Larry’s Note:Global Love Day is the creation of Harold Becker and is always celebrated on May 1st worldwide.
“It may be easy to look around our world today and see the appearance of chaos, difficulty and strife. Yet, when we come from an open heart, we can also see our opportunity to love all things into balance, joy, harmony and peace. This planet does not need more visions of desperation, fear, doubt and hate – it requires an abundance of love, especially unconditional love, to heal and restore the beauty contained in every moment. This becomes the easier path once we take the first step and begin to share our love.” ~ Harold Becker
Larry James is a professional speaker, author, relationship coach and a nondenominational Wedding Officiant. He performs the most “Romantic” wedding ceremony you will find anywhere.
NOTE: All articles and “LoveNotes” listed in this BLOG – written by Larry James – are available for reprint in magazines, periodicals, newsletters, newspapers, eZINEs, on the Internet or on your own Website. Click here for details.
Ask most men this question and you may get a response like this, “Beats me! I wish I knew!” Today we take a humorous look at one man’s opinion.
BONUS Video: Have another smile on me. . .
Videos – Copyright 2012 by The Brothers Winn. We are the Brothers Winn. One of us acts crazy in front of the camera while the other one hides behind it. We started the What you ought to know show in September of 2007, mostly because it seemed like the thing to do. We are the researchers, scriptwriters, actors, photographers, editors, web developers, and any other ‘ers’ that we need to be in order to get the show done. Visit their Website!
Larry James is a professional speaker, author, relationship coach and an award winning nondenominational Wedding Officiant. He performs the most “Romantic” wedding ceremony you will find anywhere.Something NEW about relationships is posted every 4th day on this Relationships BLOG.
NOTE: All articles and “LoveNotes” listed in this BLOG – written by Larry James – are available for reprint in magazines, periodicals, newsletters, newspapers, eZINEs, on the Internet or on your own Website. Click here for details.
Larry James is a professional speaker, author, relationship coach and a nondenominational minister. He performs the most “Romantic” wedding ceremony you will find anywhere. Something NEW about relationships is posted every 4th day on this Relationships BLOG.
NOTE: All articles and “LoveNotes” listed in this BLOG – written by Larry James – are available for reprint in magazines, periodicals, newsletters, newspapers, eZINEs, on the Internet or on your own Website. Click here for details.
Sometimes a close hug with our very own sweetheart can cause a lipstick stain on your collar. Here is a good way to come clean.
Dust cornstarch or baking soda on the telltale mark. Place a cloth or towel on an ironing board and lay the stain on top of it. Iron the wrong side of the stain to release the pigment. If any residue remains, try a gentle wash in dish washing liquid.
OR… whenever attempting to make the sexy smear disappear, gently “dab” the lipstick smudge with a white tissue until no more lifts off the garment and onto the hankie (use as many tissues as you need to reach this point, only dabbing a clean area onto the lipstick!). This is only your first step in removing the oily color-infused part of the lipstick. (Do not-I repeat, don’t “rub” with the tissue or you’ll just make the stain worse, and even that much harder to remove.)
Next, laying the stained area of your fabric onto a hard non-porous surface, completely cover the lipstick smear with a dry mini-mountain of baking soda. Using a dry, soft nail or spare toothbrush, in small stroking motions, “sweep” the remaining lipstick into the dry baking soda and vise-versa. At this stage, you’ll be amazed at how much more of the pigment and oil still comes out of the fabric attaching itself to the baking soda (which will turn very pink).
When you are certain that no more lipstick is coming out of the fabric, shake the color-infused baking soda into your nearest trash can-avoiding getting it on anything.
Although you will still see a ghost of the original mark, cover it again with a fresh heap of baking soda, but this time dribble a few drops of white vinegar onto the mound until it starts to bubble up. (You’ll like this part!)
When the vinegar-baking soda mixture finishes bubbling, add just a few drops of clear dish detergent to the area and scrub like the dickens. If the lipstick stain hasn’t disappeared completely, rinse the area in cold water, repeat the steps above, and then launder as usual. The telltale stain should be gone.
Remember “record players?” Remember this song? Watch the video below:
NOTE: All articles and “LoveNotes” listed in this BLOG – written by Larry James – are available for reprint in magazines, periodicals, newsletters, newspapers, eZINEs, on the Internet or on your own Website. Click here for details.
Modern technology is good thing! It often saves us time, and it can severely limit our ability to connect in a more intimate way to the people we love. While it might be good for business, it is not always great for our relationship!
Remember when dating simply meant a guy asking a girl for a date? Maybe he would call her up or maybe he would do it face-to-face. Today with e-mail, instant messages, texting, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, PDAs, iPads, iPhones, Blackberrys, other smart phones, social network sites user groups and other technology at our disposal things have really changed. We have found plenty of new ways to communicate and even more ways to mess it up. Where there’s a new technology, there’s a high potential of a relationship dissolving because of technology misuse.
