We all know our friends are sometimes far better at picking dates for us than we are for ourselves. But if you want to be the best wingman for your BFF, you should learn a few things first. Since Wingman launched earlier this year, they’ve been helping people play cupid for their nearest and dearest. In a recent survey, they asked their top 50 matchmakers (those who’d had the most connections accepted by both parties) what their proven strategies were. The answers, which they’ve shared with Mashable, are both intuitive and surprising. So what are their secrets? Be selfless  It seems obvious, given that you’re setting out to find a…

1. Be Grateful Tony Robbins has said you can’t be angry and grateful at the same time. It’s just impossible. You also can’t be fearful and grateful at the same time. Fear and anger are emotions that dominant and wreck us in our everyday interactions or conversations with one another. So spend some time really feeling grateful, like deep in your bones, in your soul. That level of gratitude can change your state and how you feel. Studies have shown, and in my own experience, writing it down seems to be much more effective, and really embody the gratitude. I use the Five Minute Journal to write down what I’m…

. I’m a fragile snowflake. So are you. I don’t mean this ironically, and I don’t mean it in the same sense as “We’re all racist.” I mean that, in the eyes of someone else, someone who doesn’t know you, you’re too sensitive about something. So am I. Most of my friends and social media contacts are liberal or progressive. My Facebook feed is filled with people who refuse to put the words “President” and “Trump” next to each other; it’s more common to see him simply called 45*, or something more offensive. Last year, reading my feed, you might have thought the election was between Hillary Clinton and Bernie…

My girlfriend and I have been together for over 3 years now, with 2.5 years of long distance under our belt. Ironically, while technology has been the saving grace in our intercontinental relationship, it has also been the surprising source of any arguments we have had. “Can you not announce that on Facebook?” “But…how will other people know what we are up to?” “You can tell them directly. Do we need to publicize our lives to people you haven’t spoken to in years?” “…yes? I like seeing what’s going on in the lives of our acquaintances. Perhaps they do too!” Some variation of this exchange happens every few months. When…

You’re lying Tatiana Ayazo/Rd.com A smile can have a hidden meaning for a crafty person. “There is a smile called the ‘Duping’ smile or ‘Dupper’s Delight’ which is typically a little smile that comes across the face when a liar or deal-maker or cheating-winner thinks they have duped someone,” explains Patti Wood, MA, a body language expert based in Atlanta. Another tool to decipher a gloating smile is that the smile may be a mismatch for the other person or people you are with so they feel left out and less than, she says. Learn more about how a fake smile can be hurtful. You’re full of joy Tatiana Ayazo/Rd.com…

There are thousands of youth sports teams, but how many of them are really doing ‘team’ the right way? July 3, 2017, by CoachUp Nation Leave a Comment By Janis Meredith There are thousands and thousands of youth sports teams, but how many of them are really doing team the right way? As a sports mom for 21 years, I watched my kids play on more than 100 teams, and if I am being honest, I will have to say that a lot of them had no clue about how to do team the right way. What makes a good team? As a coach, here are the team characteristics you should be striving to nurture,…

My grandmother—a white woman of Scottish descent—was born 2 years after the 13th amendment was passed. The black-as-night Bajan man she married working as a chef, saving him from peonage laws and debtors’ prison. My mother was born at the height of the Jim Crow era, where you could lynch a black person for looking at you the wrong way. She was one of the first research scientists to work on the correlation between cigarettes and cancer. She received a janitor’s salary. The year I was born, interracial marriage was still illegal in the United States. Four years after I was born, schools were desegregated. Two generations. That’s all it’s…

— While more dads adopt the banner of feminism, what does that really mean? Here are five things that every feminist dad does: He is a true life partner. A feminist dad sees himself as equal to his spouse. He does not fall for either the “homemaker” or “sole breadwinner” stereotypes. He does not think that women should do the bulk of the domestic chores and childcare. He makes sure that everyone shares the day to day work like dishwashing and laundry and sees himself as a positive role model for his daughter. He supports his spouse in her career and adopts a flexible work schedule so he can be a…

Just before turning 18, my sister ran away from our mother’s house to live with her father (my mother’s ex.) I’m afraid it was my fault because she and I used to fight. She also fought with our mother. Now, our mom is worried that she’s lost her daughter, especially given how manipulative her ex (my sister’s father) can be. And I’m worried I’ve lost my sister. While we had our disagreements, we did get along and would talk about our personal problems with each other. I would like to continue that relationship. Is this situation my fault? Did I do anything wrong? Am I a bad sister? –Lonesome Sister;…