This one is mostly about minimalism, both for your mental health and for your life…
Category Archives: Health
The Door Rule
I made this for TikTok. I tried to implement the essential elements to keep it simple…
Airbnb Beauty Contest

In a moment of frivolity Erika and I had a beauty contest at the Airbnb. I conceded with the first picture! I’m the latter half of Beauty And The Beast. Fine with me…
Love, X
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…flirting…
I started doing a few of these for TikTok. And I was extremely surprised by how many people watched a couple of them. Everyone of course has a deep interest in having a deep and loving relationship with their partner. It’s not hard to see that most of us have difficulty. I’m no different. I know damn well most of the time the kind of behavior I crave from my partner. The Golden Rule covers just about every aspect of behavior in a relationship. Behave and be the person that you want.
I was reluctant to write about flirting because it’s almost undefinable. So much of the interpretation depends on the person doing it. But observers can’t read motivation or intentions.
One of the commenters on TikTok wanted me to give it a shot.
Flirting is truly harmless in most contexts.
It boils down to the context and the people involved. I found that many people in relationships are uncomfortable with the way their partners interact. It’s easy to gaslight yourself when you have an uncomfortable reaction. That’s normal. This sort of thing relies so much on instinct, experience, and knowing your partner.
Love, X
The DragonFire Response
No exclamation needed!
Love, X
The Pool Rule
It doesn’t seem like I need to add a lot of explanation to this!
Love, X
The Ball Reminder
If your partner tells you something vulnerable, your job is to imagine they threw you a ball.
Reach out and catch it.
Talk about the ball.
Not your reaction to it.
This is a valuable skill, one that goes against most people’s ability to squash their defensive reaction.
It takes practice.
It is a skill worth cultivating in a loving relationship.
X
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Xmas Redux

Erika’s brother drew the original. I spent an inordinate amount of time meticulously creating and editing a png version of his artwork. I started with a picture I snapped of the artwork. There’s something intangible about this Santa, rendered with hundreds of deliberately layered scribbles. It seemed like I owed it to Chris, even though he’s gone and I never met him.
This Santa captures the unkempt fatigue of attempting to reward everyone with the Xmas gifts they deserve. (Much less the horror of knowing who has been naughty or nice.) I joke that Santa could make a fortune selling the naughty list to certain people!
As I do every year, especially now that it’s Black Friday… Don’t let the season distract you from enjoying it the way you want. For some, it is a religious celebration. For others, it is a social season, one punctuated by gatherings, bacchanalian feasts with friends, family, and events. Some sit quietly and simmer in melancholy of bittersweet remembrances of the people who’ve left them.
Xmas is what YOU want it to be. Not the traditions you don’t cherish, not the obligatory exchanging of gifts. You are housed in a body that is a gift in itself. Being yourself and radiating your wit, humor, and affection is more than enough for the people who appreciate you.
Of all gifts I enjoy, I like the goofy, surprising ones. And most of those are moments, not things.
Don’t get me wrong, I love someone surprising me with an ornate toilet seat, a collection of foul-tasting novelty candies, or even a ream of colored paper. It means that person likes me enough to have taken the time to surprise me. It also means that they are happy enough to want to share a sliver of that with me.
Giving people are rarely joyous. Have you noticed that?
Many people loathe that Xmas starts early, especially the music that often accompanies it. They complain about trees showing up in houses “too early.” The stores loaded with commercial offerings. I don’t understand that. To each his own.
The Xmas season is when people can surprise others without the pretext of a reason. Even a hug and a “Merry Xmas,” or whatever salutation you prefer.
I’ll put a picture below, one I made a long time ago – and one that surfaces on the internet with frequency.
Love, X
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The Vacuum Salesperson Admonition

