Personal Growth Cafe – Page 210 – Empowering You to Live Your Inspired Vision!

June 25, 2012July 4, 2012

How to Make a Vision Board to Reflect Your Life Goals

Do you feel you need a push to focus on your goals? It can be very effective to have daily reminders of what you want to accomplish. But how is it possible to keep your goals in mind every day? One way to consistently work toward bringing your dreams to life is to make a vision board.

What is a Vision Board?

A vision board is a craft project – a collage that includes pictures and words that reflect your life goals. The board can address your life in general or one or more specific areas you choose.

A vision board shows what you’re seeking in life. It prompts you to consider what you want. Before starting your board, ask yourself what your goals are. What do you want your life to be like?

Preparing to Construct Your Vision Board

Follow these preparation steps:

1. Gather supplies. Use a large square or rectangle of poster board or foam core board as the base of your vision board.

• You’ll need colored ink markers, magazines with plenty of words in headlines and pictures, scissors, and glue.

2. Ponder what you’ll include in your board. Decide the life area(s) you wish to address: all aspects, such as prosperity, relationships, family, sports, health, school, jobs, and careers or just 1-2 of your most-sought-after goals.

• You’ll use pictures and words about the things you desire, the place(s) you want to live, and anything else representative of the lifestyle you seek.

3. Plan time to start work on your vision board. Schedule a day and time to make your board when you’ll be uninterrupted. Allow yourself 3-4 hours. You might not complete it in one sitting. That’s okay. It’ll take some time to browse through magazines and select images to clip and use.

Vision Board Day!

It’s time to get started.

1. Reflect on your most important goals. Set a timer for 20 minutes and clarify to yourself what you want in life.

• Right now, what’s important to you? What do you want to pursue? It’s okay if you’re not sure. But give yourself time to think about it. When you emotionally connect with your goals, you’re more likely to achieve them.

2. Find the pictures you want to use. Browse through magazines and clip images that reflect your goals and dreams. Then, without gluing, arrange and re-arrange the pictures on the poster board until you love how it looks.

• Leave a space somewhere on the poster board to place a favorite picture of you.
• Once you have a pleasing arrangement, affix your collage with glue.

3. Include words to express goals and desires. Write words that connect you with the pictures. Express your thoughts and emotions using markers. You might choose to clip words from magazines (larger print is best) and glue them on your vision board.

4. Glue on a picture of yourself that you like and voila, you’ve just created your vision board!

5. Recognize it’s a process. You might start out making your vision board about your career and discover you’re really more interested in deepening friendships or making money from a job you’ve never tried. That’s okay; switch gears on this board or even construct another board later.

6. Display your vision board. Hang it in your den, bedroom, or somewhere you’ll see it every day. Stop and look at it, touch it, and say out loud, “I’m working for that!” Let yourself get excited about the prospect of achieving your goals.

Making a vision board keeps you oriented toward your life desires. Construct a new board later as you reach current goals and add new ones. Motivate yourself to attain your goals and dreams through making your own vision board.

June 24, 2012July 4, 2012

Enjoy Lifelong Learning on a Shoestring Budget

Lifelong learning enables you to enrich your mind and expand your career opportunities even if you completed your formal education a long time ago. If you’re on a limited budget, there are still many ways, both in your community and online, to build your knowledge and skills.

Educational Opportunities in Your Community

1. Visit your local library. Borrowing books is a good enough reason to make a trip to your local library, but they now offer much more. Search the downloadable media for audio books and test-preparation guides for graduate school exams and civil service tests. Browse the event calendar for free lectures and courses.

2. Give yourself a museum membership. Museum memberships are a great bargain compared to the ticket prices for sporting events or movies. Being a member will usually give you access to special events and classes for the whole family.

3. Take advantage of education benefits at work. Check your employee manual for tuition discounts and other benefits your employer may offer. Ask if you can organize a lunchtime speaker series. Many local professionals will welcome the opportunity to share their expertise on financial management or vegetarian cooking.

4. Do an internship. In a tough job market, internships are one way to get the training you need to succeed. Target organizations where you can make a contribution while learning new skills.

5. Volunteer your services. Volunteer work goes far beyond stuffing envelopes. Sign up to assist with a project outside your usual line of work. Most communities have nonprofit clearinghouses with a wide variety of choices or contact a favorite charity you already support.

6. Let your kids instruct you. Ask your kids to teach you what they’re learning in school. It’s a great way to help them master their coursework while you pick up a new language or review geometry.

