When was the last time you and your significant other did something new and exciting as a couple? How about trying something sexy and invigorating?

Here’s an idea: Hire a professional boudoir photographer to capture sensual moments and memories of your partner and you together! It would make for a fun date!

Why a boudoir photoshoot?

This experience will encourage sensuality and adventure, teach you how let-go and be in the moment, and look at one another through a new lens.

If you think this idea suits your relationship (I wouldn’t recommend doing this with someone you’ve just gone on a couple of dates with), here are a few things you will need to consider before embarking on this journey. …

“Intimate relationships are contingent on honesty and openness. They are built and maintained through our faith that we can believe what we are being told.”

Shirley Glass, relationship expert

Trust and honesty are the glue that holds a relationship together.

Trust goes hand in hand with other elements of a healthy relationship, like respect, security, and openness. Without it, the foundation of a relationship becomes weak and unstable and can easily crumble under pressure and animosity.

There are a lot of different reasons why you may fail to trust a partner and vice versa:

• Infidelity in past or current relationships
• A family history of deception and…

Freedom is a very interesting thing. It can give us a sense of autonomy, a feeling of great power. But, sometimes, it has the power to set us adrift. And I’ll wager you have flipped both sides of the coin, right?

Before I met my partner, I was a walking contradiction. I wanted to be free, roaming my own way. I also harboured a desire to meet that special someone who has my back, understands me, and wants what I want from life.

My dating history, like many around the world, has been tumultuous at best.

I’ve hurt people, I’ve been hurt. And I never quite figured out which side I would rather be on. The guilt of breaking someone’s heart is just too awful to bear. Yet, the heartache involved when someone doesn’t want you…well, that sucks endlessly. …

Many of us have experienced searching for love in the wrong places: seeking external love, acceptance, and approval instead of self-love and self-acceptance.

Why does it have to take heartbreak for some of us to learn that lack of self-love can lead to toxic relationships?

The truth is if you’re seeking growth and companionship with your partner, or in any other type of relationship, then self-love must be actualized before you can truly love someone else.

That said, for many, loving yourself is actually hard to do.

Self-Love in Medieval Arthurian Romance

This premise is nothing new and dates as far back as medieval Arthurian romance tales, such as Chretien de Troyes’ Erec and Enide.

In applying the theories of Thomas Aquinas and Julia Kristeva to the tale, the lovers are plagued by self-depredation, self-deprivation, and narcissism before actualizing self-love, resulting in the maturation of their union. …

Shortly after my break-up last year I got to know someone I really liked (and still like).

As I was feeling so terribly sad and lonely, this sudden acquaintance helped me to escape from my grief. I’m still very thankful for the great days and nights I spent with him. Having someone interested in me gave me the feeling that there was more to life than my last relationship.

My ex-boyfriend was traveling and hanging out with the girl he got to know during the last months of our relationship. She is his new girlfriend now, but that’s another story.

Anyway, I was convinced that I had to move on as quickly as possible. …

Before meeting my future husband, I was never sure If I wanted a serious relationship or marriage.

In hindsight, it was because the people I dated were never good enough for me, meaning we were fundamentally incompatible. I was also not good enough for myself — my life wasn’t where I wanted it to be yet.

Later when my future husband asked me to marry him, I was in a very different place — saying yes felt natural and fulfilling.

In fact, everything we did together felt natural and fulfilling; any future talks were pleasantly expected. There was no question about our love for each other and where we were heading together. …

You’re probably familiar with the advice, “Don’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry.”

Several studies have found that going to the supermarket on an empty stomach leads to not only buying high-calorie groceries that are bad for you but also overspending on the items you don’t need.

One of the reasons is self-control— hungry people are more likely to grab instant food that satisfies their cravings than to buy healthy ingredients and spend time cooking a proper meal.

In a nutshell, they make bad decisions that they often regret later.

The same logic could be applied to dating.

If you use dating apps when you’re lonely, you’re likely to pick unsuitable people to date. …

My college boyfriend cheated on me with my roommate.

It started out as an innocent friendship that quickly evolved into an inappropriate relationship. They were together all the time. Watching movies in my bed while I was at work. Hanging out in her bedroom with the door closed for hours, refusing to come out. You get the point.

I don’t mind my boyfriends having female friends. In fact, I was relieved he had a new friend that wasn’t me. But, back then, they crossed the boundaries that I wasn’t comfortable with.

When I raised concerns, he was more interested in taunting me for my apparent jealousy than acknowledging or resolving the issue. He loved that I was jealous, and he wanted to make sure I knew it. …