Love Making Can Spice Up Your Marriage and Keep Your Husband Healthy!!

Estelle T. Dunomes

Really??!! Love making can spice up your marriage and keep your husband healthy? Ask Oprah and Dr. Oz.

Just recently Dr. Oz, America's favorite doctor, told an Oprah audience that women can ensure that their husbands live longer and stay healthy by engaging in love making with their spouse at least 4 times per week. Of course, the men in the audience were quite happy with Dr. Oz's revelation.

Medical scientists confirm that married men engaging in regular love making increases the happy hormones in the brain, add to their sense of contentment, reduces the incidence of heart attacks and strokes as well as strengthens their relationships with their wives.

Unfortunately however, a 2004 study by the National Opinion Research Center found that the typical American has sex 66 times per year while young American married couples have sex just 84 times a year. This means that instead of the calculated 130 to 160 times per year (this calculation is based upon 7 -11 days abstinence each month) that married couples reportedly should engage in love making, most couples are severely deficient in couple intimacy.

Furthermore, since couples on the average engage in love making only 1 to 2 times per week, is it possible that intimacy on other levels is lacking also? So, what's a couple to do? Added to this, every couple has a life outside of physical intimacy. With growing children, jobs, careers, extra curricular activities, advanced studies, sports, etc., who has time for all this intimacy?

Besides, are there any real benefits to be derived from really getting to know your spouse? That question was answered recently by Doug and Annie Brown, a couple who conducted their own research in this area. As written by Mike Celizic, TODAYShow.com contributor, after Doug attended a conference in 2006 on "Sex and Pop Culture" in Florida he shared what he learned with his wife.

Imagine his abject glee when his wife suggested that they commit themselves to a marathon 101 straight days of love making! (You've just got to read the whole story!) Did I mention that they have three children and a very demanding job between them?

At the end of their intense intimacy escapade, besides being exhausted they found that they enjoyed several unexpected benefits. These included increased emotional intimacy, increased interest in each other's lives as well as greater involvement with each other as a couple. Which, according to them, further enhanced their marriage because they came to realize the greater and deeper value of taking care of the couple.

Of course, no one is advocating that you and your spouse engage in 101 continual days of love making. However, the merits of engaging in love making 4 times per week will certainly add a richness to your relationship that you might never have known was possible plus, according to medical science, add years to your husband's life.

So then, for all you adventuresome romantics who are reading this and want to know what in the world to do to make your lovemaking new each time, get a copy of 500 Lovemaking Tips & Secrets to help you fire up your love making like never before! And in the process, improve your husband's health, happiness and longevity.

How about that for unbelievable rewards?When you and your spouse are enjoying the plethora of benefits from your foray into increased love making don't forget to thank Oprah and Dr. Oz for sharing this information and encouraging your new found couple intimacy.

Communication in Marriage - Key to Improving Your Relationship

Estelle T. Dunomes

Communication in marriage has always been touted as key to building a happy marriage, maintaining an already happy relationship or improving upon what you've already built. Couples who have been happily married for decades stand by it. Those wanting to have better relationships must and should start with creating an atmosphere of open, honest and inclusive communication with their spouse.

What then is communication and how should it work in your relationship?

The answer begins here with two articles written by Forest Anderson and will continue as you travel throughout your married life.

His first, Effective Marriage Communication Tips - Part 1, provides instruction on taking care to meet the communication needs of your spouse. One such need has to do with the timing of your communication.

I'm sure many men would agree that we women sometimes approach them at the wrong time. Some women are famous in their marriage for interrupting the husband's favorite sports broadcasts in search of having a serious conversation with said husband during that sports broadcast. Talk about sparking an explosive interaction. Timing is indeed everything!

The second in this series Effective Marriage Communication Tips - Part 2 delves into avoiding negative patterns as well as encouraging creating appropriate behaviors that will increase positive communication in your marriage.

The power and value of healthy, open, honest and inclusive communication in your marriage cannot be underestimated or overrated. Although this type of communication is work, the benefits to be gained can only be told, expressed and celebrated by those married couples who actively practice this level of communication.

Communication has many levels and facets within marriage. At best, your communication will always require stengthening and becomes easier when utilizing tools devised to provide just such help. Click here to further explore your Communication Fitness and improve your marital intimacy. You're worth it and so is your spouse!

Create Astounding Joy In Your Life - Practice an Attitude of Gratitude!