I use technology a lot. We all do. Have you experienced the following scenario? You text someone or post a comment without thinking – on someone’s Facebook wall – and there’s that one person that takes the interaction completely out of context? The worst part is if they are your significant other or someone with whom you’re really close and it changes your interactions with them in real life. If you ask me, real life must take precedent over texting or Facebook.
Today it seems that the old-time intimate conversations of the past are fading away. I choose not to have this happen!
The world has become a place where I see people looking at their phones and laughing because the person next to them texted them. Really? “They are sitting NEXT to you! Look over, give them a smile and COMMUNICATE aloud with them!”
I love technology, but there’s just something missing when texting or Facebook messaging or whatever else someone is using is the only mode of communication.
It is easy for misunderstandings to occur through text messages. It’s impossible to hear the tone of the other person’s voice when texting.
Interpersonal communication is something that should be stressed to the younger generation because even people as young as high school and college students are spending way too much time on their cell phones or laptops and less time interacting in person.
Larry’s NOTE: A special “thank you” to Christie Maillet for contributing the following 6 “keep communication real” tips. Visit her Website at: http://HelloBeautiful.com.
1. Spend less time texting and more time talking on the phone – the voice inflections are just as important as body language.
2. Limit your time communicating via laptop/computer. Spend time out with your friends hanging out and talking (but don’t text the whole time!)
3. Enjoy the moment. Don’t ignore the friend in front of you just because another friend texted you.
4. Don’t talk about serious topics over text message. Save those conversations for over the phone, or preferably, in person.
5. Don’t take anything too seriously over text message or IM. The only real way to know how someone meant to say something is to ask them on the phone or in person.
6. The only way to get to know someone well is by spending time with them in person. Texting and Facebook messaging give you a false sense of “knowing” someone – if you don’t know their voice inflections or their body language, how do you really know if you’re that close?
It’s important to get back to the very foundation of good communication to truly know where we stand in the world. Hopefully if people actually get to “know” others and don’t let technology be a crutch, we won’t have to revert to The Matrix for reference someday.
Certainly if you are in a long-distance relationship it’s important to stay in touch. The technology rules are a little different for this kind of relationship. But be careful. It’s very easy to misinterpret the tone of a text message.
Hmmm. An example of a little of that modern technology above.
NOTE: All articles and “LoveNotes” listed in this BLOG – written by Larry James – are available for reprint in magazines, periodicals, newsletters, newspapers, eZINEs, on the Internet or on your own Website. Click here for details.
Tonight – man or woman – if you are in a relationship, how about surprising your partner with a single long-stem red rose bud? Followed – of course – by a warm hug.
And. . . give your sweetheart this rose bud for no reason other than to express love. Giving someone the gift of love does not have to be for a special occasion.
A red rose bud means, “I love you!”
Choose the single rose bud carefully. Smell all your options. Look at the petals for signs of fading, browning or simple imbalance. Check the petals. Make sure that they have no bruises and show no signs of being crushed. Detect the foliage and leaves. They should be as green as possible and show no sign of wither.
Find the most perfect single red rose bud and your partner will know how much time and energy you spent by your careful selection.
Always pick a bud, never a rose, because an opened rose will fade very quickly and die within a day or two. The firmer the rose bud, the fuller and fresher the rose will be when it opens.
Some stores that sell roses will provide you a with a packet of preserving powder to add to your flower’s water to keep it fresh longer. Be sure the rose bud you buy has a tiny water container on the end of the stem.
Lightly mist the petals with water so that the rose bud will stay fresh until you give it. Cut flowers are plants without roots. That means the only food they have is the sugar stored in the leaves and stems. This sugar is produced during the daylight hours. That means you make your flowers last longer if you supply them with extra food.
A single rose stands for simplicity. It’s the traditional symbol for love and romance; love that is deep and eternal, the stuff that romance novels are written about. In full bloom, it means “I love you” and a bouquet of roses in full bloom signifies gratitude. Their scent and their color are an almost irreplaceable element of your romantic fervor.
Everyone knows that a red rose is a symbol for love but did you know that when you give a bouquet of red roses, it signals unity?
“The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose.” ~ Heda Bejar
NOTE: All articles and “LoveNotes” listed in this BLOG – written by Larry James – are available for reprint in magazines, periodicals, newsletters, newspapers, eZINEs, on the Internet or on your own Website. Click here for details.
Perhaps the title of this article should be. . . “Change Your Relationship. . . Start Fresh!” Stop for a moment and read the title you just read again – out loud. It sounds compelling. Right?
How nice would it be if it were all that easy. To begin again. To step away from and forgive each other for mistakes that were made and to take a first step in the right direction – together, while you are still afraid.
One of the reasons we have relationships is to learn more about them, to learn from them and to learn from each other, yet many people who are in them do not know “how” to be in them, what is expected of them or what do do once they are in them.
Fear is the real reason most relationships don’t work. The law of physics says that two things cannot occupy the same space. The awkward truth is that real Love cannot exist in the presence of fear.