No one can be with your partner unless they express interest. Your partner shared their number, their social media, or their presence. They agreed to it and then willingly followed the path. It might be a mistake – but it is not an accident.
It’s easy and common for the offended partner to lash out at the third person involved. The bitter truth is that the problem lies in the partner, not the third person. They created a triangle out of two connected dots in a relationship. The third person chooses to inappropriately communicate or be with your partner for their own reasons: loneliness, sexuality, and sometimes, just because they want to and can. The world is full of third people who want to interfere in your relationship.
Infidelity and adultery is a huge problem, one of most people’s biggest fears.
We fear it for complicated reasons.
We’ve all experienced the thrill of sexual fire, chemistry, or attraction.
It’s like heroin. Our bodies are maniacally designed to make us feel it. That’s hard to argue with!
You can look at all the major studies of sexuality and relationship dynamics. It won’t help your fears.
Remember, people are unfaithful for all sorts of reasons, some of which have nothing to do with their partners. It’s likely that the other partner feels love and loyalty. They don’t see it coming because there is a lack of honest communication in the relationship. Or, if there is, familiarity, apathy, or routine lessens its ability to get through to the partner who is unhappy. Sometimes, it’s because someone has put up a wall of defense and deaf ears; they know there’s a problem but can’t see a way to get past it.
But, the commonality is poor judgment.
It’s not an accident. It’s a decision, one which can be sidestepped at any moment.
It almost always starts small.
Afterward, it results from a series of poor decisions and escalating behavior. The person engaging in it can easily listen to the stirrings as they blossom. If they can. Or want to.
Rarely does infidelity or adultery just happen in the moment. There are exceptions! But even those exceptions usually involve a partner putting themselves into an inappropriate situation, intimately communicating with someone who catches their eye (or is desired by the other person), being under the influence, being around people without their partner nearby, etc.
Those are poor decisions, too, rather than accidents.
Be on the watch for third people, both from your own point of view and your partner.
The truth is that it’s easier to notice than we’d like to admit. We want to love and respect our partners. Even so, we know that somewhere out there, there is someone looking at them or us with hungry eyes.
Don’t let a triangle begin to form. Rupture its lines before they become solid.
People tend to be attracted to what interests them. The people they are around, the people they see. Including online. 90% of all affairs are between coworkers or people they interact with on social media. Physical presence is not a requirement for the spark to turn to fire. The internet has escalated the exposure.
Stop blaming the third person. A house filled with love doesn’t welcome intruders inside. Someone must get up and open the door for it to happen. Whoever opens the door is the one responsible, not the person knocking. They are trying to sell vacuum cleaners, so to speak. Everyone inside knows that’s what they are up to. If you already have a vacuum cleaner that works and makes you satisfied, why in the world would you want to invite someone inside with those intentions? Vacuum salespeople, like people who want what you have, know that getting the door to open is going to be successful most of the time. It’s pure psychology. If you are not interested in buying, why would you open the door to them?
Keep it simple.
Keep it honest.
Be the loving partner that YOU want in your life in every aspect that you can manage. That alone will set the foundation for a life of intimacy, all you’d probably ever want or need.
Love, X
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TikTok University

I love that TikTok is a mix of ridiculous, perverse, and legitimate entertainment and information.
People are surprised that I’m a fan. TikTok is the wild west of the internet. You have to take the time to find the things you like and curate what fills your eyes and ears.
As with so many other things, it can be a timesuck, too. Find the comedy, music, and genres you enjoy and focus on them. TikTok is like 100,000 channels of content in short increments. If a 55-year-old man like me can find value in it, anyone can.
One of the surprising finds on TikTok: the counselors who have decades of experience working with couples and individuals. If you listen carefully to those who share their insights, you can open up a world of understanding in your heart and head. All of us want to be happy and satisfied. Sometimes we need to hear it from an external source to validate it. Sometimes we need to be challenged to at least consider that we could be doing things wrong.
One of them is Dave Worthen. He’s not a typical TikToker; he’s older and uses simple language to communicate his messages. He’s been seeing people for over four decades. He’s seen and heard it all.
While I don’t agree with some of Dave’s content, I had to concede that I lack his education and training, much less decades of working with couples about these issues. His expertise gives me pause to wonder what I might not like about some of his content.
Discomfort usually signals cognitive dissonance.
Knowledge is never a mistake. Nor is self-reflection and considering that we all share so much in common.
If you’re interested, search for @daveworthen.
You can find him on YouTube, Instagram, and other places.
Love, X
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