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Leadership is only sustainable when leaders consistently come up with good ideas – when they are dependable thought leaders. It follows then that leaders would be more effective if they knew how to manage creativity and innovation. live chat video

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Some of the tools for effective creativity management include:

a) Develop the brief. Formulating a brief helps i) induce the problem solving state of mind, ii) creates structures with boundaries and limitations within which experimentation can take place and iii) enhances motivation.

b) One tacit knowledge elicitation and lateral thinking technique is to use the five senses. This helps define problems and generate ideas along five different pathways, instantly increasing the quantity of ideas and further increasing the probability that quality ideas will be generated.

c) Setting a clear goal. Goals and incremental targets produce more output than simply “do your best.” Prolific screenwriters that stick to goals produce more output and move along the learning curve much faster than those who simply wait for inspiration. Look at the untold number of people with unfinished manuscripts under their beds.

d) Separate idea generation from idea valuation. Creative and critical thinking and two separate and distinct activities.

e) Persistence pays off. Persistence slowly but surely helps develop the competencies required for quality output. Failure is a learning activity. Ridley Scott didn’t achieve financial success with Blade Runner but went on to make some very successful movies.

These and other topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com

Kal Bishop, MBA

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

You’ve decided on a location and date for your wedding. The next step is to pick out the perfect dress. Once you’ve done that. It’s time to schedule your bridal portrait session. Bridal Portraits are essentially a dress rehearsal for your actual wedding. A chance to play dress up and test your hair style and any issue you may have with your dress. Bridal portraits have been around since the early 20th century. The first bridal portraits included the groom as well. Superstition has change and the groom doesn’t see the bride in her wedding dress until their wedding day. Now the first shots of the couple together usually are taken during an engagement session.

Bridal Portrait sessions are a chance for you to get to know the photographer you’ve selected. It’s a chance for you to get to know each other. This will allow you to be a little more comfortable on your wedding day. You are usually rushed squeezing in your pictures between the ceremony and the reception. So, your bridal portrait session is a time to relax and get some quality shots of you in your dress. This may not be the case on your wedding day. Some brides most likely will never wear their dress again. So, why waste the opportunity to have the shots you can cherish for a lifetime. This also gives your chance to decide if you want the photographer to shoot your wedding. If you don’t feel comfortable with their style or personality. They you have the option to choose another photographer. That’s not something you’ll be able to do on your wedding day. You don’t have the chance to have a redo of your special day.

The next choice you’ll need to make is the location of your shoot. If your having your wedding in an area you are familiar with. You may have a location in mind or a special place you’ve always dreamed of having your pictures take. If your having a destination wedding and you aren’t familiar with the area. Most photographers have locations they’ve used before or can suggestion a few for you to choose from. It’s not recommended to have your bridal portraits shot at the same place as your wedding. If you have access to a park or an area where there are lots of flowers. These locations make the perfect back drop for your bridal portrait.

Definitely make sure you take extra precaution with the dress. You don’t want to get your dress dirty or have stains that won’t come out. Enlist a few friends to help you with a blanket or towel to place on the ground for you to sit on. Most photographers can edit out a blanket or use a color that matches your dress. You may find a bridal shop that allows for an extra cleaning, but make sure of this before you take your pictures.

Another advantage to having bridal portraits taken would be getting your hair style choice figured out. You get the chance to have a trial run on the hair style you’d like to have on your wedding day. Definitely get your hair and make- up professional done. This is a chance to work with your stylist and figure out a style you are comfortable with. Your wedding may or not last as long as your bridal portrait. This will give you a chance to see if you make-up and hair will last. Especially, if your wedding is outside in the summertime. You may have to alter your outdoor exposure if you make-up won’t last more than a few hours.

The last item would be your flower arrangement or bouquet. You may choose to use silk flowers instead of buying real ones for your bridal portrait. You can get silk flowers to match the arrangement that you’ll have on your wedding day. You can save the silk flowers and use them during your bouquet toss at the wedding.

Great death scenes are really hard to come by. Lots of death scenes in film. I’m talking about the really good ones.

