We know how you feel! Starting over is really difficult when it comes to love and marriage. Getting a divorce, breaking up, or losing the one you love due to their death can be overwhelmingly painful.
The simple truth is this – you entered into your loving relationship with another person expecting it to last forever. But all acts of love are, we are afraid to say, not everlasting.
As the old song goes, “Breaking up is hard to do” – whether that breakup is due to death or falling out of love – the pain is still not minimized. It is hard to start over. It is downright challenging to find true love again.
For nearly three decades, we have studied successful love and relationships. We know what makes love and relationships work. But the truth is, sometimes relationships – started with the best of intentions – don’t work. And sometimes, and regrettably so, the one you love dies.
If you are faced with finding new love, we have discovered some simple truths that will help you make the appropriate transition to new love. If you pay close and particular attention to the following recipe for finding love again, you will be well on your way in your pursuit of new love.
1. Get healthy -- mentally and physically. Take time to heal and stabilize. You can't make appropriate decisions "off-balance" or in an unhealthy state. Get well first! You will be much better served. The best decisions in life come when you are healthy. Believe us when we say this!
2. Understand, you cannot find love on the rebound. Don't get in a hurry to find your next love. Doing so will only lead to disaster and disillusionment. You think you are in love with your "rebound love," but your love is not a lasting love. Be patient.
3. Recognize that your next love will come along when you find someone who shares your interests. You need to develop your interests -- be it kayaking, camping out, going to your place of worship for social events, going dancing, or whatever. You need to find your comfort zone -- a place where you can find happiness. You are much more likely to attract a potential mate if you go to places where the likelihood exists that there are others there who share your interests.
4. Enjoy what you have! If you have beautiful children, good health, and friends and family who love you unconditionally, you already have more than most people have in this world. Always keep in mind this simple notion -- being loved by your children and your family is the greatest gift of all. Don't ever take their love for granted!
5. Count your blessings! In the end, remember this – it should be your life's goal to be loved by people that matter, by people that support you, by people who believe that you are worthy, and by people who stand by you through thick and thin. In the end, these are the things that matter. These are the things that will make you happy for a lifetime. Take stock of the things in your life that really matter and then focus on your blessings.
6. The best things in life come your way when you least expect them -- when you are content to let nature take its course. The "butterfly of life" has this simple lesson -- if you find yourself in a meadow and there are butterflies all around, always remember, if you grab at the butterfly, it will fly away. If you just sit under a tall Oak Tree and enjoy all the love the butterfly brings, it will gently land on your shoulder. Don't try so hard to find love. Be patient and it will come your way.
7. Always judge people you are interested in by their actions and not by their words. Words don't matter -- only actions! You can learn a lot about a person by observing them. The simple truth is, most people are what they are -- and you can't change them -- you can't fix them. Pervasive characteristics – those recurring patterns of thought and behavior that guide actions – do matter. The litmus test of love is always about actions and behaviors -- not words! These are among the most important lessons of life.
We hope that you find the new love you want and that you find him or her soon. Having companionship is one of the most cherished gifts of life and love. Never forget these simple lessons for finding love again.
Good luck in finding love again. Love well.
Enjoy receiving our new hardback book Simple Things Matter in Love and Marriage at no cost with the purchase of our hardback book Golden Anniversaries: The Seven Secrets of Successful Marriage through special publishers’ closeout of hardback versions.
By Dr. Charles D. Schmitz and Dr. Elizabeth A. Schmitz
Authors of Golden Anniversaries: The Seven Secrets of Successful Marriage
Winner of the INDIE Book Awards GOLD Medal for Best Relationship Book
Winner of the 2009 Mom’s Choice Awards GOLD Medal for Most Outstanding Relationships and Marriage Book
2009 Nautilus Book Awards Winner for Relationships
Oh, and by the way, enjoy our next book, Building A Love That Lasts, due out in January 2010 from Jossey-Bass/Wiley!
Author's Bio
Want to know the secrets of a successful marriage? Want to know if you are truly in love? What to keep the passion alive in challenging times? Now you can order the Doctors' multiple award winning marriage book, and receive their new book, Simple Things Matter in Love and Marriage at no cost. Learn from the Doctors’ thousands of interviews with happily married couples, representing 15,000 years of marriage. Their book exposes the secrets for success through these poignant, real life stories.
Affectionately dubbed “the marriage doctors” by their clients, fans, and workshop participants, Drs. Charles and Elizabeth Schmitz know that simple things matter in relationships. They understand what makes relationships work because they have conducted three decades of research on successful marriages, as well as sharing personal experience drawn from their own 43-year marriage.
During their distinguished careers the Doctors have received some 65 local, state, and national awards; published nearly 350 articles and manuscripts; delivered over 1000 speeches, workshops and public presentations; traveled throughout the world; and appeared on radio and television and in the print media. Dr. Charles D. Schmitz is Dean and Professor of Family and Counseling Therapy at the University of Missouri in St. Louis and Dr. Elizabeth A. Schmitz is President of Successful Marriage Reflections, LLC.
