Relationship Rx - A Check Up!

2010 - Destined Relationship Rx - A Check Up! Links Website Blog Life & Business Coaching Young Adult Coaching Past Newsletters Press Purchase a Copy Welcome to February! My heart is heavy for the people in Haiti and for those who are without because of Haiti's devastation. To play some small role in helping I'm donating all profits from book sales during the next month to the American Red Cross. Purchase a personalized copy to help yourself and to help others. My friends at Two Blue Doors are offering personalized note cards for you with all of the profits going to help the people of Haiti. Don't miss this neat opportunity to help others and personalize your correspondence! February's Recap Week 5 Loving...You Read Derek Walcott's poem Love After Love. Feast on your life. Take one step to build your love for YOU! Week 6 Love Isn't Love Until You Give it Away Refuse to hold your love inside Share it - speak it, show it, write it, sing it Let those in your life know your love for them As your coach I want to encourage you to dream wildly, love wholeheartedly, persevere relentlessly, believe in yourself unwaveringly and give abundantly! If you are new this week...welcome...let's make 2010 your best year yet! For a recap of what we've covered during January visit the archives. In February we are covering love...and all things on love! God Bless, Margaret. This Week's Topic: Relationship Rx -- A Check Up! Dear Friend, "Success in marriage is much more than finding the right person; it is a matter of being the right person" ~Anonymous "What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility." ~Leo Tolstoy During the month of February, we've been focused on love - loving yourself, loving others and this week we turn to marriage. Professor James Cordova of Clark University, funded by the National Institute of Health, conducted research on 217 married couples. The research focused on intervention rather than therapy. The couples who participated in the intervention based research fared better than those who didn't participate. The result is six key questions for you! This week I would like you to use these six questions to reconnect with your significant other. My suggestion would be to take these questions on a date night, or discuss them with a glass of wine after your children are in bed or even a quiet moment one afternoon this weekend. In every relationship - no matter how strong - there are always things we can do to improve the relationship. Improving our relationship begins with respect and communication. When you bring up these questions do so with an open mind and open heart. Leave your armor at the door. Be open to the feedback that you receive - even if it is a surprise. Use these six questions to learn more about what your partner is thinking and how they are feeling inside your relationship. Allow this exercise to be a relationship check up! Make It Happen 1. How are we doing? Use this question to get a status update. 2. What is good about our relationship? Focus on what is working and the positives of your relationship. When you answer these questions for your spouse aim to identify twenty for them! 3. How can we work together on _____________? Let your spouse fill in the blank whether it is helping a child in crisis, communicating better, navigating compromises or even just picking a paint color for your kitchen be open to what they put in the blank. This question tells your spouse that you are in it together - whatever it is! 4. What do you need more of, from me? Listen carefully. Refuse to be defensive - listen and be open. Now isn't the time to say anything. 5. When we disagree how can we understand each other better? In other words, when we are fighting - and we all do, what can I do to understand you better? How can we fight better? When we aren't on the same page, what can I do or say to better understand you? 6. How satisfied are you with our intimacy? Remember there are all different types of intimacy - explore physical, emotional and spiritual intimacy. May you be blessed for you are a blessing! Encourage your friends, family, and colleagues by sharing this newsletter with them and invite them to subscribe! Direct them to www.MargaretPundmann.com where they can sign up. Margaret Pundmann is a life and business coach, speaker, and author of numerous articles on living your most powerful life. The "Powerful Living, Powerful You" newsletter is written and distributed by Emerge Enterprise. Copyright © 2010 Margaret Pundmann. All rights reserved.www.MargaretPundmann.com.