Loud and explosive or slow and low? Slow and low are best, most suspenseful and shocking. Scare your hairs on end.

Take an early film noir death scene that has cinephiles still in awe today: Double Indemnity,the 1944 film Billy Wilder directed. Film noir was then called a “B” movie until the French took a fancy, noticing the great contrasts of shadow and light and the peppie story lines and anti-heros. Big in those days, like Indy flicks today. This one has Barbara Stanwyck in a lip-lock with lover Fred MacMurray when he pokes his pistol in her ribs and bye bye Barb. Double Indemnity is an entertaining tale of greed, sex and betrayal in LA. And you thought MacMurray did nothing exciting before he raised those three boys.

Another slow and low is the fast shot the heart scene in LA Confidential, leaving Kevin Spacey a few gasping moments, enough enough to breathe the movie’s greatest clue: Rollo Tomasi.

The best slow, and scary and creepy is the cross-bow through the gut in Deliverance.That scene let actor Bill McKinney all but almost steal the movie. John Boorman directed the 1972 film and was nominated for an Oscar. A tale of four city businessmen who thought they were going to take an adventuresome but safe canoe trip down a Georgia river, but had no idea what lawlessness lurked within. The movie is based on James Dickey’s best-selling novel, Deliverance. The film propelled Burt Reynolds to stardom, added fuel to Jon Voight’s already rising star, put Ned Beatty on the map and showed off Ronny Cox’s beautiful guitar playing.

McKinney, a terrorizing, murderous hillbilly, is impaled by Reynold’s cross-bow. He inches forward, slowly, back arched, pointing up at something. The camera swings around and around, character to character, showing their bulging eye shock, terror, curiosity, revulsion. Until the man finally plops on a tree limb, staring up, mouth agape. Everyone is paralyzed. The dead man’s hand twitches. “Is he dead?”

I saw Deliverance again a few days ago after many, many years. When it came out, a friend and I snuck in the local theatre because we were young teens and heard it was a wild movie and Reynolds and Voight were mega hunks. It was and they were.

I never followed either Reynolds’ or Voights’ careers. Deliverance, though, still is a riveting, excellent movie. Directing, acting, cinematography, Dickey’s terrifying tale. Anyway, John Boorman is one of my favorite directors. I love Point Blank. People think Lee Marvin’s best role was in The Dirty Dozen but Point Blank really was his film.

The HD and Blu-Ray versions have running commentary by John Boorman, the Blu-Ray also has a vintage feature called “The Dangerous World of Deliverance.” The movie was made for $2 million and grossed something like $46 million. Well. Squeal like a pig.

Advance: I have considered it advisable to alter the names–in one case, more of a deletion of part of a name–of the principal characters in this story; a venal sin at best. In any case, names matter little if the source of the story reflects the truth that resides under the situation, and the reader will surely recognize the characters true identity should they wish to.

Twenty-five years have past since this took place. Upon my inquire into this, I talked to the psychologist that was involved with the case, and asked why he did what he did, and his answer was, “For a bowl of soup, I gave up my career.” Nicely put I thought at the time. For after he killed his patient, there were no more murders in Lima, Peru. But I am getting ahead of my story. Let’s go back twenty-five years or so, in this reproduced historical fiction narrative (an enactment of what may have taken place prior to his arrest).

It was a hot summer’s day in Lima, Peru, the late 1970s, not sure why I was there, a place to be I suppose as good as any other place. All I heard about was of a string of murders, and the police were finding body parts all over the city. It had nothing to do with me but I couldn’t help wondering how it woud be, being chopped up alive and my body parts buried all over the city, and all of a sudden, someone finding an arm or leg and saying: “Hay, look here!” They were all talking about this mass murder they nicknamed: “The Butcher of Lima.”

I confess, I couldn’t think of anything worse in the world.

I kept hearing about the Butcher, the Butcher, over the radio, the television, at the caf s and reading about him in the newspapers, as if there was no other news. He was the star of Lima, a celebrity. So no wonder I couldn’t get him out of my mind.