7. Teach a class. Try teaching a class on a subject where you have some expertise at your local church or community center. Preparing for classes and interacting with students is an effective way to deepen your own knowledge.

8. Retire to a university town. University towns are becoming increasingly attractive to those who are retiring with smaller savings than they expected. You get access to all kinds of educational resources with a lower cost of living than many major cities.

9. Search for financial aid. If your goals require that you go back to school, there are options for defraying the costs. Talk with the financial aid office at the university you select about scholarships, loans, grants, and veteran benefits that may be available to you.

Educational Opportunities In The Digital World

1. Take free university courses. Hundreds of respected universities and colleges offer free online courses. You can download audio and video courses from Oxford or Ivy League schools on every subject imaginable, from poetry to physics.

2. Switch to smarter YouTube channels. Tear yourself away from the videos of kittens petting puppies to visit organizations like the Aspen Institute that airs nonpartisan seminars on critical world issues or the Nobel Prize where past and current Nobel Laureates talk about cultural and scientific advances.

3. Turn on the subtitles. Foreign movies are a fun way to help you learn a new language or brush up if you’re getting rusty. Use the subtitles while you watch to learn correct pronunciation and expand your vocabulary. Some television stations also air subtitled foreign news programs where you can learn about world events while you improve your language skills.

Enjoy the thrills of new discoveries and the satisfaction of improving your mind. Many educational opportunities cost little or nothing, so all you need is a commitment to lifelong learning.

June 24, 2012June 27, 2012

Why Am I Not Making Money?

Instead of worrying about money, like so many people these days are doing, this video up-shifts your focus, so you’re instead giving your attention to and empowering with strong feelings – being of greater service to more people.

That feels great, it’s why you’re here…. and it’s your shortest and fastest path to wealth and success!

Watch it and you’ll know exactly how that works, in accordance with “The First Covenant of The Affluent Class”:

What was most helpful for you in today’s Personal Growth Walk Video?

Comment below on that.

Also, let others know about this, because chances are great several of your Facebook friends need this information and would love you for sharing it with them.

(Just use the stylish less than ‘<‘ button in the lower right of the video and Share on Facebook, Twitter, your email, etc.)

As you saw in the video, I’m here to give you valuable coaching and make sure we’re applying these insights to what’s happening in your life, through our Personal Growth Community.

Also make sure you’re doing our “Crash Course on Creating Your Ideal Life” which is our $197 free gift to you.

Warmly,

Dan Klatt
“Think And Grow Rich Guy”
Personal Growth Cafe Head Coach

……Serving as Your WealthSensei!

June 24, 2012July 4, 2012

Design the Life You Desire With a Life Plan

When you engage in active planning, you’re highly likely to be more successful in life. You know what you want and how you intend to get it.

Maybe you already have your life all planned out. Maybe you don’t. Either way, these tips will help you devise or tweak your Life Plan so you can move forward toward realizing the joy and fulfillment you deserve.

Take some time to answer the following questions about what you most desire. Who knows, you may have a detailed Life Plan before the week is done!

1. What are your dreams? Allow yourself some “dream” time to clarify to yourself what you really want. Be as over-the-top as you like. Then, write them down.

• There’s no limit to the number of dreams or how large they are. Life provides opportunities to let go of certain goals and add new ones. Infuse your Life Plan with all your dreams and goals.

2. What’s important? Whatever you feel is crucial to you should be reflected in your Life Plan. Maybe you’ve always wanted to have more education. Perhaps you’ve wanted to travel but haven’t the time or money to do it. If you grew up in a rented home, owning a home might be the single most important thing in your life. If it’s important to you, include it.

3. What do you want to accomplish? What deeds do you want to achieve? Now’s the time to write down what you want to do with your life. Is working on a church mission something you aspire to do? Do you want to win an award in your career for your work performance?

• List what you want to attain in the personal, professional and educational areas of life.

4. What standard of living do you desire? Your answer will describe the life you want to lead. Do you want to live in a high-rise apartment in the city? Do you want to own your own farm in the country? Maybe you prefer to live simply and pick up and go wherever you want.

• Perhaps you want to earn more money, live in a large house, drive an expensive car, and enjoy wearing pricey clothes. In essence, you seek the high life.

• Thoroughly investigate what standard of living you want so you can include it in your Life Plan. Search your soul. There are no “wrong answers” when you’re developing your Life Plan.

5. Do you have fun? Maybe, to you, having fun means locking yourself in your study to write romances all day. You might find training and running a triathlon to be the time of your life. Activities such as bowling, practicing yoga and traveling to Europe also qualify – whatever brings you joy.

