The Poetry Portal Net

Do you remember when there were no children in your life? Hanging out with your spouse was your first priority. You had fun going on dates. You had time to talk and share with each other your day’s events. And sex was something you looked forward to. And then along came Ryan or Megan, and then maybe Benjamin or Kaylee. Suddenly, life became centered on your children. Time for each other as a couple was rare.

If you and your spouse plan to be a happy couple after the children have left, you need to grow and connect with each other today. While there are no guarantees that you and your spouse will be one of those cute, old couples in “When Harry Met Sally,” there are things you can do to increase your odds.

When I think of the marriage ceremony, the unity candle is an excellent symbol for what should happen in marriage. Two candles (two people) come together to light one big candle (one team). A healthy marriage has unity. Always think of your spouse as a teammate. Create a marriage with a shared vision and shared goals.

Your husband should be your best friend, and you should be his. Your marriage is a place for intimacy, and being intimate means sharing completely and honestly who you are - your feelings, likes and dislikes, your dreams, and what is important to you. Intimacy happens when both people can share anything and feel safe in doing so. You and your spouse will always be growing, so take the time to understand each other in every way - socially, emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. Intimacy is only achieved by spending time together regularly.

Safety in marriage comes from knowing you can trust your partner completely. Being trustworthy means you love and respect your spouse. You keep your commitments and strive to treat each other with compassion and understanding. Your spouse needs to know without a doubt that you are not going anywhere, even when the going gets tough.

Every marriage has conflict and every couple has differences. In my marriage, we fight over disciplining the children, among other things. If you are going to grow and connect with your spouse, you have to learn to work through your disagreements. Make every effort to understand each other. Understanding comes about when you can listen with your heart. It’s so much easier to brainstorm win-win solutions when there is a clear understanding of what is important to each partner.

Speaking of differences, the healthy couple accepts and embraces each other’s strengths and weaknesses. If you think about it, there is a positive and a negative to every quality. I have a lot of compassion, but sometimes I am too sensitive. My husband provides structure in our family, but sometimes he is too rigid. When one spouse has a perceived weakness, often times the other balances it with a strength. For instance, my flexibility and his structure often conflict. However, our family needs both. Encourage the development of your spouse’s strengths and be patient with the weaknesses.

When you spend time getting to know each other and sharing yourself, you will naturally feel affectionate. Sexual intimacy is an important element in marriage. In order for women to desire sex, there needs to be healthy emotional intimacy. And men, unfortunately, achieve emotional closeness through physical intimacy. It is important for each partner to work to satisfy the other’s needs. Make the time to ignite the passion.

It is important for a couple to grow together, but it is also important for each person in the marriage to grow individually. It takes a lot of hard work and maintenance to make your marriage thrive, but it is well worth it. Your children need a model for a healthy marriage. And, when the children have left to start their own lives, won’t it be nice to look at your spouse and say, “I want to spend the rest of my years with you, my friend?”

Lori Radun, certified life coach for moms. Get her FREE monthly ezine for moms who want healthier and happier lives at http://www.true2youlifecoaching.com.

© 2005 True to You Life Coaching, LLC

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Asda is an international store that is known by almost everyone. Stocking almost anything you could ask for, the shop is well known for its cheap prices and well varied products.

Recently in the UK it was brought out by Wal-Mart (an American grocery store) and this helped change its brand to a world wide renowned product.

It’s well known for being a fantastic food store - Even having its own fresh deli, fish counter, bakery and hot food counter. It also has counters that will serve you Chinese and Indian food to the same quality you would get at a take away, at a lower price!

As well as this they usually have their own café & a lot of the time in an store pharmacy also.

Not only that, but the store allows you to do your shopping line - Opening up the shopping experience to everyone.

The website is clean and crisp and extremely easy to use! You sign up for a username and password and once this is done it saves all your details. Not only will it store your address details, you can mark items as favourites so they are easier to find next time you do your shop!