Lima had their own troubles, without this guy I thought, and enough was enough. It was 11:00 AM in the morning. I came out of a sweaty dream; as macabre as they get. As I went to fetch a taxi to go eat at the caf I normally go to in Miraflores, the streets were hot as a pistol that had just been shot. The dust from the wind was being swirled about and thrown in my direction.

I had eggs and lamb-chops for breakfast; and behind the face of Marybell, my waitress–a young mother, with two twin sons, quite pretty–she, like most everyone in Lima, quivered as I opened up the paper to see the dirty deeds the Butcher may have done the night before. I moved the paper a bit, didn’t stare at it too long, thinking other people would think I liked reading such horrid crap, yet everyone was doing the same thing. Thus, I did not leave the page his dirty deeds were on exposed too long.

(I knew something was wrong, my senses told me so, told me these ongoing sprees of murders were too uncomfortable for me to just let it go; for the whole city was up in a stir over it. Thus, I walked the park area in Miraflores, kind of drifting, as I did the same in the Plaza de Armas a few miles away trying to think if I should seek out my friends at the hotel and probe more into this matter.)

I was supposed to have a long vacation, and a kind of working one also. I often tucked them both in-together. I was trying to finish up a book that really was not concerned with a mass murderer case. But this was becoming a preoccupation for me, nonetheless. I got some exposure being an American writer in Lima, and a presentation on my previous book at a local bookstore. Thus, I had some newspaper coverage, along with a television interview, and a quick lecture at a university. This got the attention of my fellow comrades at the hotel, and especially in the barroom; the writers and reporters whom were supposed to be covering this case: that being, The Butcher of Lima.

“Just look at what’s going on in this country,” said one of the customers in the barroom of the hotel. “We can’t walk the streets anymore at night!” I didn’t really want to get into buying their grief, not for myself, or them. I just wanted to go my marry-Ol-way; you know, from typewriter to typewriter, and from to hotel, to hotel; and leave the grisly stuff for them.

There were six of us at the hotel, writers and reporters that I got to know; or so they all said they were of this breed. In any case, we talked bout the case at hand, of the Butcher that it would be good news should one of us find out who he was and expose him. For myself, I informed them, I did not want to reap the benefits of discovering him, l liked the laze fare status. None of them seemed to eager also in investigating this case too close, although all their expenses were paid by their employer: two fellows from New York City, another from Chicago, and still another from Detroit; and yet still another from Lima itself; and I from little old St. Paul, Minnesota.

So there were six of us at the hotel on the same floor; room to room, all facing one another; three rooms on one side and three on the other. It reminded me of an army barracks: beds and rooms piled next to one another. Oddly, it was a hotel where women, single women were not on the same floor as us. And the wealthy were above us. I saw them as I’d leave the hotel on the sunroof, yawning and stretching, trying to wipe the drunken night away.

Diaz

It came to be, Diaz troubled me.

I never knew a man like him.

I’m not sure where he came from, perhaps Peruvian, so it seemed at the time. He had a thin face, long tongue, it always seemed to block his breathing, and when he opened his mouth it was there before his teeth were. He had bright black hair. His mouth kind of had an arrogant sneer to it, as if the world was dumber than he, and he could out-wit them, should he wish to at any given moment.

Diaz singled me out right away when I arrived at the hotel. He kind of made me feel smarter than the rest of the media at the hotel. He’d sit next to me at the bar as we all sat down and talked about what was news worthy, and he’d say to me under his breathe, a whisper sort of, he’d say some witty sarcastic remark.

He was conscious, and critical of the others for not being able to find this mass murder, as if he could, should he try. But he was as indolent as the rest. Yet I said nothing to that effect, let it rest where it lay I told myself. Let me repeat myself, he was not impressed with the lot at the hotel, me included, he once said, “…you’re all elaborate decadence that are attracted to the puss of life.” Oh well, so be it I told myself, maybe he was right. We all seem to be somewhat magnetic when it comes to gangsters and murders, making them into celebrities if not heroes somewhere down the road. As I said, I left well enough alone, and just wondered if he fell into his own category. Or was he too close to the mountain to see.