• If you answer this question with a “no,” it’s time to get serious about your fun. You’ll require some time to cogitate about activities you might enjoy. When was the last time you kicked up your heels? List activities that you love to do. What is life without some fun?

6. Are you spending time with friends and family? Generally, those who are the happiest make time for their family and friends. If this issue is important to you, include it in your plan.

7. What do you do for your community? Giving back to your community cultivates feelings of gratitude, satisfaction, and fulfillment in your own life. Donating money, time, or energy for the good of others enables these positive feelings to be an inherent result when you write them into your Life Plan.

8. Are self-improvements high on your list? Striving to excel helps keep you moving toward your life goals. Include short term achievements for many areas of your life.

Develop your Life Plan soon and feel free to change it as your wants and desires evolve. Having a Life Plan keeps you focused on all your goals and will motivate you to reach for the stars.

June 24, 2012July 4, 2012

Deepen Your Relationship by Having Fun Together

Although maintaining your own sense of individuality in your relationship is important, enjoying time you spend together is the glue that holds your relationship together. Most people want to be around those they have fun with. Keeping the good feelings flowing strengthens the loving bonds you have and draws you closer.

Having a good laugh, sharing a new experience, and being spontaneous build a relationship that’s enjoyable as well as enduring. Make it a goal each day to bring fun into your relationship.

Try these ideas to infuse more merriment into your time together:

1. Plan a day to play hooky together. Schedule a day to take off from work and other tasks. Re-discover the love and frolic in your relationship by spending the entire day alone together. Behave as if you don’t have anything else to do but look into each other’s eyes.

2. During holidays, do fun, silly things together. Take advantage of unique opportunities to enjoy some levity and good times. Dress up for Halloween as Brangelina or Lucy and Desi. On Independence Day, plan to wear red, white and blue and serve only foods at your cook-out that are red, white or blue.

• Sharing silliness enhances the emotional intimacy so important to love relationships.

3. Have a picnic. Pack food and beverages and take off to a nearby park. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate feast – just something simple for lunch that you can munch on while talking and savoring the wonders of nature. Having such picnics once a month or so as long as the weather permits will encourage you to share special feelings.

4. Rediscover your playful side. Hold hands when you’re shopping or taking a walk. Share a joke at dinner.

• Laugh out loud. Who doesn’t feel drawn to a person that makes them laugh and laughs with them? Remember when you used to play games together when you first started dating?

• Have a Canasta tournament. Get out the Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit board game and delight in a new pastime.

5. Schedule a special dinner to discuss next year’s vacation. What a way to share special feelings of excitement and anticipation! If you’re planning a trip to Mexico, dine at a Mexican restaurant. Do everything you can to make your vacation planning talks special and pleasurable. You’ll feel even more drawn to one another as vacation time approaches.

6. Avoid television one evening weekly. When you refrain from watching television just one evening a week, it can open up so many possibilities to bond and have fun. Discuss how you could spend this extra time together. You’ll discover more about what your partner enjoys.

7. Play your favorite music and dance. You’ve probably got an MP3 loaded with music you love. Turn it on and dance together. Most people find dancing to be one of the most physically intimate, fun activities to do together. You’ll definitely connect emotionally when you dance.

8. Experience occasional intellectual pursuits together. A spirited discussion about something in the news will expand your minds while you delight in sharing your opinions with one another. You’ll learn something about your partner and maybe even be inspired.

As you focus on taking pleasure in your partner’s company, think about how you’re forging strong connections and truly listening to the love of your life. Ensuring you have fun together will deepen your relationship in more ways than you can imagine.

June 24, 2012July 4, 2012

Create More Flexibility at Work through Job Sharing

Job sharing offers a lot of benefits for both employers and employees. These flexible arrangements can improve the quality of life for workers and make it easier for the organizations they work for to access the talent they need. These are the major advantages of job sharing along with techniques for making it work.

Advantages of Job Sharing

1. Enjoy more leisure time. For many people, the typical work week extends far beyond the traditional 40 hours. Job sharing is one way to preserve leisure time for activities you find meaningful.

2. Fulfill family obligations. If you’re a caregiver sandwiched between raising children and looking after elderly parents, you’re dealing with a lot of responsibilities outside the workplace. Flexible arrangements can make it easier to care for your loved ones.

3. Protect your health. Maybe aging or medical conditions make it difficult for you to work full time. Part time hours could be just what you need to stay in the workforce without overtaxing yourself.

