ARE YOU A RELATIONSHIP EXPERT?

Relationship Skills Recommended These Skills

If you had the opportunity to list the top ten things to always practice in your relationship, what would they be? The Relationship Skills Center in Sacramento recently listed these:

----------Kiss good night
----------Be honest about your feelings. Nobody is perfect
----------Put your spouse above every other human
----------Treat him with respect
----------Treat her with love
----------Reserve a little one-on-one time every day
----------Seek to learn something about your spouse
----------Give the benefit of the doubt
----------Pursue deeper intimacy
----------Express appreciation

I think these skills are excellent. I would have said him/her for respect and love. I also would add share your values about God and the significance of life.

KING EDWARD VIII and WALLIS SIMPSON

A STRANGE LOVE STORY

A scandal that rocked the world could more correctly be called the greatest dysfunctional love story. Wallis Simpson, a domineering twice divorced American married King Edward VIII, who was unmarried at age 41 and the world's most eligible bachelor.

"She promised to bring into my life something that wasn't there," Edward explained in his 1951 autobiography. "I was convinced that with her I'd be a more creative and more useful person."

Falling in Love Can Be Deceiving

What Edward had hoped for did not happen. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin made the King choose marriage or monarchy. The King, as head of the Church of England was forbidden to marry a divorcee'. His brother was crowned George VI.

The couple lived in Paris for the rest of their lives. "You have no idea how hard it is to live out a great romance," Wallis told a friend. Were there regrets? "There were lots of them on both sides," according to Gore Vidal. Wallis Simpson "was bloody bored with the King and wanted out," according to Donald Spoto, author of "The Decline and Fall of the House of Windsor."

The story of King Edward and Wallis Simpson may always be classified as one of the greatest love stories. It may also be one of the greatest lessons about what not to do if you are looking for fulfilling relationship.

THE GREATEST LOVE STORIES

A Great Love Story 

The 1996 February issue of People Magazine featured "The Greatest Love Stories of the Century." The introduction to the stories began with a quote from Zelda Fitzgerald in a note to F. Scott, "I want to love first and live incidentally."

The greatest love stories chosen by the magazine were: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Marilyn Monroe and Joe Dimeggio, Stanford White and Evelyn Nesbit, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Ernest Hemingway and Agnes Von Furorosky, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu, Kathryn Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Boris Pasternik and Olga Ivinskaya, William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies, Grace Kelly and Prince Ranier III, Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis, Billy Graham and Ruth Bell, Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Colin Powell and Alma Johnson, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jackie Robinson and Rachel Isum.

The magazine ended its introduction with, "Whatever feelings they arouse, it's a good idea to savor these stories.; In the age of the 30 second marriage, they may come no more." What do you think and who would your list contain? I think I would start mine with the great love stories in my blog. Becoming soul mates requires commitment and work, but the payoff is awesome. I believe great love stories will always exist.

Greatest Lovers of the Last Century?

WERE RICHARD BURTON and ELIZABETH TAYLOR SOUL MATES?

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor apparently had everything most people think they want to be happy. Elizabeth was just 30 years old when she met Richard and she was already in her fourth marriage. Despite numerous flings, Richard, 36, was still married to his first wife and had two children. After divorcing their mates, they married in 1964. Their marriage was fueled by excess--passion, pleasure, alcohol, money, fame, partying, travel, sexual attraction. BUT, were they soul mates?

SEX and PASSION ARE NOT LOVE!

Sex can be great fun, but good sex is not enough to insure lifelong soul mate relationship. It is the icing on the cake. True love makes sex memorable and accelerates the desire to do what it takes to create a soul mate relationship. Soul mates touch often. Connection is just a smile away. Love fuels a multipurpose passion--desire to please, to transform feeling into touch, to connect, to briefly feel one with your mate. In many ways Burton and Taylor's relationship could be described as a great tragedy rather than the greatest love story. They went on to marry other people and Burton died at age 58 of a cerebral hemorrhage. Years earlier he had written in his diary, "The upshot is that I'll die of drink, while she goes blithely on in her half world."