Showing posts with label intimacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label intimacy. Show all posts

Friday, May 8, 2009

Life Vows-How to Lift Morale or Kill it!

When I was growing up the philosophy about raising children in my family did not subscribe to lifting moral.

It was about criticizing instead of praising.

I suspect that a lot of us grew up that way. If that was the way your family operated that is the behaviors you will bring into your marriage. It’s important for you to be aware of how you point out faults or criticize each other.

It has been proven that the less we criticize and the more we praise, the more cooperative and successful people will become.

Here is a great story that points up why it’s important to praise and say ‘thank you” instead of criticize.

Read more:

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Writing Wedding Vows-Heading off the Infidelity Problem Before It Happens

Lately I am hearing all sorts of news about the problems with new marriages. This last item was about infidelity. It’s estimated that within the first year anywhere from 20%-50% of couples will have been unfaithful to their partners. The explanation is that this is a cry for help because of intimacy issues! It forces conversation and help.

The best time to talk about infidelity is not after it happens but before it happens, when you are sitting down and in the process of writing your wedding vows. That’s why I put together my innovative and unique perspective around writing wedding or commitment vows.

BECAUSE I WANT YOU TO HAVE EVERY CHANCE POSSIBLE TO HAVE A HAPPY, PASSIONATE AND INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP.

IT DOESN’T JUST HAPPEN.

A STRONG INTIMATE MARRIAGE HAS TO BE PLANNED FOR!

It begins by having those intimate talks BEFORE, not after there are problems.

When you know what it is you are working for, have a vision and goals, you have something out in front of you that you can direct your energies to and gather your activities and actions around.

By casually repeating vows you haven’t written yourself, or writing vows by yourself with no conversation, you are squandering the most important and energetic time you will ever have in your life!

If you don’t sit down and consciously and specifically get clear about what it is you want for yourself and for your marriage you have no rudder, no sails, and no wind!

Your dream or vision creates the goals. Those goals are the rudder. The sails are the actions you take to work towards and accomplish those goals and the wind is the passion and intimacy that grows and expands and gets stronger and stronger.

Sit down together and talk about the life you want to create together. Talk about careers, and children, sex and money, family, houses, cars, vacations, philanthropy, etc.

Talk about it NOW! Not later when there are so many problems that some of them cannot be overcome.

You will have the best chance for happiness if you know what makes you happy and you make plans on how to keep that happiness, intimacy, love and passion alive.You think that because you are infused with energy and passion now it will last all on its own. It may.

But most likely it won’t because there is too much competition for your time and energy these days. You’ve got to craft a dream, a vision, a set of life goals for yourselves, then write your vows promising what you will do to keep that dream alive.

Then keep reading those vows every day.

You CAN have a happy and long life together. But you’ve got to PLAN for it! You begin by writing your wedding or commitment vows TOGETHER IN SHARED CONVERSATION WHERE YOU WRITE DOWN THE DREAM YOU HAVE FOR YOUR LIFE TOGETHER!

Then follow the 10 Commandments of Marriage, which mainly is about doing little things every day to keep it all alive and thriving.

I have a totally free copy of the 10 Commandments of Marrriage for you. Totally free means that you will not even have to leave your Email address. Because it’s my gift to you! 10 Commandments

Love, light and laughter,

Rev. Linda Bardes

The Wedding Vow Coach

Helping couples write down the dream and then live it!

I have an innovative and unique philosophy around writing vows. You can read more about it here: www.WeddingVowsandCeremonies.com

Friday, March 6, 2009

Writing Wedding Vows-How to Give the Perfect Smooch!

When writing wedding vows maybe it would be a good idea to promise to ‘practice kissing every day.’ Not just a little peck on the check, or a brush of the lips, but the real endorphin popping smooch!

Because studies on kissing have unlocked the secret behind that perfect smooch. And it begins with the chemistry.

A passionate snog sets off a chain reaction, releasing sexually-charged hormones and pheromones into the brain. The whole brain (and body) is involved.

Psychology professor Wendy Hill, of Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, said: “We tend to think about who we are kissing and how it feels, but there are a lot of other things happening.

“This study shows that kissing is more complex and causes hormonal changes that we never thought occurred.”


Scientific research has led experts to believe pheromones exist in our saliva, giving off unconscious signals that boost human arousal. Which is why we see those women on The Bachelor engaging in passionate kissing a lot.

They know what they are doing. Science is finally catching up and explaining it in rather dull terms but what it’s all about is keeping your relationship alive and passionate and thriving.

This is not a joke. Not by a long shot, because one of the 2 biggest reasons couples give for that 50% divorce rate is sex. Or lack of it.

I’m asking you to be very mindful about those hormones. In a previous article I wrote about how we trigger hormones just by touching and doing little things for each other.

I’m all about using nature to do a lot of the relationship work!

I want you to keep on training your cells to get into the habit of feeling good about each other.

I want you to have such a bond with each other that just being in the same room makes you feel good.

I want you to get so used to doing the little things that the big things take care of themselves.

In the morning going off to work is probably not the best time for that long, wet, passionate kiss. Choose your time. But every day I want you to put into your relationship bank account one big, long, sloppy kiss!

What happens after that is up to you.

Laugh about this article if you want but I’m right on serious about it.

You’ve got to keep the intimacy alive, and you’ve got to be mindful about that. Which is why I say that it’s the little things that will make or break your relationship.

You’ve got to practice, practice, practice the little things until they become the big things and everything else is easily put into perspective and handled when they show up.

Not two months later when there is no touching, no kissing, and you are angry about everything except what you started out being angry about.

Write it into your vows: “I promise to give you a big, sloppy, passionate kiss every day of our life we are together!”

Would you believe it . . . there are kissing schools. You might want to check into it to see if there is something you’ve missed!

Don’t forget to sign up for the RSS feeds to keep on getting all this good stuff. After all, who else is going to tell you that you have to keep on smooching.

Visit the main page to learn more about writing wedding vows if you’re still in the ‘before the ceremony’ planning stage. There’s also good stuff on the Wedding Vow blog. www.WeddingVowsandCeremonies.com

Keep on kissing.

Love, light and laughter,

Rev. Linda Bardes, The Wedding Vow Coach

Helping couples write down the dream and then live it!