4. Provide better service to clients. Your clients will probably like knowing that they get full coverage because you and your job sharing partner back each other up during the hours each of you are away from the office. Job sharing can also reduce turnover so clients get to work with trusted employees in more stable relationships.

5. Contribute to a more productive workplace. Think of yourself as a role model for how flexible work can advance personal and business success. Your company will benefit from attracting and retaining quality employees and higher morale means workers are more motivated to excel.

Techniques For Making Job Sharing Work

1. Choose the right partner. To pull it off, you need to select a partner who is compatible and competent. Look for someone who complements your skills and is committed to sharing accountability and information.

2. Structure your arrangement. Most people decide to share the entire position while others divide up responsibility for different tasks. Plan out your initial schedule including how you’ll handle your time out of the office. You may want to remain available for emergency calls.

3. Put everything in writing. If your boss is receptive, present them with a written proposal. It will help you to think out all the details and demonstrate your professionalism.

4. Coordinate with your partner. If you doubt that demanding jobs can be shared, just think of hospital nurses who share patients on different shifts. The key is to communicate all necessary information and maintain accountability.

5. Reassure your supervisor. It’s natural for your boss to feel hesitant about any changes that could disrupt the workplace. Put those concerns to rest by delivering superior results and showing that a team can do the job better than one individual alone.

6. Be responsive to the needs of co-workers and clients. Similarly, the people you work with may find the process confusing at first. Be proactive about providing contact information and your schedule. Let your actions show that you’re fully committed even if you work part time hours.

7. Organize your workspace. If you’ll be sharing an office and desk, keep important documents, files, and supplies in logical order so it’s easy for the other person to find. You may even want to share the same voice mail and email.

8. Plan ahead for changes in your arrangement. Decide what you’ll do in case you or your partner drops out or management wants to terminate the arrangement. You may decide that you’ll work full time until you can find a new partner or accept reassignment to another position.

If you’re seeking a better balance between work and life, job sharing may be one solution. Plan carefully and develop sound communications so you and your employer can make a success of this unconventional team approach.

June 24, 2012July 4, 2012

Building Your Child’s Character

One of the most important jobs you do as a parent is build the characters of your children. Building your child’s character ensures your child grows up to be a hard worker, caring individual, and honest person.

Implementing these ideas can help you successfully develop good character in your child:

1. Provide specific verbal encouragement. When you give comments specific to a character aspect you wish to develop in your child, you’re providing your child with some subtle directions about how to behave.

• For example, if you want your child to value friendships and being a good friend, you could offer feedback such as, “You’re a very good friend to Sam because you let him go first when he comes over to play.”

• To reinforce your child’s efforts to be polite and understanding, let your child know you notice his polite and understanding ways through comments such as, “Wow, that was really nice of you to keep your cool when your sister took your candy.”

• When you want to instill honesty in your child, you could say something like “I like the way you were honest about not brushing your teeth. Let’s go brush them now.”

2. Volunteer together. Even young children can be taken to the homeless shelter to hand out sandwiches. Instill the value of helping others by introducing your child to volunteer activities. When you help others in the presence of your child, he sees that volunteering to help others is important.

3. Give separate consequences for being untruthful. Parents often struggle to figure out how to encourage truthful behavior. One way to extinguish lying behaviors is to issue a separate consequence for the act of lying itself.

• Technically, there will be times when you’re providing 2 consequences: a consequence for the untruth told as well as for the unacceptable behavior. For example, if your child told you he got his homework done and an hour later you discover he didn’t, you’d give 2 consequences.

• One consequence would be for telling a lie and the other for not getting his homework done. This suggested parenting technique discourages lying and encourages truth-telling.

• You can explain that “If you would have told the truth about not getting your homework done, you would have been grounded for 2 days. Now, since you lied about it, that’s another 2 days of grounding.”
4. Briefly discuss important traits. As a parent, you can teach patience by talking about how we all must occasionally wait in lines. Give examples like how you wait your turn at the grocery store or the doctor’s office. Explain it’s the normal way of things whenever there are a lot of people involved.

5. Model character traits that matter to you. Of course, the best way to build character is to demonstrate positive traits in the company of others. If you want your children to have good character, keep in mind you’re their best model. In everything you do, vow to “be the lesson” that’s best learned through observation.

