Articles on love, life, marriage, grief, intimacy, communication, stress.

The Care and Feeding of a Happy Marriage
Most marriages begin with two people in love. As time goes by, the love erodes and is replaced with jobs and raising children. The business of life takes over and the relationship takes second place.

Think of marriage as a third person in the relationship. It needs nurturing, caring for and time. Without care, it dies. Soon you find yourself just living in the same house but never "connecting." Some ways to nurture a marriage are...

Getting Along with People
When it comes to personalities, there will always be people you don't understand. That can make life interesting and sometimes frustrating.

Perfect Mate
According to the 1997 U.S. Census Bureau, second marriages end in divorce 60% of the time. If the first marriage didn't work, what are you doing differently to make the second marriage work? Remember, insanity is doing the same things and expecting a different result.

Divorce can be extremely upsetting and possibly financially damaging, but how does a person make the next marriage work? A healthy relationship is not...

Intimacy
WHAT IS INTIMACY?
A description of intimacy is, "You know me and you still like me." It is feeling safe with another person. The safer and more comfortable you both are, the more intimate the relationship. It is not necessarily sexual. Sex can be very impersonal. When you say, "I want a more intimate relationship with my friend or my partner, what does that mean?

MORE INTIMACY
It means you are able to let your guard down. You are yourself without worry of a negative consequence. You are accepted for yourself. No excuses, no fears. There is no need to be on guard and.

Understanding Men (Or Women)

Many misunderstanding occur and feelings are hurt because men and women express themselves differently.

Here's an example:

He says: "I don't want to talk about it right now."
He means: "I need time to understand what I'm feeling. I don't want to sound stupid or foolish."
She hears: "I don't want to talk TO YOU right now."
She feels: rejected

The closer the relationship, the easier it is for someone to take the comment personally and the more it hurts.

Grief
THE GRIEF PROCESS
consists of:
1. Denial
2. Bargaining
3. Anger
4. Depression, sadness
5. Acceptance
6. Understanding
7. Forgiveness

Developing a Support Group
Everyone needs friends, people who fill the empty gaps in our lives. If you�re married, don�t expect your spouse to be everything to you. That�s too much to ask of one person. We all need people who care about us, who want the best for us, who want us to succeed. We need people who we know are there for us, physically and emotionally, who care enough to tell us...

Communication 101
AS A SPEAKER:
Don't use distracting words such as, "you know", "ah well", "ah", "basically", "really", "generally", "um". Practice not repeating them. If you have to, don�t say anything. Leave a blank space for the word. In time it will improve. Ask your friends to give you feedback about your speaking style or make a...

Coping with Stress
Some causes of distress are change, time restrictions, interpersonal problems and guilt. Too many changes in a short period of time, good and bad can cause stress. Don't allow stress to become distress. The biggest cause of distress is losing control of a situation, when you feel overwhelmed or unable to handle a situation. It's when you're without hope. It will kill you physically if you let it and it kills the...w

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Articles by Betty Eddy