A happy marriage or relationship can be very healthy for your physical and mental wellbeing. Science has proven that men live longer and healthier lives when they are in a healthy marriage or long-term relationship.
These things, however, aren’t the only benefits you can gain from such relationships. Fox News report that the prevalence of cancer is lower among married women and men and heart disease is less common among happily married couples. A healthy, loving relationship can also lead to lower stress levels, fewer symptoms of anxiety and a happier mood.
Unfortunately, not all relationships and marriages have happy endings. Up to 41% of first marriages end in divorce while the average person gets divorced at the age of 30.
Second and third marriages, however, have an even lower success rate. As much as 60% of second marriages end in divorce while up to 73% of third marriages fall apart. It is also reported that there are up to 100 couples filing for a divorce every hour every day.
If you think that your marriage or relationship is going downhill, then this post is for you. Here are the simplest, yet effective, tips for happy marriage.
The way you and your partner communicates is of utmost importance. The Better Health Channel of Australia reports that a happy relationship relies on being both a good listener and good communicator.
You should be able to openly share your feelings with your partner and listen when your partner is talking to you. Only then will you be able to truly understand each other’s feelings and find ways to improve together.
They recommend setting aside time each day to listen to each other without any distractions, to think about what you want to say, and to be open to discussing certain objects with your partner without jumping to conclusions and without being judgmental.
While this may seem somewhat insignificant, you should not disavow this idea without considering the science behind a hug. Mind Body Green reports that hugging helps to build trust. It can boost both your mood and happiness, too.
These are all thanks to the release of oxytocin, a hormone that helps to reduce feelings of anger, isolation and loneliness. Consider the benefits of a hug and you’ll clearly see how hugging on a regular basis can help you and your partner maintain a sense of trust and a healthy bond.
See Also: How to Hack Relationships: 3 Ways Physical Touch Helps
Having sexual intercourse with a partner on a regular basis has many health benefits for the both of you. Sex can improve your immune system, contribute to better heart health, and cause your blood pressure levels to decline. It makes an excellent form of physical exercise.
Sex can also be an excellent way to reduce pain as well as the risk of developing prostate cancer. It can improve your sleep quality and many people find that sex helps lower their stress levels.
Sex can also help a couple bond. It can make both individuals feel appreciated and sexier. If you suffer from a condition such as premature ejaculation, a lack of libido or erectile problems, then seek help from a doctor to prevent these health concerns from causing problems with your sex life.
We all live busy lives and with schedules that are packed with tasks and activities. This can often lead to two partners living past one another and spending less time with each other.
To stay connected, two partners have to make time for one another. Start by having dinner together every single night. While this may seem like a very small step, it would allow both you and your partner to spend more time with each other thus creating an excellent opportunity to maintain your connection.
When our lives are busy, our sleep cycles often become disrupted. Sleep is important and has many functions in the body. Ensuring you gain an adequate amount of sleep every night is really important.
When you do not have healthy sleep cycles and become sleep deprived, both your body and mind may suffer. Sleep deprivation can cause cognitive dysfunction, impaired mental activity, memory problems, moodiness and can even lead to depression. This can take a toll on your health and your relationship.
Something as simple as a smile can make a difference, especially if you and your loved one are going through a tough time. Laughter can be thought of as powerful medicine.
Science has proven that laughter can strengthen your immune function, provide relief in pain, reduce stress levels, and even boost your mood. Laughter has been scientifically proven to strengthen the relationship between two people so try to smile and laugh more with your partner.
Lastly, you should never forget that even though you are in a relationship, you are still an individual with feelings, emotions and body. Some people tend to forget that they should spend time on themselves as well if they plan on maintaining a healthy, loving relationship.
Small things like making sure you are always well-groomed and decent can show your partner that you still care how they feel about you.
Being happy is a wonderful experience, but being in love can be an even more powerful experience. Unfortunately, love does not last for everyone – as we already discussed, more than 50% of all marriages end up in divorce. Luckily, there are ways to maintain the love and happiness in a relationship.
One of the best tips for happy marriage is to act together. Both partners need to act together to make their relationship last.
See Also: 6 Stepping Stones Of A Successful Married Life
The post Tips For Happy Marriage: 7 Simple Ways To Maintain A Loving Relationship appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
This project, covering an area of 500 m2, is located in the city of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico and was completed in 2016. It was developed in an area with abundant vegetation, which the architects did their best to preserve, in order to obtain the maximum possible privacy for the homeowners. As a result, the green gardens are easily enjoyed from anywhere within the home. The project consists of three sections,..
The post FGO/Arquitectura Designs a Contemporary Home in Merida, Mexico appeared first on HomeDSGN.
“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.”
Sydney J. Harris
The stress is rising. You’re starting to feel frustrated with situation you’re in. Or angry. Or maybe sad and like you just want to pack up and go home.
But at the same time you also know that you need to keep calm.
To be able to think clearly. To not overreact, make the wrong decision or to not say the wrong thing in a moment of anger, overwhelm or confusion.
I’m sure you – just like me – have been in situations like these many times.
