And that’s why it’s so critical to foster a sense of safety. My spouse needs to know that if she shares what’s really going on inside, I’m not going to reject her or drop the hammer on her. She also needs to know that she can take my words at face value and believe what I’m saying to her. If that trust doesn’t exist, then we have no communication.

Of course, if we are really being honest with one another, there are going to be times when we have to share our disappointments and frustrations towards one another. The key in these instances is to do it in a sensitive, positive way: to speak the truth in love. Truth should never be used to bash the other person, with the defence that “I’m just being truthful.” Truth need not be conveyed harshly; there is always a way to say things kindly. Ephesians 4:29 puts it like this: “Do not let any unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it might benefit all who listen.” We need to be gentle and use words that encourage one another, and remain open to working things through in an honest but positive way.

Forgiveness

Some couples are not on the same page because they haven’t worked through issues of forgiveness. It is impossible to develop meaningful communication in a marriage apart from a willingness to freely forgive one another. Every marriage goes through tough times, and if we are going to pull through those things we have to cut each other some slack and be willing to put things behind us.

Someone put it this way: If friendship is like the bricks in the wall of your marriage, understand that the mortar is forgiveness. Forgiveness is what holds the friendship together. I tell couples when I have the privilege to marry them, “There should be nobody in this world that you will be more patient with than the one whose hand you’re holding now at the altar.” But the funny thing is, I can be the most impatient and the most unforgiving with my spouse. I’ll be gracious to other people and everyone thinks that Dave’s such a nice guy. Meantime, I don’t cut my wife and kids the slack that they deserve and they’re the ones I love the most. It needs to be the opposite.

If you are reading this and you know there are issues between you and your spouse, look each other in the eye and say “You know, we want to move on from here. We want to work things out. We want to have a great marriage.” And to forgive feely is the real secret to that. Forgive as the Lord forgave you – completely and unconditionally. As you release your spouse, you’ll discover that it is a gift to yourself as much as it is to them.

Learning to communicate with your spouse is a lifelong process. There will be ups and downs – times when you’re clicking on all cylinders, and times when you feel worlds apart. But if you commit yourselves to working to understand one another, sharing yourselves transparently and forgiving through the hard times, you will have a strong foundation upon which to build a marriage that you love being a part of.


Curated by Erbe
Original Article