By: Valerie Dei Do you have someone in your life that is battling with weight loss? Or a partner that is overweight but you do not know how to help out with the weight loss journey for fear of hurting your partner’s feeling? Well, it is okay to feel this way but it is also very possible to go about this without hurting their feelings. If you have decided to take this bold step, It is very important to be gentle and non-judgmental. Note that your spouse needs to make this decision of losing weight before you can help. When that decision has been made you can then support with the following guide: Be a major source of Encouragement: Always try to be appreciative of the little success you partner makes at a time. Research shows that people that successfully lose weight are those that had people encouraging them to…

As a relationship gets older, trust is often times misplaced or misunderstood. Most times because of the fact that majority of us before getting into a relationship do not take out time to know how much trust means to you and your partner and we also do not take out time to communicate our expectations in the relationship to one another. Before you can build trust it is important to take out time to know the mindset your partner is bringing into the relationship or the expectations he has concerning the relationship. When these have been achieved trust becomes easier to build. Here are 8 ways to build trust in your relationship. Trust is Earned: do not assume that trust already exists in your relationship rather constantly work to earn it by being conscious of our actions and how it affects the people we care about. Keep Secrets: this doesn’t…

Emotions are part of us as humans. Most of the times, we take decisions based on our emotions but as much as it is a very important part of our life it is good that we have control over it and not let our feelings control us. The way we feel at certain points is quite difficult to manage especially when we have reached our breaking point. It may sometimes lead to bottling up emotions which serve as the best poison to mess up your perfectly healthy relationship, work life, and even casual friendships. How then do we get a handle on our feelings when we have reached our breaking point? How do you stop bottling up your emotions? It’s a tough practice, but I’ve got a few answers. Let’s try them out. CHECK IN WITH YOUR FEELINGS DAILY Feelings can get the better part of us sometimes but it…

Couples who are able to withstand tough times in their relationship are more likely to gain a stronger connection to one another. No relationship is void of challenges hence the importance of resilience. Resilience is simply the ability to bounce back and grow and thrive during challenges, change, and stress. The following are ways to achieve resilience in a relationship: CARE rather than confront during tough conversations. Resilient couples know how to communicate assertively — that is, in a clear, confident and controlled manner. While that’s easier said than done, particularly with tough conversations, here’s a model to help: C — Communicate the facts. A — Address your concerns in an objective way R — Reach out and ask the other person for his/her perspective E — Evaluate outcomes Most importantly, do your homework before you even have the conversation. Ask yourself whether you have an accurate understanding of the…

In our world today, many of us idealize love. We think love is the ultimate goal for all relationships and as a result of this, we tend to overlook other aspects such as respect, sacrifice, understanding, and commitment. We believe that when we love our partner it automatically fixes everything. The truth is love really isn’t enough. It requires more than pure emotions and passion to keep a relationship healthy. For a relationship to be healthy we have to incorporate respect, sacrifice, understanding, and commitment into it. PAINFUL REALITY ABOUT LOVE The problem with idealizing love is that we create this unrealistic picture in our minds and if the relationship we are in isn’t bringing that picture to reality, it makes us believe that there is something wrong with the relationship which may lead to its end. Love does not equal compatibility: falling in love with someone does not…