Coffin Corner

People talk about falling in love, losing at love and looking for love. What if you could have a more permanent and reliable relationship with love--one that was not dependent on another person?

This entails making love into a lifestyle rather than a life event.  And it can have great personal benefits. According to Carol McCloud, author of Have You Filled A Bucket Today?, those “who learn to express kindness and love lead happier lives.” What if you were to incorporate a caring attitude and made a genuine effort to show attention toward others every day?

Here are 10 sure-fire ways to make love into a lifestyle>>>

Everything you think you know about love might be wrong!

Common sentiments about love get repeated over and over. Popular sayings get passed on from generation to generation. Ideas about love get affirmed by our “feelings” and by what we hope to be true rather than by logic and meaningful information.

Yep, we’ve all been duped when it comes to matters of the heart.

Now is the time to crush the romantic fibs out of your love life and ground your understanding of love in more meaningful information. Here are five big lies about love>>>

What is Relationship and Marriage Education?

Relationship and Marriage Education (RME) refers to skills-based educational approaches, often preventive in nature, in which individuals or couples are taught skills to increase effective communication, success in resolving problems and conflicts with their spouse/partner, and skills and attitudes that increase marital commitment and satisfaction as well as family stability.

Is there any research that proves RME really works?

In eight comprehensive analyses of hundreds of research studies, results show that Relationship and Marriage Education programs work—"to reduce strife, improve communication, increase parenting skills, increase stability, and enhance marital happiness." The overwhelming consensus among researchers is that Relationship Education programs "are effective in helping families do more than merely survive—that Relationship Education enables couples to learn skills that enable their marriage and children to thrive" (Fagan, Patrick F., Patterson Robert W. and Robert E. Rector. "Marriage and Welfare Reform: The Overwhelming Evidence that Marriage Education Works". The Heritage Foundation: Backgrounder #1606, 2002).

Find Relationship and Marriage Education (RME) Classes throughout California! >>>

"With divorces lingering at nearly 50%, and each divorce generating a social services burden conservatively estimated at $30,000 per divorce, marital outcomes are critical to the overall stability of American society. Marital outcomes impact the couple, their children, their community, and the culture we live in," says David G. Schramm in his research of 2006 (Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Vol. 27(1) 133-146). The social services impact of divorce includes increased government expenditures for program such as:

• Food stamps
• Medicare
• Medicaid
• Children's Health Insurance
• Child Support Enforcement
• Court costs
• WIC
• LIHEAP
• Subsidized day care and housing assistance

All of these taxpayer-supported social services come to a total national bill of "roughly $33.3 billion annually."

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!  In your opinion, what measures should be taken to improve the well-being of families in preventive ways, rather than repairing family breakdown once it occurs?

With society's economic challenges, a record low of married couples, and a high divorce rate, comes a compelling solution: the Relationship and Marriage Education movement. This national observance week is to highlight the value of marriage and its important role in society.

Celebrate your marriage and reflect on what you are doing to take care of it!

Are you looking to make a Valentine's Day contribution to enable another couple to get the help they need? Consider making a gift to Healthy Relationships California. While HRC has Federal funding for certain, restricted activities, the relationship needs of marriages and families in our state is great!

Your contribution can go a long way to help HRC make more Relationship and Marriage Education classes available to more people in more communities. And you will have the satisfaction of having made a big difference to the quality of people's lives.

Make an online donation today  >>>