He had an interesting smile, which stuck to him by some kind of mesmeric force. It reminded me of a charismatic preacher that could change his moods to suite the sermon.

“You know my friend,” he’d say, “No one gives a damn how this story will end, as long as the expenses are paid for.”

Diaz lit a cigarette, blow smoke into my face, I moved away from it a ting.

“You see how easy it is to make you move,” he said with an excited veil gust of air from his stomach.

“I bet your ex-wife could control every move you made,” he added with assurance to his countenance.

–The city and summer did not do much for getting me a tan, I looked as grim as any gringo could, as white that is, as white as a ghost. The many conversations with Diaz made me a bit cynical if not, downright witty with sneer wisdom at my fingertips at times.

I didn’t know what was going to happen down the road, but I knew perfectly well, Diaz would make something happen, call it military intuition. He showed uncommon tendencies toward danger. He walked across streets as if no car could hit him. He sat in window sill as if he was not capable of falling out of them. The list goes on but he had blue blood I do believe.

Morning at the Caf

One night I didn’t join Diaz in the barroom, and as I read the morning paper at my familiar caf in Miraflores the following morning, my insides went suddenly numb, and the look on my face must had been twice as dumb looking. Marybell nodded to me, wanting to know if I had wanted to order breakfast, as I sat back in my chair in the outside caf –informally; her eyes followed mine back to the paper, it was wide open on the table, I was speechless. She glanced back at me after looking and started laughing.

The laughter should have told me, but I said, “What’s so funny?”

The traffic around the caf was moving slowly, horns being honked as usually, but I didn’t really hear all that much. I was sitting tight.

“Well,” I remarked.

“That’s your friend Diaz–he’s…he’s the ‘Butcher!” She was internally in a panic I could see.

To this very day I can’t remember what I said, or even if I was smiling. I think I tried to, which is kind of natural for me. All I remember was the terrible silence that thumped inside of me, until someone said, “Hay you!” which woke both myself and Marybell up, and out of our trance like state.

Note: Written at the cafe in Roseville, Barnes and Noble, 5/20/05

This is what most if not all singers want to achieve. How to sing high notes! It will always be a wonder to listen to your favorite singer and when he or she goes up to that clear, almost piercing high notes, you can’t help but say to yourself, how in the world did they do that.

Well, first you got to understand the workings in your body. There are two different ‘voices’ that we have. One is ‘chest voice’ and the other is ‘head voice’.

Head voice is where you have to work on if you want to know how to sing high notes.

First, a little bit of explanation of terms. One is: falsetto. Now most people confuse this with another ‘voice’ that we have. No, it is not. It is simply a style that some popular singers incorporate into their singing. The BeeGees for example.

When you do falsetto, it is in head voice. Because it is in the head that you ‘feel’ most of the sensation when you do falsetto. It is in head voice also that you can achieve those strong high notes, and no they are not forced, high chesty voice. The singer trained his/her head voice so well that it gives listeners an illusion of sounding like a strong high chest voice, when it is merely head voice.

How to Sing High Notes

You achieve to sing high notes by those falsettos! Falsettos are achieved when your vocal folds in your larynx are wide and loose, and a lot of air is being pushed out, hence the ‘airy’ and weak sounding falsetto.

What you want to achieve is to have those vocal folds close up, reducing the air flow, and maintain a very strong sharp sound.

Imagine a blow up balloon. Let the air out through the opening, if the hole is small, it will let out a low pitch, now stretch the opening, you will hear a high shrilling pitch. That’s what you want to do with your vocal folds. This is called ‘adduction’ of the vocal folds. Making you sound FULL.

Begin by doing a simple, and light scale on AH from a low pitch. Maintain on a volume. Gradually go up the pitch, to the point where you feel you need to break apart into a falsetto. This is typically around E4 above middle C for males, and A#4, below Tenor C for females.

