Take a Time-out
Make time to think about your relationship, your partner and the progress you are making. Thinking can stimulate your mind to action. Listen to your heart. It always tells the truth. It is far better to concentrate on the good than to dwell on the hurts of the past. Listening is the foundation for concentration. In your time-out look for the truth about the direction you need to take. When difficulties arise, be a relationship tweaker. Don’t wait. Do something, preferably with your partner that will quickly get your relationship back on track. Remember, there is always more than one way to do anything. There is no “one way.” There are on

Got Kids?
Never use your children as an excuse to not work on you or your relationship. While it is true that you have an awesome responsibility to care for your children, if you put them first and you last, I suggest that there may be some confusion about your priorities. If you forget to take care of you, you are not leading by example. It’s important to be a good example for your kids. Some will tell you to never air your disagreements in front of your kids. I disagree. Children are much smarter than we give them credit. They know when you have misunderstandings and arguments. When your children witness an argument, reassure them that it is not their fault. Demons

The Correct Carrot
What is your relationship carrot (or goal)? What dangles in front of you that keeps you moving forward? What is important to you? To your partner? If you have no good reasons for being together, then the relationship will not work. Spend some time together talking about what is important to both of you. Set some mutual relationship goals. Commit these ideas to paper. Undefined goals are unreachable. Goals allow you to control the direction of change in your relationship. To follow a relationship path without knowing where it leads is a mistake.

2nd 100 Tweets from Larry James’ Relationship Twitter!
I have posted the 2nd 100 Tweets on my once daily “Relationship Twitter” and thought you might enjoy reading all of them 140 characters at a time. All are adapted from my book, “LoveNotes for Lovers: Words That Make Music for Two Hearts Dancing.” LoveNotes for Lovers is a collection of meditations, affirmations and reflections on love. A valued relationship is something you work on all the time, not only when its broken and needs to be fixed. LoveNotes for Lovers assists in that process.

Commitment + Action
For you to achieve what you desire in a love relationship, both love partners must have similar levels of commitment. Each must honor a promise of mutual commitment to the other, a commitment to participate in life fully together. This does not mean that you must have identical commitments. It means that for a healthy love relationship to thrive and survive, each love partner must support the other in their own individual commitments in addition to their commitment to each other as a team. She is committed to something and he supports her. He is committed to something and she supports him. When true love is present, commitments arise naturally. They expand our ca