Holiday Guide to Happy Relationships - 10 Simple Tips
Whether you’re single, dating, married or divorced, the holidays are supposed to be a time to celebrate with the ones you love. However, it is not uncommon for the stress of the busy season to take a toll on your relationships. The pressure of buying gifts, entertaining and balancing family responsibilities can turn the cheeriest elf into one miserable scrooge. Don’t let holiday stress destroy the relationship you’ve worked so hard on all year long!
Read through these top tips for maintaining happy, healthy relationships during the festive season:
Share the Love
Money can buy you happiness...as long as you’re giving it away. Research shows that spending on others, volunteering, and supporting charities can actually improve your well-being and boost your happiness. What a perfect win-win scenario!
Choose your favourite charity and collaborate with loved ones to donate a few hours or dollars to brighten the holiday season for those in need. Banding...
How to Have Those Difficult Conversations With Your Partner
Experts are constantly touting the value of “difficult conversations” in intimate relationships. But if a conversation is difficult, how do you initiate it to begin with? Do you bring it up at the dinner table or in the bedroom? Or should you wait until your partner in-laws are visiting to really up the awkward ante? Kidding. Obviously.
This morning, Jess joined Jeff on The Morning Show to share her top strategies for starting challenging conversations with your partner, but some of these approaches could also be used to tackle tough topics with your kids, friends, and parents. Check out the video and summary below.
1. We all want to have these tough conversation, but they’re intimidating. What’s an easy way to get them started?
Use popular media (tv shows, books, magazines, news headlines) as inspiration to have conversations about difficult topics. For example, politician or celebrity divorce and affair rumours can help you to talk about cheating —...
Jess Answers Your Travel Questions!
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Jess travels every week for speaking engagements across the globe and since she posts *too many* Insta-stories, she receives many questions about her travels. In this week’s episode, she attempts to answer them.
Jess' Advice for the Prince and Princess
Prince Harry and (the future Princess) Meghan Markle are engaged. She is leaving her job on Suits to join him in the UK and their long-distance relationship is coming to a close as they transition to a live-in couple. Jess joined Carolyn (yay!) to discuss long distance relationships on The Morning Show. Check out the summary and video below.
And don’t forget to listen to Jess’ podcast as she discusses her part-time long-distance relationship with her hubby, Brandon Ware.
1. Meghan is leaving her career to become a full-time princess. Is it healthy to leave a career and life behind for love?
- She’s leaving one career and moving into another. Of course, it’s okay to ditch a career for a relationship. Not only is she moving into a new and exciting career which will probably involve fulfilling charity work and fundraising, but if you ask almost anyone, they’ll always say that they value their relationship and family more than their career. Why should...
How We Make Our Relationship Work — Long Distance Love
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Jess’ much-better-half Brandon joins her to discuss how they make their relationship work while Jess is on the road. This is an unscripted discussion and we hope you like it!
5 Reasons Porn Can Be Good For Your Marriage
Porn may forever be connected to a number of social evils including marriage breakdown, sex addiction and the objectification of women, but there are upsides to consuming porn alone or as a couple.
In fact, experts and couples alike acknowledge that watching sexy videos together can have a positive impact on their sex lives. Several studies have even found that duos who consume pornography report higher levels of sexual knowledge and improved sexual satisfaction. And while mainstream porn offers little educational value (they’re actors and sexual superstars after all), it certainly inspires exploration, provides titillation and may even open the lines of communication in and out of the bedroom...
Check out the ways in which porn may have a positive impact on your relationship:
Porn Can Help Put You in the Mood
After a long day at work followed by a “nightcap” of meal preparation, laundry and a frustratingly drawn-out bath and bedtime routine, sex is often the last...
Rewriting the Rules of Marriage — The Millennial Script
Every week I receive inquiries from reporters asking if monogamy and marriage are relics of the past. My answer? Of course not. Compared to most of human history, we’re likely more monogamous now than we’ve ever been. But for the first time in modern history, we’re talking about what monogamy means and redefining marriage with the understanding that one-size does not fit all. Today I joined Jeff McArthur to discuss the ways in which millennials are rewriting the rules of marriage.
1. How has our approach to sex changed over time?
- Our support for premarital sex has increased. In the 70s only 29% of American adults classified premarital sex as “not wrong at all”. In the 80s, it increased to 42% and between 2010 and 2012, the number reached 58%.
- The age of first intercourse has remained relatively stable, but more Millenials seem to be waiting.
2. What about technology?
- More couples are meeting online — some data suggests it’s as high as 1/3...
How to Deal with the Online Hate!
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This week on the @SexWithDrJess Podcast, social media influencer, Jacqui Childs, joins Jess to talk about what it’s like to be a woman in the digital world – the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are lots of laughs and reminiscing on this one, but most importantly the pair discuss online haters and how to deal. Tune in!
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The Formula for Intimacy
In this week’s episode, Jess explores the power of vulnerability as part of the formula for intimacy.
Intimacy = Expression of vulnerability + Loving response
She shares one couple’s story and offers insight on how simple interactions can lead to deep connection. Have a listen!
See this episode’s transcription below…
In today’s episode, we’re addressing a very important topic — the formula for intimacy. I’m going to cut to the chase.
To deepen intimacy in your relationship and feel closer, more connected and more in love, there are two simple requirements:
Vulnerability + Loving Response
That’s it. Nothing cultivates deeper intimacy than admitting that you feel vulnerable and being met with loving reassurance.
I’m going to use the story of a couple I recently worked with as an example. Let’s call them Jordan and Rena.
Jordan and Rena are out for dinner and Rena is radiant — inside and out. She has an...
How to Talk to Your Kids About Porn
The landscape of sex has changed since we were kids with sexting, mobile porn, and social media shaping the way young people learn about sex. Research suggests that it's not uncommon to be inadvertently exposed to pornography online and the age of first contact with adult material may be as young as 13.
With explicit content at their fingertips, talking to our children about sex and porn is more important than ever. And as uncomfortable as a conversation about porn may be, there is no avoiding it if we want to support our children in developing healthy attitudes toward intimacy, sexuality, and relationships. While there is no perfect formula for addressing such a sensitive and subjective topic, we have a few tips for making the conversation count:
1. Ask questions without judgment.
Parents often wonder how to start a conversation about sex and it is common to have serious concerns with regard to exactly how much information they should reveal. One of the best ways to address...
