Am I Committed to Marriage or Will I Be Committed?
Photo courtesy joedonovanbrown What does it mean to be committed to something? Am I to give everything for the sake of my commitment? Will I lose myself because of my commitment? We make commitments all the time. To jobs, community, creditors, family, spouse. At the...
Parenting 101 According to American Idol
Photo courtesy Txallekat It seemed like a typical beginning to a Monday morning for the rest of us, for them, it was a chance of a lifetime. As the sun peaked over the horizon and simply yawned itself awake, to them it was as if it was exploding onto the scene...
Marital espresso: Wake up to an intentional marriage.
Photo courtesy Scott Beale / Laughing Squid As much as possible, I strive to be very intentional in my marriage. To be aware of what is just below the surface between us and try to bring it up to the light. To be more conscious about my choices in my marriage and my...
How to Have an Affair… With Your Spouse.
Picture courtesy of Epbizah. If you have been married for any length of time, it is likely that there have been times when passion and adventure waned. Routine and survival becomes the focus. It is also very likely that throughout the course of a marriage, the...
How to unplug from cyber space and plug into marriage.
There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of...
How to keep a simple home with kids (Plus: Here's to Bavarian sugar cookies)
The following is contributed from Leo Babauta. Leo and his wife have six children and his other work can be found at zenhabits.net. Any parent knows that kids create clutter like nobody's business. It's enough to drive a simplifier such as myself crazy. Still, with a...
How to impress people and tick them off at the same time.
It's time to face the facts, we all have some concern about what others think of us. If we didn't, then the time we spent picking out our clothes, preparing ourselves for going out, worrying about what we drive, or where we live would not take near as long as it does....
How to have passion and adventure in marriage with kids still living at home.
During the month of January there are going to be a series of "how to" articles dealing with life and relationship design. To kick off this series, let's tackle the fact that while there are children in the home the marriage relationship often seems to be thrown to...
A bonsai marriage or marriage fully alive?
Have you noticed how marriage continues to be a big part of American culture? Even though the divorce rate still is hovering around the 50% level, people continue to get married. Marriage holds a special place in most people's life. We all want to be involved in...
The greatest human weakness.
"It's no use, we've failed." "If some things don't change, I want a divorce." "I regret to inform you but that mass we removed is cancerous." What strikes me about news like this is the wide variety of ways it is received by people. Why is it that one person will hear...
No more “shoulds” this holiday
The other day while thinking over my seasonal to do list, I kept referring to each line item as "I should do this" or "I should do that." It occurred to me that all the items on my list were things I put there for some reason, but were they really that important. If I...
Relationship rebooting
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don't much care where ..." said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat. ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in...