On that certain point, before reaching it, pull back your volume, but make sure to maintain a smooth gradual pitch rise! If you found yourself breaking apart, pull back the volume even more until it becomes smooth.

Repeat the exercise, this time from a higher starting pitch. Keep practicing this until you can do with one single volume. Professionals who have extensively trained themselves have achieved whistle tone by doing this.

This is just one of the exercises on how to sing high notes and by being patient, those seemingly impossible high notes is never a dream anymore!

Remember!

Keep in mind that when you sing high notes, it is NEVER a forced action. It should always be a free and easy feeling in you. If you ever find yourself ‘yodeling’ and your voice breaking all over the place, sit back and think, where did I go wrong? Did I force myself?

Here is a quote that I remember: You can choose to sing hard, but it shouldn’t be hard to sing.

Learning how to sing high notes is one of the challenges all singers what to overcome, some even lived a career by being someone who is known as ‘that singer who can sing high notes’.

How do you have the perfect kiss? What are they types of kisses and are some better than others? How do you make sure that you give your guy the perfect kiss every time and leave him wanting to come back for more?

Giving and getting the perfect kiss is something of an art. And, of course, the more practice you have the better those kisses are going to be. There are plenty of different types of kisses, but all begin and end in the same manner. For more on having the perfect kiss, keep reading below.

The French Kiss

Probably one of the most famous kisses of all involves a lot of tongue action. In order to do this one properly, you need to kiss your partner with an open mouth and then slip your tongue inside. You can then use your tongues against each other or explore your partner‘s mouth with yours.

Tilt Your Head

In order to receive or give a French kiss or any other type of kiss, it is important to tilt your head first. This will get your nose out of the way. Be sure to pay some attention to which way your partner is going before you go the opposite direction. This move will line your mouths up for the perfect kiss.

Relax

An important step to kissing is to relax. This doesn’t mean just your lips, but your entire body as well. No one wants to kiss someone who acts like they would rather be doing something else or are stiff as a board. Therefore, when you go to kiss, be sure that you relax your body and your lips in order to receive his lips.

Have Moist Lips

This one can be tricky as you want your lips to be moist, but not too moist. Lips that are too moist make for very slobbery kisses which are an instant turnoff in many cases. However, lips which are too dry will make for a rough kiss. Therefore, it is important to have lip balm with you and to put it on whenever possible before the night of your big date so your lips will be just right for any kisses which come in your direction.

Close Your Eyes

No one likes to kiss someone who has their eyes open. Most guys will suddenly think that you are checking out what is going on behind him or very bored with what is going on. Be sure to close your eyes once he leans in to give you a kiss.

Part Your Lips

You can do this just a little or a lot if you are expecting a French kiss. By opening your lips just a little, bit your guy will know that you are into him.

Take Your Time

A good kiss lasts for a while so don’t be in a hurry to break it off. Take your time and enjoy it and once the kiss does end, be sure to look your guy in the eyes and smile to let him know how much you enjoyed it.

Maruti Grand Vitara is an off-road vehicle introduced by Maruti Suzuki in 1988. This car didn’t create much hype like other Maruti cars but it is one of the best car model and is sold in different names throughout the world. In India it was introduced long back, recently the company had launched its new version with lot of modifications.

Maruti Grand Vitara is a completely built unit (CBU) exported from Japan, the cost is pretty expensive when it comes to Maruti Suzuki, the price ranges between 17 lacs and 19 lacs. However, it successfully competes with popular cars like Ford Endeavour, Hyundai Tucson, Toyota Fortuner and Honda CR-V. The available colors are silky silver, pearl white, nocturnal blue, bluish black, clear beige and phoenix red.

It is equipped with 2.4 Liter DOHC powerful engine with the displacement of 2393 cc with 4-cylinder, 16-valve petrol engine. Vitara is available only with petrol engine in India but it comes with both five speed manual gearbox transmission and six speed automatic transmission options. The engine has the capacity to churn out peak power of 163.5 bhp at the rate of 6000 rpm and maximum torque of 225 nm at the rate of 4000 rpm. The car comes with VVT (Variable Valve Time) technology and MPFI Fuel distributing system that play great role in fuel economy and helps to produce better torque. As a result this great off-road vehicle, Maruti Grand Vitara mileage stands at 7 km per liter in the city and 10 km per liter in highways.