Love Isn't Love Until You Give it Away

2010 - Destined Love Isn't Love Until You Give it Away Links Website Blog Life & Business Coaching Young Adult Coaching Past Newsletters Press Purchase a Copy Welcome to February! My heart is heavy for the people in Haiti and for those who are without because of Haiti's devastation. To play some small role in helping I'm donating all profits from book sales during the next month to the American Red Cross. Purchase a personalized copy to help yourself and to help others. My friends at Two Blue Doors are offering personalized note cards for you with all of the profits going to help the people of Haiti. Don't miss this neat opportunity to help others and personalize your correspondence! February's Recap Week 5 Loving...You Read Derek Walcott's poem Love After Love. Feast on your life. Take one step to build your love for YOU! As your coach I want to encourage you to dream wildly, love wholeheartedly, persevere relentlessly, believe in yourself unwaveringly and give abundantly! If you are new this week...welcome...let's make 2010 your best year yet! For a recap of what we've covered during January visit the archives. In February we are covering love...and all things on love! God Bless, Margaret. This Week's Topic: Love Isn't Love Until You Give it Away Dear Friend, Some months ago a family that is close to ours lost their father suddenly. Watching the family suffer was heartbreaking. After having a conversation with the mother she told me a story of a family vacation several years prior to the father's death. On this family vacation the father wrote a letter to each of his children telling each one how much he loved them, how proud he was of them and how they along with his wife completed his life. By taking a few moments of time this father sealed his children's understanding of his love for them. Life is fleeting...do not hold on to the love inside of you, express it! This week I'd like to challenge you to share your love. Make sure those in your life know just how much you love them! Do you remember the song; Love Isn't Love (Til You Give It Away)? Below are the lyrics...enjoy reading them! Or have fun with with Disney's modernized song Send It On featuring the Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato. Smile's not a smile until it wrinkles your face Bell's not a bell without ringing A home's not a home when there's nobody there A song's not a song without singing Love isn't love till you give it away Love isn't love till it's free The love in your heart Wasn't put there to stay Oh love isn't love till you give it away You might think love is a treasure to keep Feeling to cherish and hold But love is a treasure for people to share You keep it by letting it go Love isn't love till you give it away Love isn't love till it's free The love in your heart Wasn't put there to stay Oh love isn't love till you give it away Cause love can't survive When it's hidden inside And love was meant to be shared Love isn't love till you give it away Love isn't love till it's free The love in your heart Wasn't put there to stay Oh love isn't love till you give it away Make It Happen Consciously share your love...don't hide it inside...speak it, write it, yell it...do whatever you can to let it out. Because remember, love isn't really love until you give it away. May you be blessed for you are a blessing! Encourage your friends, family, and colleagues by sharing this newsletter with them and invite them to subscribe! Direct them to www.MargaretPundmann.com where they can sign up. Margaret Pundmann is a life and business coach, speaker, and author of numerous articles on living your most powerful life. The "Powerful Living, Powerful You" newsletter is written and distributed by Emerge Enterprise. Copyright © 2010 Margaret Pundmann. All rights reserved. www.MargaretPundmann.com.

Loving...You

2010 - Destined Loving...You Links Website Blog Life & Business Coaching Young Adult Coaching Past Newsletters Press Purchase a Copy Welcome to February! My heart is heavy for the people in Haiti and for those who are without because of Haiti's devastation. To play some small role in helping I'm donating all profits from book sales during the next month to the American Red Cross. Purchase a personalized copy to help yourself and to help others. My friends at Two Blue Doors are offering personalized note cards for you with all of the profits going to help the people of Haiti. Don't miss this neat opportunity to help others and personalize your correspondence! January's Recap Week 1 - Establishing 2010 Goals: What one change would you like to see yourself make? And what is it going to take to get there? What is one goal that might seem unattainable now, but with hard work you believe you can achieve it? What is one thing, outside of yourself, you want to focus on this year? What impact would you like to make on those around you - family, friends and community? Week 2 - Releasing FEAR: Release your F.E.A.R.'s - False Expectations Appearing Real What are your goals? How do your F.E.A.R.'s prevent you from achieving your goals? What are the costs of not achieving your goals? Week 3 - Making Change: To make a change, start small. Take normal routines and do them differently - drive to work a different way, do your grocery shopping at a different store. Make small changes to impact larger changes! Week 4 - The if in Your Life: The if in Life represents the choices we make to create the life we want. Are you powerfully choosing your life? As your coach I want to encourage you to dream wildly, love wholeheartedly, persevere relentlessly, believe in yourself unwaveringly and give abundantly! If you are new this week...welcome...let's make 2010 your best year yet! For a recap of what we've covered during January see above or visit the archives. In February we will move on to loving yourself, self confidence and loving others. God Bless, Margaret. This Week's Topic: Loving...You Dear Friend, "Love is a many splendored thing, Love lifts us up where we belong, All you need is love!" ~Elephant Love Medley Lyrics from Moulin Rouge February is, after all, the month of love and so this month we're going to focus on love. We began this year with the notion that to change the world you must begin with yourself. The same premise, of course, holds true with love - we must love ourselves before we can truly love another. Derek Walcott expresses this self-love in his poem, Love After Love, beautifully. The time will come when, with elation You will greet yourself arriving At your own door, in your own mirror And each will smile at the other's welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life. Make It Happen This week read the poem Love After Love by Derek Walcott several times. What does the poem say to you? Feast on your life - this week take one step to build your love for you. Ideas include: Begin a gratitude journal Positive affirmations Declare no negative thoughts - when they drift in, release them Let go of negative self talk Remove all self deprecating language from your conversations Release the "should's" and enjoy exactly who and what you are right now! Let go of harmful relationships Treat yourself to something special that you've been putting off a walk in the park a pedicure, in the winter a new "do" for your hair an afternoon of tea and reading fun time with friends a cooking class a dance lesson do something new that you've always wanted to try May you be blessed for you are a blessing! Encourage your friends, family, and colleagues by sharing this newsletter with them and invite them to subscribe! Direct them to www.MargaretPundmann.com where they can sign up. Margaret Pundmann is a life and business coach, speaker, and author of numerous articles on living your most powerful life. The "Powerful Living, Powerful You" newsletter is written and distributed by Emerge Enterprise. Copyright © 2010 Margaret Pundmann. All rights reserved. www.MargaretPundmann.com.