The research on gratitude keeps demonstrating how powerful a positive intervention of having gratitude in our lives can be.  To acknowledge someone for being in your life is one of the most dynamic ways to increase your well-being and the well-being of others.  This exercise works best if you write it down, and even better if you can deliver a letter of gratitude to the person involved.  Here’s how it works.

For more information about counseling and psychology, check out my site at RMarcAndrews.com

Top athletes know there’s truth in the, ‘no pain, no gain‘ cliche. Similarly, partners in healthy, strong relationships recognize love is a daily discipline, replete with exercises, that keep their hearts and minds supple and strong.

For more information about counseling and psychology, check out my site at RMarcAndrews.com

One of the biggest reasons so many of us hold disdain for New Year’s resolutions or abandon our original goals come February is because we tend to pick goals that aren’t meaningful to us.

Try these 9 tips
1) Determine why you’re choosing your goal
2) Consider if the resolution is kind and loving
3) Consider if your goal is focused on the destination or the journey
4) Pick unexpressed values for your goals
5) Avoid rigid, restrictive goals
6) Keep your goals open and broad
7) Tune into your body
Satisfy your true hungers
9) Remember that resolutions are optional

For more information about counseling and psychology, check out my site at RMarcAndrews.com

Gay in America: A Photographic Tapestry of Faceted Humanity

Please take a look at these Pic., that are very moving and show that we are an amazing group of people.

For more information about counseling and psychology, check out my site at RMarcAndrews.com

Polyamory on rise among divorce-disgusted Americans

To naturally energize feelings of love and safety between you and your partner, here’s a list off 20 actions that, essentially, amp up the love by amping up one another’s sense of safety in the relationship.

1. Show interest in what your partner says by pausing to make eye contact, drawing near to listen.
2. Physically touch your partner before you get out of bed in the morning.
3. Express nonsexual affection with hugs, touching, holding hands, embracing, and the like.
4. Give a 20-second hug to your partner, at mutually agreed upon times, such as before leaving for work.
5. Talk about a trait you appreciate about your partner when both of you are present with family.
6. Send an “I’m thinking of you” message via email or text at least once during work hours.
7. Say one thing you admire about your partner, when they are not present, to a family member(s).
8. Give your partner a 5- or 10-second kiss at least once each day.
9. Look warmly into your partner’s eyes for a few seconds before and after a kiss.
10. Express something you appreciate about your partner, when they are not present, to a friend(s).
11. Tenderly touch your partner before you turn to go to sleep.
12. Say something you appreciate about the other when both of you are present with friends.
13. Massage your partner’s feet and look warmly into their their eyes (take turns).
14. Listen empathically when your partner vents without giving advice, and validate their feelings.
15. Affirm your partner’s love-actions with statements as, “I love when you express your love by …”
16. Tell your partner what you love about their physical appearance with a warm smile, eye contact and touch.
17. Find humor in something that would normally be a frustration for you, and make one another laugh instead.
18. Smile warmly at one another in key moments, locking eyes for 5 seconds.
19. Ask positive momentum questions, ones that start with, “Isn’t it wonderful that … ?”
20. Express awe for something you love about life with enthusiasm with, “I love that … how about you?”

For more information about counseling and psychology, check out my site at RMarcAndrews.com

• Gay men are more likely to be pedophiles than heterosexual men.

While that myth was proved wrong by the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other professional medical groups, it persists. The state of Florida cited this myth in banning gay adoptions, until the law was stricken down by a federal court in 2010.

To read the other 5 misconceptions, take a look at the full article.

It scares us to feel disconnected from those we love; yet it also scares us when the other does not see, and value, who we are and the unique contributions we yearn to bring to life and key relationships. Upsetting emotions, when not regulated, release high levels of stress hormones in the body.

Like other parts of the nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system operates through a series of interconnected neurons. Fortunately, it works in complementary fashion, as a team and not opposition, with the parasympathetic nervous system.

Whereas the sympathetic is an instant response that prepares you to have extraordinary strength to fight or flee, and the parasympathetic nervous system, in contrast, is a gradual response that restores a relative balance to the energies of your body and mind. We can learn to regular anger and fear in ways that we calm our mind and body.

The gift of listening to one another for understanding, when applied skillfully, is one of the most powerful regulators of fear.

For more information about counseling and psychology, check out my site at RMarcAndrews.com