6. Assign tasks regularly to each child. Set up tasks for your kids to complete on their own so they learn self-reliance. Then compliment them on how well they did. Reinforce their efforts with a look, a pat on the back, or a quick hug. Couple these things with your positive verbal feedback, “I’m so proud of you for sweeping the kitchen. That really helped me out.”

As you practice these methods, recognize you’re instilling a sense of morality in your kids, so they know how to determine what the right choice is.

You have the awesome power to build your child’s character. Take advantage of this power by using it wisely and your kids will enjoy these values and skills for their entire lives.

June 24, 2012July 4, 2012

A Parent’s Guide to Gardening With Kids

Gardening with your children is a fun and productive way to spend time together, reconnect with nature and get some exercise. Here are some techniques that will help everyone enjoy the experience.

Benefits of Gardening With Kids

1. Improve your family’s eating habits. Your kids will be more excited about eating fruits and vegetables that they’ve grown themselves. The anticipation of harvesting will make them want to try new foods.

2. Become more environmentally conscious. TV and the internet keep kids indoors much of the time. Working in the dirt with plants and insects is a valuable reminder about our dependence upon the natural world.

3. Reinforce a sense of gratitude. It’s easy to forget all the effort that goes into producing the food we eat if we just order it online or pick it up at the store. Even a small venture into agriculture can increase our appreciation for the hard work involved.

4. Get more physically active. Sedentary lifestyles put kids at risk for becoming overweight. Planting and weeding are great ways to integrate more activity into daily routines.

Gardening With Younger Children

1. Let kids assume ownership. Small children will need guidance and instruction but let them take a leadership role. They can help select the plants they want to grow and the tasks they like the best.

• Provide lots of praise and positive feedback as they gradually assume more responsibility over time.

2. Keep it simple. Break tasks down into individual steps that your child can understand. Encourage them to select plants that will be easy to grow. Most beans thrive with little care. Plus, they’re nutritional powerhouses and the big seeds make them a cinch for kids to handle.

3. Provide instant gratification. Fast results will keep kids motivated. Radishes are usually ready to pick in less than three weeks. Mix in some smaller lettuce plants with the larger ones and you’ll have tender salad greens in about the same time.

4. Make it educational. Use your garden to teach everything from science to poetry. You can talk about how weather affects plants and recite poems about flowers.

5. Play it safe. Children are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, so in urban areas you may need to get your soil tested. Make it a rule that they need to ask an adult for approval before they eat any plant. Avoid dangerous chemicals and be careful with sharp tools.

6. Have fun. Encourage your kids to invite friends over to help. Unusual varieties of plants can be amusing, so shop around for fun seeds to get a crop of foot long carrots, miniature pumpkins, or purple tomatoes.

Gardening with Tweens and Teens

1. Let older kids guide younger ones. Middle school and high school students can be great role models and instructors for small children. The interaction is inspiring and gratifying for both sides.

2. Challenge veteran gardeners to set new goals. Horticulture will become a way of life for many kids who have the benefit of early exposure. Keep it stimulating by supporting them in developing new skills.

3. Go gently with new gardeners. If your teen is new to gardening, they may feel tentative about doing anything that would make them seem different from their peers. Until there’s a reality show or video game to make growing plants officially cool, tread carefully.

• You might want to start with herb gardens. They’re easy and practical and can even be kept indoors.

Gardening with your kids will strengthen your relationship and may even help you cut down on grocery bills. Help your kids get an early start on appreciating nature’s bounty and draw your family closer together with these timeless traditions.

June 24, 2012July 4, 2012

7 Tips for Dealing With Disappointment

Because life is less than perfect, we all experience situations that bring feelings of disappointment from time to time. Therefore, it’s important to have your own tool kit of tips to confront and combat these emotional upsets so you can move past them and on to better things.

Use these techniques to help you conquer disappointment:

1. Allow yourself to feel however you feel. When a troublesome event takes place, it’s completely normal to feel disappointed and a little down. Your feelings are a natural part of you and you’re entitled to feel disconcerted from time to time. Think about what has made you upset and how you feel about it.

2. Refrain from attributing too much importance to the situation that brought you disappointment. Sometimes, it’s easy to react to an upsetting situation by exaggerating the consequences of the event.

• For example, when you’re passed over for a promotion, you might think, “I’ll never get an opportunity to advance at the office again. I guess my career is over.”

• Instead, be realistic about the impact of the recent disappointment. Okay, it’s a setback. But it’s just one hitch. You’ll have plenty of chances to recover.