“But there’s a deeper problem: the concept of the fresh start suggests a very bizarre notion of the self. It implies that you can “stand back” from your personality characteristics, nominate some of them for change, then set to work. But, obviously, we are those characteristics; they define us. The self doing the work is the self being acted upon. This needn’t mean change is impossible – clearly, it isn’t – but it makes things vastly more complicated. It means we’re inescapably implicated in what we’re trying to leave behind, and it makes the idea of a fresh start highly suspect. Start Where You Are is the title of three different books on happiness, but the real point isn’t that you ought to start where you are; it’s that you have no option: you are where you are.” ~ Oliver Burkeman
So. . . if you “are where you are,” where does a genuine fresh start begin? Notice I didn’t say, “when.” The “when” is NOW! And the sooner the better! You begin where you are! You can’t plan to do it. You just have to begin. It takes one giant leap of faith. It is NOT like a New Years resolution. It’s a stand you take for your relationship; one that pumps new life into it. The first step usually jump-starts the relationship. And it will re-energized the both of you.
“My Mama always said you’ve got to put the past behind you before you can move on.” ~ From the movie, Forrest Gump
First, there is no easy first step. Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. It doesn’t happen overnight and it is possible. Start small. You need to understand this. A fresh start begins with small steps.
To paraphrase Mark Twain: “The secret of beginning again is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking what seems like enormously complex tasks that feel overwhelming into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
You must be brave. It takes courage. Confession is good for the soul. Begin by admitting to yourself what is really going on and taking responsibility for your share of the problems in the relationship. Forgive yourself for past errors. Make yourself a promise to – next time – choose wisely what you say and what you do.
Next, (this is the brave part) start something new! Begin a conversation with your partner about what you are thinking and feeling in terms of the relationship and that your intention is to work together to make it better. No blame. Just constructive conversation. Make some new promises to each other.
(NOTE:Do no allow fear to rear its ugly head!). Feel the fear and do it anyway. Let go of all concerns except one. . . your concern about doing everything possible to get on with a better life with your partner. Have no undelivered communication. Be determined to have regular communication.
Talk about how you felt when you were first together and work to recreate those feelings. Those feelings won’t be the same, but taking about them will move you forward and – at least – you will begin to feel better about your relationship than you do right now. Plan to have fun together. Laughing together is one great way to bring some joy back into your relationship.
Forgive and forget doesn’t work. You will not forget, and with time, the hurts of the past will heal. Never, I repeat, never bring up the past once you have made your fresh start. It only reopens the wound. There is no future in the past. Let it go.
If you want to fix your relationship you have to do the work. Make a decision together that you both want a fresh start in your relationship. . . then begin.
NOTE: The title of this article is taken from words in the movie, “The Legend of 1900.” It’s about the nature of art, the power of music, the mystery of friendship and love. Most of all, it’s about how our fears prevent us from experiencing the immensity of life. I recommend that you watch it. – Larry James
NOTE: All articles and “LoveNotes” listed in this BLOG – written by Larry James – are available for reprint in magazines, periodicals, newsletters, newspapers, eZINEs, on the Internet or on your own Website. Click here for details.
Every three days, more Americans die from sudden cardiac arrest than the number who died in the 9-11 attacks. You can lessen this recurring loss by learning Continuous Chest Compression CPR, a hands-only CPR method that doubles a person’s chance of surviving cardiac arrest.
It’s easy and does not require mouth-to-mouth contact, making it more likely bystanders will try to help, and it was developed at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.
• This is a new, much simpler, CPR technique.
• This is a very important video regarding the latest CPR procedure.
• Please watch and forward the BLOG link to your friends and family if you haven’t already done so.
• You never know, a life may be saved utilizing this new procedure.
“This video is worth sharing,” said Gordon A. Ewy, MD, director of the UA Sarver Heart Center and one of the research pioneers who developed this method.
Be a Lifesaver with Continuous Chest Compression CPR
If you see someone collapse who isn’t responsive and has trouble breathing:
1. Tell someone to call 911 or make the call yourself.
2. Position the person with the back on the floor. Place the heel of one hand on the center of the chest (between the nipples) and the heel of the other hand on top of the first. Lock your elbows, position your shoulders over your hands and use your upper-body weight to “fall” downward. Lift your hands slightly each time to allow the chest wall to recoil. Try to compress at 100 beats per minute and about 2 inches deep until emergency help arrives.
Note: Mouth-to-mouth CPR still is recommended for drowning and very small children.
Larry James is a professional speaker, author, relationship coach and a nondenominational minister. He performs the most “Romantic” wedding ceremony you will find anywhere.
NOTE: All articles and “LoveNotes” listed in this BLOG – written by Larry James – are available for reprint in magazines, periodicals, newsletters, newspapers, eZINEs, on the Internet or on your own Website. Click here for details.
NOTE: All articles and “LoveNotes” listed in this BLOG – written by Larry James – are available for reprint in magazines, periodicals, newsletters, newspapers, eZINEs, on the Internet or on your own Website. Click here for details.