How to give a gift a day to you and yours

Do you give gifts only on birthdays, special occasions, and Holidays? Instead of the Twelve days of Christmas or eight days of Channukah, what about the 365 days of the year?

I'm talking about giving yourself and your partner a gift each day. No I'm not talking about spending money, I'm speaking about sharing something every day.

Giving such a daily gift isn't difficult; I'll give you an example.

Awesome Alliterative A-Z for Relationships- a contest

Okay, folks, I'm setting myself a challenge for this blog in 2010; I'm going to write a post every other week based on an alliterative phrase. The challenge is to create a phrase about relationships for each letter of the alphabet, and I need your help.

You see, I want this to be fun for me to write and for you to read, so your input will be greatly appreciated. I love words, and I can make up phrases, but it's more challenging if you come up with some too. (You could be much better at it than I am.)

Here's some I've thought about:

For A- Awful actions accelerate acrimonious allegations.
For C- Consider caring compliments to create closeness.
or better yet for C-
Cthulhu can't create caring compliments. ;)

As you can see, I have some serious ones and some not so serious ones to pick from, but I'd love a choice for each letter.

So, all you wordsmiths (or comedians) out there, give it a shot. Create phrases using as much alliteration as you can stand, but make sure they have something to do with relationships. They can be funny, serious, or just plain common sense. Put the phrases here in the comments along with any explaining you think you have to do.

It's a contest because I'll pick phrases that inspire me (or just plain make me laugh) and I'll write about them. If I have more than one for a letter, I may write about both. But I can't write about any of your ideas if you don't put them here! (Can't win it if you aren't in it.)

Please post your wonderfully witty words in the comments.

Good luck and thanks for the inspiration!

Awesomeness written so far (click the letter to see the post): A, B, C, D, D2, E, F, G,  H, H2, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

Snow on the beach and relationships

I took a nice long walk with Thor today on the shoreline. It was strange to see snow on the beach, but I'm not sure why. I guess because the beach is always associated with summer and hot weather. Well, living at this NJ beach has taught me that's not always true.

It's like assumptions people make about relationships.

What will you do next Tiger?

Walking through Newark airport I saw a wall ad with Tiger looking down at his golf ball in the rough. The tagline? "What matters is what you do next." I found it ironic and prophetic. I wonder how long it will stay up there. What will Tiger do next?

Tiger aside, "What matters is what you do next" is a great motto to follow in your relationship (no, not what Tiger did) but keeping in mind your next action, your next choice.

Things, things, things don't make a life....

These last few days I've had the distinct pleasure and sad task of helping a friend clean out his mother's condo. His mother passed away a few months ago, but as he lives in NJ and his mother lived in FL, it's been a tough road to get down here to do this.

Not surprisingly, it has been really hard.

Surprisingly, it had made me think... allot.

Intrinsic worth- a valuable part of any relationship

The way you feel about yourself, self esteem, is important to how you perceive the world and interact with others. It seriously affects your relationships, too. Sadly, too many people in this world suffer from unhealthy self esteem.

There are two forms of unhealthy self esteem.

Survive and Thrive for the Holidays

The holiday season is probably the most stressful time of the year, and every year millions of people suffer from the holiday blues. Theses are feelings of sadness, tiredness, lack of motivation, decrease in energy and irritability. It is not unusual for people to “crash” after the holidays in reaction to the events and stresses involved.

Even positive events (like the Holidays) can be stressful because of the expectations, planning, doing, and juggling of a variety of events. Other stresses come from relatives, finances (especially this year!), emotional demands to have the perfect time, and the physical demands of battling the crowds, making it to all the parties and over indulging in food and drink.

Below are some ways to help alleviate holiday stress and avoid the holiday blues.

Do what you say and only say what you'll do

Over the past few months I have been watching a friend deal with an unethical business associate. Unfortunately and sadly, my friend is getting shafted.

You see, the guy promises, says he's going to do certain things, then doesn't. He claims he's sending money to pay a debt he owes, and the money doesn't appear. When he is confronted, he makes excuses, blames the bank, says he'll do it tomorrow.

"Check's in the mail." Right!

He's burning bridges and doesn't realize it. He thinks he's getting away with things, but he's not, and his lies will bite him some day.

This happens in relationships, too.

To wave or not to wave, that is the question!

Over Thanksgiving week I caught up with some friends who had moved to North Carolina from New Jersey a few years ago. We were talking about the differences in cultures between NJ and their new home state. (And, boy, were there allot!)

Before you get worried, this is not a post bashing one state or another. Actually, something they said got me to thinking about relationships.

You see, my friend, Sally, noted that in NC when she goes for a walk, the people driving by more-often-than-not wave at her. She said it was weird at first because no one in NJ waves, and if you as a walker wave to Jersians, they often avert their gaze or look totally surprised. We had a laugh at how she and her husband, when visiting friends in NJ, made it a game to wave while walking and see if anyone waved back. They said none did.

I'm not saying either way is right. What it made me think of is how the customs of where one lives effects one's reactions and behaviors.

You see, you are impacted in your thoughts/feelings/actions by two cultures. Two inputs.