So this week I’d like to share 17 habits and strategies that have helped me to keep calm and to keep moving forward.
1. Just breathe.
This is pretty much always step one for me.
Just take a few deep breaths and focus fully on them to calm down a bit. If you have the time in the situation you’re in then I recommend sitting down for 1-2 minutes to do this. Only focus on the air slowly going and out and nothing else.
2. Then think of the consequences.
If you’re in a situation where you need to reply to what someone just said then follow up your few deep breaths with thinking about the consequences if you reply with overly tough words or if you back down instead of calmly standing your ground.
If you have an email or a phone message you need to reply to then consider taking more time to cool down – anywhere between 10 minutes to the next day – to get yourself into the right headspace before you reply.
3. Remember: It’s not always about you.
If someone attacks you with harsh words in a conversation or via email or phone then remind yourself that this may not even be about you.
He might be going overboard or overreacting because he’s having a bad day with a sick child or just a lot of things going wrong. Or she may lash out because she’s unhappy with her job, marriage or haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a while.
This reminder helps me to not take everything so personally and to think for a minute and calm down instead of being reactive and escalating the situation.
4. Take it just one small – or tiny – step at a time.
If you feel overwhelmed and stressed out then don’t make the classic mistake of thinking you have to do everything at once to solve this situation.
Just focus on making a start. On one small step or even just a tiny one you can take to move forward.
I find that when I approach a situation like this then I rarely get stuck in analysis paralysis and my mind calms down when I know I only have to do one small thing at a time.
5. Question your perspective.
If you feel that you’re starting to get really frustrated, angry or sad about a situation then question your perspective before it goes any further.
Ask yourself:
6. What would someone else do?
Another way to change your perspective in a tough situation is to get outside of your own head a bit.
Do that by asking yourself: what would X do in this situation?
Some good people or characters that you could use for the X and this question are:
Find a person in your life or someone from a book, movie etc. that you truly like and ask yourself what he or she would do to find a new perspective.
7. Cycle fully focused work with 100% rest.
This could be a solution if you’re stressed today.
But it is more importantly a long term solution to reduce stress levels and to consistently put yourself in a better headspace to handle the inevitable setbacks and crises that will happen at work.
You need to clear boundaries for this to work though.
Here are three such boundaries I use in my own life.
8. Remember to keep things extremely simple.
Here’s a reminder that I’ve used more time than I can count: “Keep things extremely simple”.
It used to be at the top of my white board for over a year to remind me to not overcomplicate and to think of situations and solutions in the simplest way I could. Overthinking is a big contributor to stress and to spending too much time and energy on things that aren’t really that complicated.
I quite often sandwich this reminder between first focusing on my breathing and then following it up with focusing on one small or tiny step forward.
9. Ask instead of guessing.
Trying to mindread someone can quickly amplify stress and frustration. Because it’s pretty much impossible to do.
Plus, it can easily lead to a much worse scenario in your mind than what is actually going on in the other person’s head.
So communicate and ask what you want to ask.
10. Be 10 minutes early.
Not much help when you’re already in stressful situation. But a good reminder for tomorrow and next week.
Plan a bit ahead so that you can – as often as possible – let transportation time between meetings and destinations during your day become a small window where you can fully relax and rejuvenate so that you’ll be able to do fully focused work or be truly engaged when you arrive.
11. Reduce your to-do list.
A big or seemingly endless to-do list can cause a ton of overwhelm and stress.
To calm down simply ask yourself: what would I work on if I only had 2 hours for work today?
Then work on that task one step at a time.
This one helps me to quickly find my focus and to get started with doing one of truly most important things when I’m stressed. And it helps me to be selective with what I put on my to-do list for the day and week in the first place.
12. Go for a 5-15 minute laugh break.
When you feel overwhelmed and it’s hard to think then you can take this somewhat odd but effective kind of break.
For maybe 5-15 minutes focus on having fun, smiling and laughing.
Laughing and finding some fun breaks stress and tension. It helps your mind to relax.
You can do this by just spending a bit of time with someone at work, in school or at home that you know you’ll have fun with.
But I also recommend having a small mental or physical folder of things that you know will make you laugh.
For me it’s for example episodes of the Simpsons or comics by The Oatmeal and Jim Benton.
After that break you can return to your work or the situation that you’re trying to figure out with a lighter mind.
13. Take some time for yourself in nature.
A more conventional alternative to laugh breaks is to take a break where you go out in nature and spend some time in silence there to recharge yourself.
I usually take these breaks by going out for a slow walk in our nearby forest where I take in all the sounds, sights and smells for a little while.
14. Ask for help.
You don’t always have to go it alone in these situations. You can ask a friend, family member or even someone you may not know that well for a bit of help.
You might not always get it but you may be surprised at how helpful people can be if you just ask.
15. Just take care of today.
It’s hard to keep calm if you look at all the things you may have to get to done to solve a situation or to overcome a challenge.
That’s why I’ve already shared a few tips that help you to concentrate on a much smaller part of the situation. Such as when you focus on just one small or tiny step or when you ask yourself the question about what you’d work on if you only had 2 hours for work today.
