Good Clean Reads

by Tina Tessina

The skills couples need to keep intimacy alive in a long-term relationship differ from new relationship intimacy skills, and they’re not obvious because people don’t talk about them. Most couples need to lower their expectations of romance and glamour and raise the level of fun they have together. Regular weekly talks (I call them State of the Union discussions) keep the problems...

I spent yesterday afternoon in the haunted cell block of Alcatraz with my curious teenagers. The boat ride over the sunny bay with the glistening San Francisco skyline as background belied the intensity of what was to come. Alcatraz, now a national park, is a shrine to the maximum security holding facility, infamous for being inescapable. Here was the solution for the mobsters and incorrigible...

by Anastasia Strgar

My boyfriend, an avid golfer, is playing in a golf tournament this weekend and thus came to me in our new home the other day letting me know that if he’s practicing a lot it’s A) because he loves to golf and B) because he really wants to play well this weekend. However, he also had kept in mind that A) we’re in the process of moving in and B) didn’t want me to feel like my...

“Marriage problems are relationship problems; they are the result of how two people interact with each other. You may abandon a troubled marriage, but you will still bring the way you interact with others along with you.” -Mark Gungor

 

It has been years since I have been close to a divorce; however, I have witnessed many others from a distance over the years, mostly through the vacant expressions...

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door shall be opened.”   -The Bible

This is the verse that often pops into my head unbidden of late. The more I practice focusing my thinking through gratitude, the more I know that what I am seeking is right there in...

by Anastasia Strgar

I consider myself blessed that, in this day and age, I grew up with parents whose marriage is not only in tact, but on the majority of days, happy. It’s easy to give up on marriage these days because we’re surrounded by celebrities who dispose of relationships as easily as they dispose of shoes or people who have false expectations about marriage. However, I think if you look...

"Sex without foreplay is like song's reff without intro. "— Toba Beta I have been grappling with the statistic that the average amount of foreplay that couples engage in is between 1-4 minutes, as reported on a recent Dr. Oz segment. This brief duration often means missing out on the best foreplay experiences that can enhance intimacy. I don't doubt it because I have received my share of calls and emails from customers who have shared similar stories and then wondered why the lubricant didn't work.

by Elizabeth Spannuth

When I was going through my divorce about 6 years ago, I realized that I have had a guilt complex for a good portion of my life. I don’t know where it came from, but it’s always been there. I have felt guilty for saying no, guilty for saying yes and guilty for saying maybe. I don’t know why it took me so long to recognize it, but once I did I saw how it had influenced so many...

I believe in passionate marriages, even as more and more books come out in support of the idea that monogamy is nothing but a political structure; I beg to differ. Done right, making love to the same person for decades can be an exploration of depth and surprise that is literally mind blowing. I know this is not the norm in our culture but I also feel it is important to bear witness to the wonder...