Love Dare - Day 9

This is another step that I have already been working on. Not just greetings, but goodbyes as well. While I have already made a lot of changes, it never hurts to take another look.

Love makes good impressions 

Think of a specific way you'd like to greet your spouse today. Do it with a smile and with enthusiasm. Then determine to change your greeting to reflect your love for them.

I added flowers to my greeting when I got home from work, not that I can do it every day (though the florist would love me) but it was something additional to my already cheerful hello.

Love Dare - Day 8

The eight dare involves fire, right up my ally. Nothing like burning something on a cold michigan afternoon. It wasn't much fire but the pyromaniac in me enjoyed it nonetheless. It wasn't hard to burn the negative list, I have been working on being more positive and thinking about positive things. Getting rid of a list of negativity is not only easy, it is a joy.

The eighth dare is:

Love is not jealous

Determine to become your spouse's biggest fan and to reject any thoughts of jealousy. To help you set your heart on your spouse and focus on their achievements, take yesterday's list of negative attributes and discreetly burn it. Then share with your spouse how glad you are about a recent success he or she recently enjoyed.

Love Dare - Day 7

The seventh dare is fairly straightforward, and I found that it was easier to do without thinking about it too much. If I sat and thought about what should be on the lists I ended up either trying to balance the good and the bad or I spent far too much time thinking about what I should write.

Diving in and writing simply what came to mind worked much better, and it felt genuine when I was done.

Here is the seventh dare:

Love believes the best
For today's dare get two sheets of paper. On the first one spend a few minutes writing out positive things about your spouse. Then do the same with negative things on the second sheet. Place both sheets in a secret place for another day. There is a different purpose and plan for each. At some point during the remainder of the day, pick a positive attribute from the first list and thank your spouse for having this characteristic.

Thanking Courtney was easy, I have been working on complimenting her so it is becoming second nature.

Dropkick Murphys

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Here is one of my favorite songs from Dropkick Murphys, perfect band for today!



Now I'm off to drink some green beer!!

Love Dare - Day 6

I spent a lot more time on the 6th dare than I originally intended. While I have been very busy and haven't taken the time to start on the seventh dare, I also spent more than a week working on the sixth. For me this process isn't just to make it though the list, I am working to develop better habits and change the way I handle my relationship with my wife and by extension my kids and pretty much everyone else in my life.

Here is the sixth dare:

Love is not irritable

Choose today to react to tough circumstances in your marriage in loving ways instead of with irritation. Begin by making a list below of areas where you need to add margin to your schedule, then list any wrong motivations that you need to release from your life.

I think I have made some significant progress, in particular with making sure there is "free time" in my schedule. I'll keep my wrong motivations to myself, but now I keep in mind how to purge my reactions to them from my behavior and to work on confronting and resolving the issue.