It’s not always easy to be in a relationship, no matter how old you are. Conflicts are impossible to avoid, but if you have the right tools, you can avoid conflicts from becoming destructive. Below is a list of tips from our very own Dr. Romance about cultivating the healthiest relationship possible.

1. It’s not about who’s right or wrong it’s about solving the problem together. If you try to win...

by Elizabeth Spannuth

I need a new bed. One might think that the choice to get a new bed would be a no-brainer, but I am discovering that my attachment to my luxurious double pillow top friend is deeper than I ever knew. This was the first brand new bed that I can remember having. For 13 years it has given me hours of excellent rest and rejuvenation, as well as serving as a platform for various...

by Anastasia Strgar

“Change is a funny thing. We’re never quite sure of what we’re becoming or why. Then one day, we look at ourselves and wonder who we are and how we got there.” -Unknown

The nature of the current day relationship has changed. Infused with increasing technology invented to build and sustain relationships such as social media and online dating, along with the tragic endings of...

By Tina Tessina, PhD

Has your sex life gone to sleep? No matter what the old wives’ tales say about it, there’s no reason not to have sex in long-term relationships.  Sex not only will keep your love energized, it’s also fun exercise, a great stress-releaser, and aerobic: it raises your heart rate and your respiration — and you don’t even notice you’re working hard.

Here’s how to make it...

Margaret Wheatley was co-founder and president of The Berkana Institute. Deborah Frieze succeeded her. Berkana Institute partners with people developing healthy and resilient communities worldwide.  They co-authored Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now.The book and website of the same name is driving a movement of people all over the world who are...

“To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart.”  ~Thomas Watson, Sr.

It is not quite as easy as it looks to have your life story out in the open for everyone to see. I realize this again as I see myself in a full page story in the business section of our local paper. Compared to the picture last year when I won the angel conference which was a one...

“If you are not happy here and now, you never will be.” ~Taisen Deshimaru

Happiness has less to do with our life circumstances than I ever imagined.  According to researcher and author Sonja Lyubormirsky, our quotient for happiness is based 50% of our genetics, which is to say the complex brain and neural circuitry that we inherit from our parents and that create emotional set points for us all.

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“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”  ~Washington Irving

The...

“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.” -Albert Camus

Today was the memorial service for the doctor who recently took his own life. The local high school auditorium was full to capacity again, for yet another untimely death in our community. First I was struck by how many lives a single life touches. We are often so unaware of how many people we impact each day...

“I can’t change the fact that my paintings don’t sell. But the time will come when people will recognize that they are worth more than the value of the paints used in the picture.”  -Vincent van Gogh

Would Van Gogh ever have believed that his work would fetch millions? I know that he never made a penny witnessing and rendering the world in broad strokes of color. He stayed true to his vision...

“People do not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura of life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive.  It is as though they were traveling abroad. ” ~Marcel Proust

Recently a man shot himself in the head in his garden. I pass by his home every time I get the opportunity to walk...

“We should come home from adventures, and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character.” -Henry David Thoreau

The most memorable moment of the Banff Film Festival this weekend was the recollection by  James and Justin about their journey in a two man kayak Crossing the Ditch,which is another name for one of the most robust sea crossings; the Tasman sea, a 2000 plus kilometer...