How to Improve Communication Challenges

July 7, 2007 at 12:35 am · Filed under Articles, Self Improvement

By Susie and Otto Collins
What are your communication challenges?
We all have developed communication challenges along the way–unhealthy patterns and ways of avoiding communicating what we are honestly feeling in situations.
For us, even though we have a great relationship and work hard at communicating clearly, we sometimes lapse into old patterns when conflict comes up. We’re guessing that many of you do the same.
When old patterns come up for Susie, they usually manifest in unhealthy ways like being afraid of speaking her truth if it’s unpleasant for the other person to hear, agreeing for the sake of keeping the peace, and not clearly asking for what she wants.
Otto’s communication challenges are making assumptions, imagining fear in the future, black and white thinking, and not speaking about what’s bothering him but letting things build up.
What gets in the way of your ability to communicate with the people in your life?
Are you immediately defensive when someone starts to criticize something you are doing or calls attention to something you could improve?
Do you think one thing and say another?
Is your mind always somewhere else instead of listening to the people in your life?
Take a few moments and write down the ways that you stop communication with other people. If you have a partner or a close friend, talk over your challenges with them.
Talk about ways that you might be able to stop yourself from going into some of these unhealthy communication patterns. Talk about how you’d like to communicate in your life.
Clear, honest communication is a skill that can be learned if you have the desire to do so. Making yourself aware of your particular communication issues is one of the first steps to creating close, connected relationships.

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Benefits of Kissing

June 7, 2007 at 10:14 am · Filed under Interesting, Self Improvement

Kiss more, and kiss longer. That's what some researchers are advising as the health benefits of kissing are revealed.

Matthew Messina, DDS, a dentist and consumer advisor for the American Dental Association, says the extra saliva produced during kissing washes bacteria off your teeth, which can help break down oral plaque. Bryant Stamford, PhD, director of the health promotion center at the University of Louisville notes kissing can help you lose calories. "During a really, really passionate kiss," he says, "you might lose two calories a minute - double your metabolic rate." Others claim that kissing exercises the facial muscles.

Stress relief is another health benefit of kissing. Psychologist Joy Davidson, PhD, likens kissing to meditation. "It stops the buzz in your mind, it quells anxiety, and it heightens the experience of being present in the moment. It actually produces a lot of the physiological changes that meditation produces," she says. The fact that kissing leads to touching is also a good thing. Touching and massaging release oxytocin, a hormone known to have a calming effect on the body.

Source: Soundmedicine

WebMD explains many of the physiological effects kissing can have on the body, from boosting immunity to burning calories.

And how to make passionate kissing? Click here to find out.

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Six ways to make your Guy loves you forever

June 5, 2007 at 6:53 pm · Filed under Articles, Interesting, Self Improvement

Just found this on the net. It's interesting and full of useful information that every girl should embrace it as a good knowledge. You may be surprised at the things guys really can’t resist about women, and some of them are the very qualities women fear will drive men away—from letting a curse word loose to leaving all kinds of makeup near his bathroom sink. Here’s why these habits and others actually win a man over.

1. He loves that you indulge at dinnertime.
Guys love girls who love to eat—not girls who say they aren’t hungry and then pick at their date’s food all night. Paul, 30, who lives in Boston, thinks that food may be the reason he fell in love with his fiancée: “When we first started dating, I thought it might be awkward if I wanted greasy food like wings—I figured she’d think it was fattening or unhealthy. Women I’d dated in the past only wanted to go out for salad or sushi. But she was enthusiastic about eating all kinds of things with me. I loved that easygoing attitude of hers.” Aside from showing that you’re not high-maintenance or neurotic about your weight, that kind of unabashed enthusiasm also tends to translate into other areas—including the bedroom. “A woman with a healthy appetite for food tends to have a healthy appetite on all levels, and sex is absolutely a part of that,” explains Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D., author of Emotional Fitness for Couples: 10 Minutes a Day to a Better Relationship. Read the rest of this entry »

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