Marriage Bliss

Instead of another study on having a better relationship, we went straight to the source. By Nicole Weaver What does it take to be a stellar boyfriend? Every relationship is different, but there are a few staple traits that will make you stand out as a great partner. But instead of getting another study to tell you how to be better in a relationship, we decided to collect some advice from the best boyfriends ever. Get ready to take notes, fellas. Here’s how to be a good boyfriend. 1. Be patient. “It takes patience to be a ‘great boyfriend,’ patience within yourself to teach your partner new things, and patience to learn. Also,…

Most dating advice promises to lead us to lasting love but erodes our chance of ever finding it. It relentlessly focuses on one thing — your attractiveness. In reality, the secret to success is less about your attractiveness, and more about your attractions. The list is endless: Learn to be irresistible. Play hard to get. Act confident. Become an alpha man. Attract an alpha man. Become a feminine goddess. Become a bitch.  These tips shine with the promise of self-transformation, but embedded within is an ugly Trojan Horse — the belief that, when it really comes down to it, you’re simply not attractive enough. Seductive and compelling as it may be, this path is a decoy, and a detour from intimacy. It subtly teaches us to be ashamed of our humanity,…

Without one conversation with anybody every single area of my life has changed from me making the decision to learn to love myself from the inside out I have gone from 35 years suffering a destructive relationship with my mother, agonising a similar relationship with my eldest daughter, to going on holiday with my parents this year and my eldest daughter moving back home to live with us in Dubai. And it only gets better, the 28-year marriage with my husband has gone to a much deeper level and we have both decided to leave Dubai next year and return to England to live near Mum and Dad. And all…

There are many reasons as to why I had a child later in life than most of my friends did. A lot of it had to do with loving my solitude, independence, and freedom. I have always loved children — of that there is no doubt. But I knew that once I did have a child of my own, there would be no going back. I knew that I would give a child all of me — and that thought was terrifying. Once I did finally have my daughter, I did lose all of those things I feared I would and then some. It was terrifying. I lost my body.…

I’m there at your side, I’m part of all the things you are But you’ve got a part of someone else You’ve got to find your shining star And where are you now, now that I need you? Tears on my pillow wherever you go I’ll cry me a river that leads to your ocean You never see me fall apart In the words of a broken heart It’s just the emotion that’s taken me over Tied up in sorrow, lost in my soul But if you don’t come back Come home to me, darling You know that there’ll be nobody left in this world to hold me tight Nobody…

I held her tight and breathed. She smelled just like I remembered. “I’m here alone,” I said. I stood on the dance floor with my ex-girlfriend from high school. We hadn’t seen each other in years—not since I came out. My twin brother married that weekend, and by chance, she attended with one of his college friends. We were chatting during the reception when she asked if I was there on a date. I paused before answering. Drunk young men and women danced around us. Then I told what we convince ourselves is the most innocent lie, the one of omission. It’s true, I was there alone. What I left…

Money Expenses are the most common cause of squabbles among couples, according to research. Which is no surprise, especially considering the fact that so many more people are living—and fusing their incomes—with their significant others today than ever before. “We all come from different financial backgrounds,” says Nikki Martinez, PsyD, psychologist and clinical professional counselor. “We may have had money, we may have always struggled, but with either situation, people have very strong ideals about how finances are managed.” To squash salary and spending scuffles, she suggests discussing how you each handle money and deciding who will take care of what expenses and how mutual funds will be managed. Intimacy…