As you grow older, do you find that it is more and more difficult to remember where you placed your car keys or your glasses or worse still - where you parked your car? Years ago, I remember reading an article about how our brain starts to shrink every ten years once we reach thirty years of age. Lately, I have become more and more forgetful.
Someone sent me the link to this fantastic memory test.
This test will determine if you're getting enough sleep or if your mind has really lost it! The test consists of three parts:
You'll be shown 12 photos in the FIRST PART.
You'll be shown another 12 photos in the SECOND PART.
You'll be shown 48 photos in the THIRD PART and you will be asked if you saw them in the first part, the second part - or never saw them at all.
When you have finished the third part, your results will be given to you.
CLICK HERE TO BEGIN THE TEST.
For those of you who are baby boomers, perhaps you might want to enjoy DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER ME by The Bee Gees while doing this test.
Please leave a comment and do share your results if you like ;-). Thanks! Have a lovely weekend, dear reader.
One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into the river. When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, "My dear, why are you crying?" The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and that she needed it to help her husband in making a living for their family.. The Lord dipped His hand into the water and pulled up a golden thimble set with sapphires.
"Is this your thimble?" the Lord asked..
The seamstress replied, "No."
The Lord again dipped into the river. He held out a golden thimble studded with rubies.
"Is this your thimble?" the Lord asked.
Again, the seamstress replied, "No."
The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble.
"Is this your thimble ?" the Lord asked.
The seamstress replied, "Yes." The Lord was pleased with the woman's honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress went home happy.
Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and her husband fell into the river and disappeared under the water. When she cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked her, "Why are you crying?"
"Oh Lord, my husband has fallen into the river!"
The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney. "Is this your husband?" the Lord asked.
"Yes," cried the seamstress.
The Lord was furious. "You lied! That is an untruth!"
The seamstress replied, "Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said 'no' to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt.
Then if I said 'no' to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three. Lord, I'm not in the best of health and would not be able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT'S why I said 'yes' to George Clooney. And so the Lord let her keep him.
The moral of this story is:
Whenever a woman lies, it's for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest of others. That's our story, and we're sticking to it
Signed,
Women
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PRICELESS WORDS
A husband wakes up at home with a huge hangover. He forces himself to open his eyes, and the first thing he sees is a couple of aspirins and a glass of water on the side table. He sits down and sees his clothing in front of him, all clean and pressed. He looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect order, spotless, clean. So is the rest of the house. He takes the aspirins and notices a note on the table.
'Honey, breakfast is on the table, I left early to go grocery shopping. Love You!'
Totally shocked with the note, he goes to the kitchen andsure enough there is a hot breakfast and the morning newspaper.
His son is also at the table, eating. He asks, 'Son, what happened last night?'
His son says, 'Well, you came home around 3 a.m. drunk and delirious. You broke some crockery, puked in the hall, and gave yourself a black eye when you stumbled into the door'.
Confused, the man asks, 'So, why is everything in order and so clean, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me? I should expect a big quarrel with her!'
His son replies, 'Oh, that! Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when she tried to take your clothes n shoes off, you said,
'LADY LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M MARRIED!'
Moral
Self-induced hangover - $ 400.00
Broken crockery - $ 800.00
Breakfast - $ 10.00
Saying the Right Thing While Drunk – 'PRICELESS '
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BE STRONG, HONEY!
A man escapes from prison where he has been for 15 years. He breaks into a house to look for money and guns and finds a young couple in bed.
He orders the guy out of bed and ties him to a chair. While tying the girl to the bed he gets on top of her, kisses her neck. Then gets up and goes into the bathroom.
While he's in there, the husband tells his wife, 'Listen, this guy's an escaped convict! Look at his clothes! He probably spent lots of time in jail and hasn't seen a woman in years. I saw how he kissed your neck. If he wants sex, don't resist. Don't complain. Do whatever he tells you. Satisfy him no matter how much he nauseates you. This guy is probably very dangerous. If he gets angry, he'll kill us. Be strong. Honey, I love you.'
To which the wife responds, 'He wasn't kissing my neck. He was whispering
in my ear. He told me he was gay. He thought you were cute and asked
if we had any Vaseline. I told him it was in the bathroom. Be strong honey,
I love you too!!'
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Proof that Men Have Better Friends
Friendship among Women
A woman didn't come home one night. The next morning she told her husband that she had slept over at a friend's house. The man called his wife's 10 best friends. None of them knew anything about it.
Friendship among Men
A man didn't come home one night.The next morning he told his wife that he had slept over at a friend's house. The woman called her husband's 10 best friends.. Seven confirmed that he had slept over, and three said he was still there...
Have a nice day!!
