Keep Your Love Strong Long After Valentine’s Day

February 13, 2013 By Meredith Hansen

 

When you love someone, it’s important to show them how much you care and how much they matter to you. Flowers on Valentine’s Day or a special dinner on your anniversary are nice gestures that will of course be appreciated by your partner, but if you really want to make your love last, you must put effort into your relationship all year.

Below are some tips for keeping your relationship strong. Think about these tips tomorrow on Valentine’s Day and continue to reflect on them throughout the year.

1)      Be vulnerable. Get in the habit of sharing your feelings instead of your thoughts. When you argue with your partner, the facts do not matter

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Relationship Resolutions

December 31, 2012 By Meredith Hansen

‘Tis the season to begin thinking about your New Year’s Resolutions.

As important as it is to identify personal resolutions, it is also important to think about relationship resolutions. Below are a few tips to help you and your honey get on this same page in 2013.

-      Set a time to sit down together or go for a long walk. Begin by acknowledging the positives aspects of your relationship.

-      Next focus on areas for growth, not necessarily change. Pinpoint

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Filed Under: Marriage Success Secrets, Newlywed Tips, Repair Your Relationship, Weekly Love Tip Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Finding Love After a Divorce or Breakup

November 9, 2012 By Meredith Hansen

Being newly single can definitely feel overwhelming at times. At any given point you may feel a mix of emotions from excitement and hope to fear, worry, regret, and so on. Entering the dating pool after a divorce or breakup is not always easy, but for those of you looking to find love again, there are some ways to ease into the process and reduce anxiety, fear of rejection, and disappointment.

Take the Time to Emotionally Heal – First you have to spend time emotionally healing from the divorce or breakup, and adjust to being single. Before you know it, well-intentioned friends and family will be asking you about your dating life, but don’t

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Filed Under: A Healthy You, Dating, Weekly Love Tip Tagged With: , , , ,

Relationship Red Flags

October 28, 2012 By Meredith Hansen

Has this ever happened to you?

You meet someone, hit it off, and start thinking to yourself, “Maybe this could be the one!”

Shortly thereafter you begin to notice little things (i.e. they don’t get along with your friends, they never invite you over to their place, they always seem to forget their wallet, they speak negatively about their family or ex, they’re alarmingly rude to the waiter, etc.).

When you start noticing odd behaviors in a new mate, you have a choice. You can either choose to pay attention to these behaviors and learn more about them, or ignore them.

Paying attention means that you become curious about

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Don’t Forget About YOU!

September 28, 2012 By Meredith Hansen

Regardless of your relationship status, it is always important for you to focus on yourself, to continue to grow as an individual, and to foster your personal relationships. Find out why below.

FIND LOVE TIP:

If you’re in the process of looking for love, it is essential that you continue to nurture your social life. Meeting new people, trying new activities, and tending to your social network is a great way to jump-start this process. Not only will being socially active broaden your pool of people to choose from, but it will

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Filed Under: A Healthy You, Finding Love, Marriage Success Secrets, Strong Marriage, Weekly Love Tip Tagged With: , , ,

The Power of Listening

September 14, 2012 By Meredith Hansen

Whether you’re in a relationship or currently looking for love, listening is an essential tool that you must master in order to have a successful relationship.

FIND LOVE TIP:

It is really common for people on a date to get caught up in themselves (how they look, how they’re coming across, if the other person is interested in them, etc.) and to lose track of their date (What am I learning about them? Are we compatible?

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Filed Under: Communication, Dating, Marriage Success Secrets, Strong Marriage, Weekly Love Tip Tagged With: , , ,

Open-Ended Questions

September 13, 2012 By Meredith Hansen

An open-ended question encourages a meaningful, complete response. It is a communication technique used to gain deeper access into a person’s thoughts and feelings. When utilized correctly, open-ended questions can strengthen a relationship, help us understand a person’s point of view, needs, and feelings, increase empathy, and assess if someone is a good fit for us.

Unfortunately, most people tend to ask closed-ended questions, which usually elicit a “yes” or “no” or one word response. The problem with closed-ended questions is that they do not foster

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The “June Gloom” Effect

June 22, 2012 By Meredith Hansen

If you live in Southern California you are probably all too familiar with term “June Gloom.”

It’s that time of year when, just as our days begin to get longer and the smell of summer begins to fill the air, the marine layer thickens and the sunny, warm days we long for are instead grey, gloomy, and overcast.

To make matters worse, somehow “June Gloom” tends to exist mostly on the weekends. During the week while we’re in the office, the sun brightly shines inviting fantasies of weekends at the beach, pool, park, etc, but then when the weekend finally arrives that marine layer seems to hold strong, preventing the

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Filed Under: Communication, Marriage Success Secrets, Strong Marriage, Weekly Love Tip Tagged With: , , ,

Healing Your Broken Heart

May 25, 2012 By Meredith Hansen

Love is amazingly powerful. When we’re in love we feel on top of the world, as if we can do or be anything. Conversely, when we lose love, we feel as though life as we know it has ended.

One of the most painful experiences a person can go through in life is true heartbreak.  Ending a relationship with someone you were in love with can be an emotionally devastating experience. Common symptoms of heartbreak include: feeling empty, broken, unlovable, not good enough, hollow, pathetic, and depressed. Most people suffering from a broken heart avoid social situations, dread upcoming holidays, shy away from activities they once enjoyed, desire solitude, seek pain relief from substances, and report feeling as if their heart has been ripped out of their chest. There is no question that heartbreak is painful, lonely, and

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Simple Secrets to Help Strengthen Your Marriage

May 18, 2012 By Meredith Hansen

One key to a lasting, healthy relationship is to put effort into it daily. Most people believe that they need a romantic getaway or an expensive dinner to get the passion back, but the truth is small efforts make all the difference.

If you’ve been feeling a little distant from your partner lately or you want your relationship to remain healthy and satisfying, implement at least one item from the list below every day and your relationship will thrive.

  1. Get physical every day. Physical connection is really important in a marriage.  Every day make an effort to hug, kiss for 7 seconds,

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