There are a number of discount vouchers which were recently available for Asda, found here, and these vary all the time. Examples of some recent vouchers are:

Asda50 - Save £50 when you spend over £999
Asda20 - Save £20 when you spend over £499
Asda10 - Save £10 when you spend over £249

As with all vouchers these can expire and are outdated but they are always announcing new vouchers and ways to save money.

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When it comes to marketing online and selling products, many people are not sure how to get visitors to their website or how to market their products. Any business owner knows that when starting an internet business it’s essential to run strong marketing campaigns in order to acheive success. Whether it’s promomting a single product, service, business opportunity, you have to somehow figure out how to get the right people to see your business.

There are numerous ways to target the right people in order to acheive financial success online. One way in particular is through bulk e-mail. Granted it does work and it can be a numbers game, however there are some services that pay people too open e-mail and read them. In order to find the services that work, you will have to test them and see which bulk e-mail services yeild real results.

A number of very reputable companies offer marketing packages that often contain downloadable CD’s teaching expert marketing strategies and secrets. A lot of systems have received mass appeal to online business seekers simply because it cuts out all of the prospecting and phone calls. Anyone that has been in any type of network marketing business knows that they can spend an entire day on the phone prospecting in hopes of finding just 1 person that will join their opportunity. Marketing systems will do most of this work for you so you don’t have to.

Many marketing systems will let you take a sneak preview of their compensation pay plan and business model. When it comes to marketing online, it’s easy to make mistakes and it’s easy to waste a lot of money testing new ideas. Any marketing package try’s to cut down on the hassle of spending advertising dollars only in hopes of making it all back. When looking for a new home business it can be an overwhelming process with all the programs available online. Most programs do not teach people how to market successfully online which eventually leave people empty handed and broke. Finding a program that makes it
easy to duplicate success is an essential part of any home based business.

Before deciding on a home based business be sure you know what you’re looking for and by this I mean find a program with a proven track record. Find a program that has testimonials and a system already in place that teaches you how to duplicate their success. We know that most people want to do almost nothing and receive everything. The truth that comes with any home based business is that it does take time and effort to get it running. The initial boost will ensure a long successful home business career. Eventually you can ease up and put your system on automatic and reap the rewards, but not without doing some hard work first.

Tim Rohrer is an established business owner and writer. To learn more about a system that pays $500 over and over again, visit http://www.1step-profits.com

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When I decided to go to drama school, my family thought I was crazy. Although I have done some high school acting, I had never had a serious involvement in any kind of drama program. Acting school is so far beyond my experience that my parents thought that I should really get a little bit more involved in something like community theatre before making such a decision. Nonetheless, I was set on it.

Although I hadn’t told anyone, drama school has been my fantasy for years. You see, I had always wanted to be a star. Most kids, I suppose, at some point want to be a star. They might want to be like their favorite action hero or their favorite rock and roller. For me, it was different. It was all I could think about. It was like an obsession, and dated from my earliest years. I knew that if I wanted to realize the dream, I would have to go to drama school. That was all there was to it.

Of course, dreaming of going to drama school and actually going there are two different things. The audition process was grueling. They say that anyone who has the talent can make it, but it is less about talent than it is about self-confidence. I was lacking, and it showed at first. The first two drama schools that I interviewed with rejected me outright. I tried to be confident about it, but I could tell that I was not making a great impression. Then I pulled it together. I knew that I had to give an outstanding audition, and I did just that. I got in finally! I was overjoyed.

Once I got in to drama school, however, the pressure did not drop off. A lot of people think that acting college is really easy, but it isn’t. You have to remember that, whether you are going for the role of the lead, the best friends, the villain, or what have you, there is always only one part that you want. Drama schools are fiercely competitive places, as they have to be. As an actor, director, or playwright, you have to be a fiercely competitive person. Half of what you learn in drama school is the skill to act, but the other half is the skill to compete. Without both, there is no way that you can succeed in show business.

By: Maxine Attendorn

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