Looking Ahead With Lauren: Valentine’s Day – Looking Back and Forward

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I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day. Over the years it has meant different things to me, nonetheless I’ve still enjoyed it. As a kid it meant making valentines for all the kids in my class, receiving valentines, getting candy and other goodies from my parents and grandparents. It meant having a special note or treat in [...]

Things To Do For Valentine’s Day No Matter What Your Relationship Status Is

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Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching. You may have a set plan of what you want to do, whether it is with your boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband/whatever or have fun things planned with your friends or just want to do something by yourself. If you’re not sure what you want to do yet, here is a list of things [...]

Surefire Ways To Be An Amazing Friend

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First of all, I hope you all had a wonderful, wonderful holiday! I’d love to hear all about it. Tweet me at @lrstewar! Friendships are so important. I don’t know about you, but they bring so much happiness, laughter, fulfillment, hope and so much more into my life. So of course, maintaining your friendships is [...]

Creating a Healthier YOU: The Power of Separateness

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The kind of separateness we are discussing here does not mean indifference or isolation from others, and it does not mean avoiding intimate relationships either. The power of separateness comes in the form of a human connectedness that values the treasured spaces that exist between us and others. When we are not striving for this [...]

Dating Advice: How To Get Over Him (With A Little Help From Your Friends)

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Recently, I met a guy who I thought was great. We were introduced by a mutual friend. He was handsome, gave me money for the jukebox and he made me laugh. We hit it off and hung out a few times. There was chemistry. We had an official date scheduled, and THEN … he had [...]

7 Ways to Make Conversations Meaningful Using Minimalism

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Our relationships are one of the most important aspects of living a meaningful life. Conversing with a close friend can be one of the most meaningful experiences we have. And yet we often don’t value these conversations like we should, we don’t pay enough attention to the important people around us. Just like we use [...]

Find The Right Guy

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I’ve written on how to be a great girlfriend, but being a great girlfriend is worthless if you don’t have the right guy. Here are some traits you need in a boyfriend: 1. He’s always supportive, but honest. There are enough people in the world that try to bring you down or scoff at your [...]

Let’s Be Kind To One Another

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Recently I had someone tell me that their boyfriend sometimes made them feel like the ugliest person in the world. Keep in mind this person was a beautiful, almost 50-year-old woman who looked much younger. That pretty much broke my heart. I told her that no one should ever make her feel that way and [...]

Your “To-Do” List When Going Back To School

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This weekend, while shopping for some household items, I ended up in the midst of some serious back to school shopping, moms and daughters/sons getting ready for college dorm life. Listening in on their conversations about whether or not they needed a toaster, what color rug goes with the lamp, the size of fan, reminded [...]

10 Ways To Create A Strong, Intimate Relationship

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“We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.” -Sam Keen Before I married my wonderful husband, I dated a lot of men. For most of my 20s (and even my early 30s) I had a perfect fairy-ideal of what romantic love was, probably because [...]