Here’s another one of those tips and habits that help me.
What you do is simply to tell yourself: just take care of today.
Concentrate only on that. Forget about all the tomorrows for now. Narrow your focus and take care of only today.
Tomorrow will come in time and you can take care of it then.
16. Had a setback? Then be your own best friend.
Don’t let a temporary setback drag you down into a thought spiral of defeatism and negativity.
Instead, ask yourself this to keep going on a healthier track even if you don’t feel so good at the moment:
How would my best friend or my parent support me and help me in this situation?
Then do things and talk to yourself like he or she would.
17. Listen to yourself.
If you feel you’re having more trouble than usual with staying calm in several situations and you’re really frustrated in general and drained of energy then listen to yourself.
Step back before you run right into a brick wall and do or say something you really wouldn’t usually do.
Schedule more time to just take care of yourself.
Spend one evening – or a few – in bed and just watch your favorite TV-shows or movies. Take a trip over the weekend and just focus on relaxing and doing what you think is fun or fulfilling. Spend more time out in nature for a few days or a week.
The vast, wild landscape of Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area offers visitors unparalleled opportunities to immerse themselves in the natural world, and experience the wonders of this extraordinary place. With over 120,000 acres in Montana and Wyoming, one can find an astounding diversity in ecosystems, animals and more. It’s also an amazing place to greet the new day. Photo courtesy of Aaron Selig.
This home is almost completely enveloped by the vegetation which surrounds it, and is perched at the edge of a still lake. Covering an area of 160 m2, it is located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, and was designed by CAPD Architects in 2016. The home is surrounded by perfectly manicured green gardens, and it also has a small terrace overlooking the lake. In the second level, accessed by small stairs..
The post Japanese House Designed by CAPD Architects appeared first on HomeDSGN.
A white T-shirt is a necessity in every woman’s closet. A single white t-shirt could already create a gazillion ideas for you.
If you are still not convinced, here are 12 ways you can slay with white shirt fashion.
Your V-neck white t-shirt can be work-appropriate when partnered with a nice tailored suit, a good pair of jeans, and loafers. I’m sure your boss would complement your smart and stylish casual look.
With a pair of neon-colored stilettos, a straight cut mom jeans, and a combat jacket accessorized with a statement necklace, you can easily create the eccentric-chic look. You can take it out for coffee or a few cocktail drinks.
Throw on your distressed classic pair of skinny denim jeans, your favorite denim jacket, and hi-cut red Converse to add some colors and retro vibe to your white tee. Go classic and take the risk. Who says denim can’t go with denim?
This style is for when you are in a hurry but still want to look chic. Wear your white tee underneath a bright patterned blazer, with a pair of shorts and beige-colored flat shoes and your friends won’t think you’ve overly prepared for your coffee date.
It’s simple- without downgrading your class.
Too tired to dress up for a weekend getaway? Then, maybe your leopard printed scarf can help you with your problem.
Liven up your white t-shirt with some leopard scarf on your neck, a pair of booties and some accessories.
To add some fun and spice to your outfit of the day, grab the brightest colored pants or shorts you have and then put on your white tee.
You can choose to dress down or dress up on this one with a pair of neutral-colored heels or classic white shoes. A statement bracelet or necklace can also bring some spice.
This combination is a classic. White tees over white pants and a white pair of flats and black blazer thrown over your shoulder can bring out your inner CEO vibes.
It is an outfit perfect for business meetings and lunch dates. There is no such thing as too much white in fashion.
If you don’t want your date to look away from you while you guys are having a romantic dinner, try wearing a black high waisted slitted skirt. Match it with your black stiletto, white tee and red clutch and you’ll have your date’s eyes glued on you the whole night.
For a casual and grungy look, your flannel shirt will come in handy. Grab that flannel shirt and wear it unbuttoned over your white t-shirt and navy colored beanie. To complete this outfit, rock that laced up combat boots and you’re ready to dance up your day.
To unleash the girly side within you, a little help from your light-colored cardigan would be helpful. Layer your white t-shirt with a light colored cardigan and match that with a pair of cute bow flat shoes. Lastly, to add a girly vibe, put on some pearl earrings.
Match your white t-shirt and jeans with a black leather bomber jacket. Then, complete the look with some peep-toe black heels. Wear that hair up and put on some eyeliner to achieve this rockstar look. It’s perfect for both work and night out.
This one is the absolute favorite in this list. Your classic white tee and a good pair of jeans are a perfect combination. Like peanut butter and jelly, these two clothing pieces work well with each other.
Any shoes paired with this outfit will change the overall look. A pair of sneakers will unleash the sporty side in you. Flat shoes will keep everything clean and simple while some stylish stilettos can make you look edgy.
White tees can match everything and anything found in a woman’s wardrobe. You can dress up or down with it. Just don’t be afraid to mix and match to show your style.
The post Ways That Will Make You Love Your White Tee Even More appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
New York City – New York – USA (by Stefano Ravalli)
Sig Nordal 