3. Revisit your goals. What is your ideal outcome? What are you seeking in life? Have you established personal and professional goals that stimulate, motivate, and excite you? Now that you’ve allowed yourself the time to sort through your feelings of disillusionment, it’s time to shift gears.

• Review your personal and professional goals to reinvigorate your efforts to achieve them. Don’t be surprised if your goals have changed since the last time you thought about them.

4. Construct a dream board. Speaking of having clarity in what you want in life, making a dream board will help you do just that. Also known as vision boards or personal collages, a dream board can include pictures, drawings, and sayings about everything in life you’re seeking.

• The process will be a deeply satisfying experience. Plus, you’ll have your dream board to admire every day and remind you of the goals you’re working for.

5. Focus on 1 or 2 goals. Choose at least one personal and one professional goal to focus on for the next month. Keep that goal in your thoughts each day by having it in your calendar or even on a note in your car. Concentrate your efforts on one or two goals at a time.

• This way, you’ll leave your feelings of disappointment behind, replacing them with positive feelings. You’ll focus on and commit to achieving a result that’s very important to you.

6. Recognize life offers all kinds of possibilities. In actuality, there are probably plenty of ways to expand your horizons at the office and in your career. Avoid making one disappointing occurrence a constant source of nagging negativity. Take notice of all the opportunities you have now. Realize more will be coming along every single day.

7. Onward and upward. When you’re moving forward in life, you’re less affected by occasional disappointments. Consider your disappointment a thing of the past and vow to move on. Make a short list of what you’ll do over the next days to achieve the goals you selected to focus on.

There are many strategies to help you move past the disappointing times in life. When you allow yourself your own feelings, avoid placing too much emphasis on an upsetting event, and review your life goals, you’re well on your way to better days.

Also, making a dream board, focusing on just 1 or 2 goals, and moving on with your life will allow you to leave your disappointment behind and embrace renewed faith in your almost-perfect life!

June 24, 2012July 3, 2012

6 Ways to Raise Your Partner’s Self-Esteem

Even though you may not think much about it, it always feels good when someone takes the time and makes the effort to help you feel better about yourself. Whether it’s a compliment, gesture, or facial expression, it feels great to know someone is considering your feelings.

Have you ever thought about making an effort to strengthen your partner’s self-esteem? It’s important to demonstrate your love and affection with actions that help increase your partner’s positive feelings about himself.

Try these strategies to raise your partner’s self-esteem:

1. Notice the little things your partner does for you. Does he always open doors for you or pull out your chair when dining out? Perhaps she consistently asks what you’d like to have for dinner.

• Say something like, “Wow, that was so nice” or “I really appreciate a beautiful woman cooking and serving a meal for me” to boost your partner’s feelings about herself.

2. Take delight in your partner’s presence. Even at the busiest, most hectic times, stop what you’re doing to acknowledge your partner’s presence. Greet each other with love and care. Your partner will feel great when you pay more attention to him than to anyone else in the room.

3. Compliment something they do well. Does she set the most beautiful table when guests are coming for dinner? Does he always clean your car inside and out, making it look like new? Compliment these gestures of love from your partner. After all, not everyone can do what he does as well as he does it. Let him know that.

4. Notice when he really enjoys doing a task or other activity. For example, say something like, “I can tell that you had a great time helping Jack paint his house today. And you did a fantastic job!” Your positive comments to your partner about what you notice about him serve to shore up some extra self-esteem.

• Plus, your remarks will cause your partner to reflect on what he was doing and recognize, “Hey, yeah, I really do enjoy doing that and I’m good at it! I’m going to make some plans to do it again soon.”

5. Show consistent support and confidence when your partner appears to be struggling with a particular issue. If your partner is trying to lose some weight, for example, and has been disappointed with the results, let her know you see her efforts and that you believe they’ll pay off.

• Comment, “Let’s take a 15 minute walk every day after work before dinner time” to demonstrate your strong support for her. She’ll feel cherished to know you’re there for her and that you understand what she’s going through. When she feels like she’s worth it and that you’ve got confidence in her, those feelings translate to self-esteem.

6. When your partner makes a change, be aware of it. Compliment the change.

• For example, if he shaves off his beard or tries a different style of clothing, make comments such as, “You look so young without your beard” or “That color of shirt complements the color of your eyes very nicely. I think we should get you some more clothes in that shade.”

One of the most important factors about being a partner is to always be there emotionally for the other person. Using strategies that raise your partner’s self-esteem will strengthen your relationship and deepen the love and respect you feel for each other.

Practice these strategies to raise your partner’s self-esteem. Your partner will appreciate you