More Sleep Will Help Relieve Stress, Improve Relationships
As I’ve mentioned several times in this column, relationships can be tricky business. I dare say it is unrealistic to believe you will always be 100 percent in agreement and harmony with co-workers, family members, friends, etc. We’re all human and we all have our good days and our bad days. We have times when we are easy to get along with and times when we’re not much fun to be around. While it might be easy to blame others for our down moods, it is really our responsibility to control how we act and how we treat others. Others can...
read moreOverall Wellness
It seems that every era has certain buzzwords that permeate the society. I remember the terms cool and sharp and neato. Cool seems to have endured, but you don’t hear the others so much anymore. A buzzword for our era might be wellness. You hear it everywhere in terms of emotional wellness, physical wellness, spiritual wellness and my personal favorite — relationship wellness. Most of us have come to realize wellness doesn’t just happen. It typically requires some effort and forethought. As I mentioned last week, relationships do better...
read moreBetter Health Creates Better Relationships and A Better Outlook
I guess it’s because I’m approaching a milestone birthday that I find old songs and memories more frequently popping into my mind. A recent one is “Button Up Your Overcoat” whose authorship is somewhat in question. The song has a memorable chorus: “Oh, take good care of yourself, you belong to me.” It was a song written by a woman to her lover who is worried that something bad might happen to him and she would be devastated. She goes on to give him some advice on how best to prevent this from happening. One such verse is “Button...
read moreHow To Avoid Falling for a Jerk or Jerkette
I heard some really distressing news yesterday and, while I don’t want to ruin your day, I feel you must know of it also. When I was growing up – which I’m still working on by the way – there was not a term for sexually transmitted disease. I do remember hearing about syphilis, gonorrhea, and herpes, but that was about it. Today we use the abbreviation STD because everyone is aware, or should be, that sexually transmitted diseases are an epidemic in our society. This is especially true with our teen and young adult population. The...
read moreAll In the Family
I have been a mediator since 1987. For more than 24 years I have placed myself in between two or more people who are at odds with each other. If that doesn’t tell you I’m a sick man, I don’t know what will. But I have taken great joy in watching folks who thought they were enemies decide they need not be so any longer. Much of my mediation practice involves individuals who have created a child or children together and yet now have determined they can no longer continue to be a couple. Of these couples, an incredibly large number should...
read moreJerks and Jerkettes
It can be argued that two of the most important decisions we humans will make in life are in the areas of marriage and parenting. It seems odd to me, then, that we often enter into these important realms with little or no foresight and preparation. And, therefore, we should not be surprised to find we have a divorce rate that is abysmal and our children are joining gangs, doing drugs, hooking up, sexting and worse. I’m certainly not here to ruin your day, and it is also certainly true that there are a great number of young people in our...
read moreSome of Our Biggest Changes Happen When We Break From Our Routine
I often hear people talking about having an experience that was out of their “comfort zone.’’ When you stop to think about it, comfort zone is a most interesting concept. It’s sure to be different for each one of us, but we all have one. It’s the routine of life when we really don’t have to think very much about what we need to do or how we need to do it. At times the comfort zone could be used to describe when everything just seems to click and you find yourself in perfect peace. If you find yourself living there a majority of...
read moreParenTips – March
March 2009 “If my parenting really affects my children’s view of GOD, then how do I parent my children to see JESUS?” Without a doubt, the parent/child relationship is a mirror of our own relationship with CHRIST. JESUS said that we must enter the Kingdom of GOD as little children. (Luke 18:17) Childlike faith believes without reservation. All too often we approach GOD with many reservations. We slap labels on our reservations and call them: ‘taking a realistic approach’, ‘considering the circumstances’, ‘good judgment’,...
read moreParenTips – February
February 2009 It is clear, throughout scripture, that GOD initiated marriage and the family. However, if you read the Bible with the intent of finding role-model parents, you will find more failures than successes. There are many verses concerning parents, fathers, mothers, obedience and applicable topics to help us. There are just not many top-shelf examples of great parenting. If you do read the Bible looking for great parents to emulate, you might give up reading before you complete Genesis. The very first family was marred by a sibling...
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