The exterior is pretty wide and muscular but it gives presentable and attractive look. The body colored bumpers, halogen projector headlamps, honey-comb front grille with chrome finished Suzuki logo on it all that beautifies exterior. It measures 4500 mm length, 1810 mm width and 1695 mm height and 1570 rear track and 1540 front track. The wheelbase measurement of this car is 2640 mm and it has the ground clearance of 200 mm. Maruti Grand Vitara interior is classy and elegant as it has the combination of modern and classy look. It is loaded with innovative features like multi-information display, centralized A/C vents, audio system with AUX terminal and CD charger, digital instrumental panel, odometer, cruise control and many more. Apart from that it comes with power steering with tilt adjustment, silver coated door opener and shift knob and so on. All that features are very well subtle with its exterior, making the interior impressive and luxurious.

Coming to the safety features, it is fully equipped with innovative safety features like anti-braking system with electronic brake force distribution, sure stop braking system, brake assist, rear and front crumple zones, side impact beams, dual airbags, head restraints, collapsible steering column and many more. Overall is one of the best cars of its segment. The price is slightly high that is because it is available as a CBU, but it is value for money.

German Caspar David Friedrich was a skilled painter who was a key part of the Roamnticist art movement which was at its strongest in the 19th century before being superceded by the French impressionists. This article looks deeply into the career of Caspar David Friedrich and considers which were his finest oil paintings of all.

Friedrich’s most famous painting was certainly his Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog masterpiece which depicts a character in the foreground looking out over a sprawling landscape which is covered by a sea of clouds, with various mountains on show at the furthest point away from him. Further to Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, other notable paintings from this artist included Monk by Sea, Tree of Crows, Winter Landscape with a Church, Morning Mist in the Mountains, On Board a Sailing Ship, Woman at the Window and Chalk Cliffs of Rugen.

German art has a history of achievement within various different art movements over many centuries but Romanticism is not something that they were particularly involved with in great numbers, which makes the contributions of Friedrich even more important. Other notable German painters included Albrecht Durer, Hans Holbein and Egon Schiele, which underlines the country’s diverse artistic ability which has been spread over many different artistic styles.

Caspar David Friedrich has a common approach to his art of depicting small characters in the foreground of a large countryside scene which would enable the artist to get across the idea of perspective through the comparison between the foreground and background elements.

Whilst Friedrich was from Germany, other notable Romanticists included British JMW Turner who lived devoted himself to landscape painting with a painting style that included emotional feelings of the artist, which is what has made this art movement so popular. Turner became a highly significant landscape painter and was joined by Joh Constable.

Conclusively, Caspar David Friedrich was an important contributor to the Romanticist are movement which also took in great artists from Britain and France. Caspar David Friedrich was undoubtedly the most impressive German of this style and his achievements encouraged others for his native country to follow in his footsteps. The few other German romanticists who did exist around this time were in many cases close to Friedrich and he would open up his studio at this time to many who would share ideas and techniques in the hope of each developing their own careers.

I write about all the various stages of love; defined by the length of a relationship regardless of longevity including, relations of our youth to love strong enough to survive the challenges presented throughout marriage. I define love as a cyclical process as related to generative grammar, through which we develop our relationships, either good or bad, to reach the ultimate experience of obtaining the realization of love over a lifetime.

This poetic expression is written from my perspective and experiences. It covers a lifetime; a time span of all human emotion associated with feeling. The slant from which I write is male. The prevailing emotions surfacing, as you read, allow both male and female to insert their memories equally.

Our trip through love, begins with what most of us remember as the first time we fell head over heels in love with the one who drove us out of childhood, to experience that “first time I saw you” emotion burned forever into memory.

Since First I Saw You

Since first I saw you, it was your eyes,

mesmerizing me, your gaze transporting

me to a realm, not of fantasy, real,

where young men go when cupid’s

arrow takes root.

