Self-Mastery: Change Your Response

I have been writing about changing habits.  This got me thinking about the fact that a simple change can produce a profound change in a relationship.

Let us suppose that you want to change the way you respond when you feel verbally attacked. The instinctive response is t o get defensive and lash back.  What about [...]

Growing From a Challenge

I have been participating in the 30 day blog challenge hosted by Dr. Jeanette Cates.  Today is the last day and I am writing number thirty-one.  This is what the experience has been like for me.

Although the challenge was external I had to make the decision to participate  and stick to achieving my goal.  I [...]

Having Dreams

I am convinced that all of us have dreams inside us that we yearn to fulfill.  Yet  we can miss out on enjoying life if we do not simultaneously  keep our focus on living fully in the present.

Last night I saw the movie UP. The lead character is a 78 year old grieving widower who [...]

Supportive Partner Stops Being Supportive

You are excited. You finally took the big step to pursue what you have been wanting to do for a long time. You are energized and feel yourself evolving in new directions. Although at times you are scared and feel uncertain you stay focused and start having success.

Then comes the clincher. [...]

How to Strengthen Relationships

I was asked the other day if there was one thing I could recommend that would improve relationships.  I came  up with many little things that would have immediate positive effects. For instance treating the other  with kindness, showing appreciation and love, going away for a special weekend etc. Yet, I wanted to give an [...]

Living Together

I read an interesting observation today stressing a big drawback of living together before marriage.  The reason given was  that  many people begin to live together before they have had a chance to experience what it is like to be independent. As a result they miss out on the growing up step of standing on [...]

Rekindle Intimacy

Today I have a guest post which I wrote on my blog http://budurl.com/rekindle.  I am not sure if that makes it a guest blog; however, I very much wanted to share it.

The news that Tipper and Al Gore are separating after forty years of marriage has taken many by surprise.  They seemed to [...]

Hold on to Your Power

One of my mentors, Virginia Satir,  taught me something that has been useful to  me and everyone else I have shared it with.  She said “treat everything that comes at you from the outside as something with which to cope, and not as a way to define yourself.

How often do you hear yourself or others [...]

Challenge Yourself

In order to strengthen our personal foundation we have to be open to challenging ourselves.  I love to kayak and yesterday I paddled further than I ever had.  It was a beautiful peaceful  Memorial Day morning. What I realized was that so many times before I had said to myself: that is far enough, maybe [...]

30 Day Challenge Good for Self-Growth

One of my mentors, Connie Ragen Green, has just presented a thirty day Power Blogging Challenge. That means making a blog entry daily until Jan. 7 when the challenge ends.  Not an easy assignment when it falls right during the holidays.

Yet many of us accomplish the most when we have a challenge.  I know that [...]