Estelle T. Dunomes

Friday, June 13, 2008's post on The Power of Gratitude gave rise to locating and sharing quotes from others on how they view, practice, then share gratitude and thankfulness for everything.

These vignettes are offered to encourage you to view your life's events differently. Differently in the sense that you can achieve another level of life acceptance and appreciation. Yes, you too can create astounding joy in your life by practicing an attitude of gratitude!

When you've read the listing below, you might wish to record your own statements of gratitude and thankfulness or seek others to add to your collection. Whatever you do, practicing gratitude, thankfulness and thanksgiving daily will add great contentment and fulfillment to your life.

Here then for your enrichment are a number of quotes on gratitude!

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
--John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you?"
--William A. Ward

"For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude."
--Clarence E. Hodges

"In all things, give thanks."
--Holy Bible

"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues."
--Cicero

"Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart."
--Seneca

"Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that thankfulness is indeed virtue."
--William J. Bennett

"A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things."
--Plato

"Whatever we are waiting for -- peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance-- it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart."
--Sarah Ban Breathnach

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us."
--Albert Schweitzer

These quotations provide a view of how to create astounding joy in your life by practicing an attitude of gratitude across all lines of your life. Some have said "when life throws you lemons, make lemonade." What better way to make that lemonade than to offer continually and constantly thankfulness and gratitude for all that you have, all that you are and all that you plan to become?

The Power of Gratitude

Estelle T. Dunomes

What is the power of gratitude? One might even ask what is gratitude?

Well, let's just begin with a simple scenario.

The alarm clock just blew you out of your sweet reverie. It's 5:00 a.m. and the start of another day. You roll over, groan at the prospect of having to get up but, get up you must. Thoughts flood your mind of what has to be done but what you want instead is to pull the covers up over your head and go back to sleep. You're just not ready for another day! You'd rather eat a bucket of nails than to face life and what it has to offer.

Is this how you wake up in the morning? Are you protesting the rigors of life, your job, family life, your spouse? What kind of day are you going to have with this attitude? Can you guess?

On the other hand, what would your day be like if you flipped the script? Let's try that again!

The alarm clock goes off at 5:00 a.m. but you're already awake. You shut it off as thoughts of thankfulness fill your mind. Although you have a busy day ahead you find yourself ruminating about how blessed you are to be who you are, to have what you have, to be healthy with a healthy family, to be married to whom you are married; you're just happy.

With this frame of mind, you embrace the rigors of the day ahead of you even though you know it's going to be taxing. With that, although you don't know it, your heart beat and pulse are steady and measured; your muscles are relaxed and you have a ready smile for your spouse, your family and the world.

What's the difference? Gratitude! Again, the question is asked, what is gratitude?

Mirriam Webster's Online Dictionary defines "gratitude" as the state of being grateful or being thankful.

So, the first scenario offered groans and protestations of what is to come while the second awoke with a sense of gratitude and thankfulness. We can only imagine how each day progressed and ended. Just for the sake of examination however, let's focus on the second.

Gratitude and thankfulness go hand in hand and when practiced, provides you with the added benefit of enjoying the rightness of your world even when things get turned upside down as they sometimes do. What then does this do for you, your spouse, your marriage?

Marriage in itself is a many faceted relationship that has its ups and downs, its highs and lows, its triumphs and disappointments. Whatever then can make it sweeter, happier, more inviting and wholesome has great benefit and can be embraced by both parties.

Broadly speaking exercising gratitude and thankfulness daily for all that you have and specifically expressing it to your spouse continuously encourages greater and better rewards from your spouse. This is the power of gratitude within your marriage.

I call this the "circle of beneficience." Simply put, the circle of beneficience within a couple is when one spouse shows gratitude to their spouse and the remaining spouse responds in kind. The fun begins when one spouse attempts to practice more gratitude than the other. Practicing gratitude on this level shows not only that you love your spouse but that you appreciate who they are and whatever they do for you, with you and to you.

Showing gratitude is a simple thing with far-reaching benefits. Just saying a heartfelt "thank you" or sending a card or flowers or other tokens of appreciation on days other than birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries (but don't forget those days as well) to show your gratitude does wonders for your spouse and will do wonders for you.

Try it! The power of gratitude then is its ability when practiced to change your marriage and change your life. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the benefits and much happier as a result.

Not only is practicing gratitude one of the many things you can do to enrich, enhance and make your marriage happier but Your Journey Into Joy Includes These as Well!