Week 38 - 42

Week 38 - 27 July 2008

TOGETHER AND APART - "As much as you enjoy spending time together, it is beneficial for both of you to enjoy spending time apart and supporting each other in pursuing individual interests. Although it may feel life-threatening to lose sight of your lover for even a second in the first week of a new relationship, with time, this puppy-dogging each other may come to feel a bit claustrophobic and stifling. Keep emotional oxygen circulating by stepping away to enjoy your own friends and interests, secure in the knowledge that you get to come back together again to share the separate adventures you've had."

Week 39 - 3 August 2008

CREATIVE COLLABORATION - "Undertake a long-term creative project that you can both sink your creative teeth into, from knitting a sweater together (you could each knit a sleeve) to painting a mural on the bedroom wall. How about starting a relationship journal where you can each write entries as the mood moves you? From poems to love notes to takes of your joint adventures, the journal will be a wonderful chronicing of your relationship to add to and to flip through on a rainy afternoon."

Week 40 - 10 August 2008

HOME DISCO - "After a home-cooked dinner or as a sudden burst of playfulness, pull our all of your favorite dance tunes and go at it. Take turns playing CJ and picking the tunes. Invent unusual steps ot your own version of the tango. What are all the difference ways you can dance together? Spontaneous costuming is never inappropriate."

Week 41 - 17 August 2008

OTHER FRIENDSHIPS - "Maintaining your individual differences and interests is healthy for you and your relationship. Although you may be each other's best friends, it is still good to have outside playmates and confidantes as well. Have buddies with whom you each can share some of the interests your partner doesn't. If you or your partner are so possessive of the other as to be threatened by appropriate outside friendships, you should address the issues of trust, jealousy, and abandonment directly, since these issues can erode even the most loving partnership."

Week 42 - 24 August 2008

SPIRITUAL EXPRESSION - "Do you and your partner share a similar outlook on relihion or sprituality? What rituals can you cultivate and create that embrace both your outlooks and needs to nurture thoughts beyond your material concerns? It could be a weekly walk through trees, a moment of silence at the end of the day, or joint chanting. Try out different rituals and practices until you find something that suits you both."