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Photo by Payton Chung

Most of us in relationships play all sorts of mind games. No matter how great the beginnings of the relationship might be, most of us end up in a power struggle with the one we claim to love.

Many of us fall into this trap - and events in the past couple of weeks has led me to believe that I have too.

But unlike most modern (’cool’) metropolitan types, I did not choose the path to exit the relationship gracefully.

It is apparent to me that something critical is missing from the relationship. And today, I happen to chance on Tom Kenyon’s article “Alchemy of Relationships” that has provided me a hint to the missing puzzle piece. [Read more]

Photo by kk+

A big part of our social life revolves around meeting and chilling out with friends. Depending on your age group, you could be hanging out at a MacDonald’s, Starbucks, dance club, wine bar, pub, golf clubhouse, private clubs or even local joints where the cheapest beer is sold.

Until recently, I don’t really like to hang out much. I thought I was a quirky-alone, but it turn out I am just bored with the run-of-the-mill conversations that dominate these sessions.

A year ago, I attended a leadership course and got to know a new group of friends. We shared a deeply bonding experience and became very close in those 3 months. Thereafter, a small group of us continued to meet up. As it turns out, I really liked those meet-ups.

This article is about what makes those meet-ups fun for me. [Read more]

Photo by Michael

A conversation drought is the inevitable phase of a relationship when the couple basically runs out of interesting topics to say to each other.

It is one of the toughest tests that you can put a relationship on. From a quick survey I made with friends today, most simply don’t survive the challenge.

I am very interested in conversation droughts because I put a premium on having very deep and engaging sharing in a relationship. My 7-year-old relationship has been threatened on multiple occasions and all I can say is that we’ve been lucky to have weathered them.

Today, I am going to embark on a quest to know the formidable nemesis and develop strategies to overcome it. [Read more]

Photo by CarbonNYC

An IM exchange last night reminded me about what I did when I reverted to singlehood for a period about 3 weeks.

Dr Helen Fisher, in her book Why We Love, documents that breaking up is one of the most devastating experiences men and women can go through. Different individuals handles these hard times differently.

I just felt like sharing with you what I did during my own lonely moments. In hindsight, I thought I handled it pretty well, erm, at least good enough to share this with you today. I truly hope that you might find the silver lining in between these lines. [Read more]