Creating Sparks That Last & All Things Relationships

Yours Choices Reflect Your Personality Happy by Turia Pitt My favourite book has recently changed, as in this week kind of recently. Reason being, it created the tiniest of pivot’s in my thinking that has turned my outlook upside down and right way up with such an improved view on life! Available here  (I am in no way affiliated) I used to always name, ‘Expecting Adam’ as my favourite book because it too, turned my viewpoint right around, so it kind of scaffolded me to my current favourite. ‘Expecting Adam’ had been my fave for decades and I’ve read a lot more of Martha Beck’s books which I also loved. Available here  (Not affiliated) Pay it Forward movie The takeaway message for me has always been that “people are too scared to try.” This has catapulted me forwards on so many occasions! But beware, if you do watch it, it is a tearjerker. Separate Bathrooms Podcast I only discovered this podcast late last year. It covers all aspects of relationships in a real and relatable way...

 Let's Dig In https://unsplash.com/@eliomendes My cat is a very typical one and does things that are typically, well, cat-like. Her most annoying cat-like characteristic is to wake up at 4am, most days, on other days it's more like 2am! This particular morning I considered myself lucky, I got an extra 20 minutes of sleep in, as the meowy alarm only went off at 4.20am! Success, kind of.  Wednesday's are walking group days for me, but on the Wednesday in question, I was without a car at home for various reasons of family travel or work or whatever. Since I'd had  hours of pre-dawn reading time (which is my very favourite thing to do, so kitty is all forgiven anyway), I got particularly comfortable in bed with my book, my steaming mug of coffee and no-one in the house to disturb me. Bliss! Even kitty had gone back to sleep since her tummy was now full. By 6.30am I remembered my resolve to go to my walking group regardless of not having a car. It's only 2.5km away to th...

Redefining Love and Marriage https://unsplash.com/@jennymarvin Committing to a life-long marriage through difficult times takes a lot of courage. I had to define for myself the kind of life I wanted. Was I willing to forgo some of my identity to take on the characteristics of a partner who, just 30 years ago, was a complete stranger to me? Had I really got to know him at all? In this life that we share, how deeply had we truly got to know each other? Not so deeply at all, I was to learn. In spite of the many epiphanies through our year-long travel escapade, what we did on a daily basis in the humdrum of a nine to five lifestyle eroded the  lessons learnt and the coping mechanisms we had adopted. Outwardly we have a wonderfully marvelous life, yet our invisible introspection, unseen by those around us, slowly dims the light in both of our eyes. Old habits took over as we forgot to create special moments together. Our lives became mechanical. Learning to redefine the meaning of l...

How to Heal Your Own Heart and Still Be Kind to Others Welcome to the second instalment in our new mini-series Our Relationship with Ourselves                                                                     https://unsplash.com/@bartlarueeppler Spiritually, the four chambers of the heart represent: ♥  Compassion:  Kindness, c oncern, consi deration, c are      ♥   Love: F ondness, rev erence, r espect, v alue ♥   Understanding:   Thoughtful, a ltruistic, a ccepting, p atient ♥   Emotion:   Feeling, s entiment, p assion, s ensation https://unsplash.com/@snowidesignz                               ...

Love is a commitment, not a feeling Quoted from Gretchen Rubin: My husband has to put up with me putting dirty dishes in the sink, not the dishwasher, and I have to put up with him buying more without seeing what we already have. Ask me how much soy sauce we have! And my daughter puts empty containers back in the fridge or cupboard. But love conquers all. What are your kitchen squabbles?   Below is a fabulous article from Grace Dent at The Guardian that epitomizes the nature of love and our commitment to those we love. https://www.betterapp.us/posts/12671688

Attentiveness, Responsiveness, Engagement “T here’s no single definition that describes a  “healthy” relationship . So much of tethering your life to another person means making the rules up as you go along. Regardless, though, you do have  to establish a basic level of respect and empathy. And that’s where the A.R.E. formula for relationships—which values attentiveness, responsiveness, and engagement—comes in.” This is an excerpt from the Relationship Tips segment of Well+Good. This article is written by Kells McPhillips and you can click on the link below to read the full post. https://pin.it/6W72uCi