Since first I saw you, it was your lips,

captivating me, holding me frozen

in anticipation of our lips brushing

for the first time.

Since first I saw you, it was your voice,

a crescendo, light, invigorating,

each word you speak intensifies

my hearing, enveloping each

note, time ceases as I hang motionless

savoring, memorizing.

Since first I saw you, it was your hair,

long, flowing, gently rising above

your shoulders as a slight breeze

passes through,

sending waves of your essence my way.

The sun magnifying each strand,

highlighting the minute

variances of invigorating color,

creating a halo effect, a portrait of

your beauty forever imprinted.

Since first I saw you, It was you,

my love forever more for you,

only you.

Of course, it was not be. The transition through puberty will lay waste to many relationships that will be forever remembered, and will be reminisced as “our songs of love.”

 

Songs Of Love

Sung throughout the ages,

song immortalized,

hearts broken or

bursting, overflowing.

Songs of Love

melody and verse change,

pain and sorrow vary,

gaiety and feeling

remain constant.

Songs of Love written by those who

lived them, remembered

by those who sing them.

As we move from the freestyle of youth, we move to a willingness to accept additional responsibility both financially and in love relationships. As we put our youth behind us, we elect to make commitments that are temporary or long term. Today, many couples have no desire to marry and are perfectly content in their lives. Those who marry do so because they may feel more secure and greater stability. Both relations experience the same problems and failures. Although there are relationships lasting a lifetime, the common consensus best describes today’s long term commitments as,” the first one being practice; the second being forever.”

Love

Love

born in the fire of youth

foster to preserve

lost to betrayal

regained in trust

through decades of growth

capitulate all

nevermore lose

love

Once we move through the uncertainty of love, we may move into the lasting relationship we all crave. A relationship that is mutually bonding; providing a deepening of love inspired by greater understanding, and mutual satisfaction lasting through life’s remaining days. This stage may complete early in relationships or take years to realize.

My Wife

The sun reflects from her face illuminating

the inner beauty of her soul

she smiles and the world is all aglow

speaks and chaos and confusion cease

laughs and all are at peace

she cries and frustrations released

She sees only the good in everything

she bathes her soul in heavens spring

bears the pain of those under her protection

her arms their umbrella, know not rejection

Her gift to life is her very presence

she is my reward of excellence

she is the guiding light of my life

she is my wife

 

The most amazing event in life is the delivery of our children. One of the few times a man can cry, be congratulated, and hugged by friends without embarrassment. Children require a lifelong dedication for their welfare and guidance in preparing them for the challenges and obstacles they will face as adults.

 

A Child

A child,

like

a ball of dough,

must be raised to

achieve success.

Without Discipline

You starve your children

not,

by denying them food

but,

through lack of discipline

 

My favorite time is watching children grow, mature, and begin their lives as loving reproductions of the parents.

I See Angels

I see angels, not only when I sleep, more often,

when awake, some petite, in gowns flowing long,

or putting final touches to beauty that needs none,

from little angels, to full-grown ones

They talk in tones often disguised, not understood,

a language interpreted only by angels

in their own angel group, occasionally break tradition,

speak certain phrases recognizable to all,

always welcome, always good,

increasing my love for my angel brood

Memories of angels, pleasurable thoughts,

lead to today, an angel does leave me,

for another she will care,

increasing the love we all share

All my angels share the same fate,

leaving their father, once their first date,

soon will return with their own special angels

for me to love and to care

A contented father rejoices and waits,

for I see angels

 

When love reaches the age of contentment, we settle into a life of joy accentuated by spending the rest of our lives together. Other than losing a child, there is no greater pain than losing the love of your life. Yet, we each continue our journey, remembering the life we spent together. Those who believe are consoled in knowing soon they will be together once again.

 

I See Her There

I see her there

through the passage of time,

in thought and dream.

I see her there

forcing gloom to remit,

instilling love day and night.

I see her there

as each day does pass,

my companion, my wife.

I see her there,

her smile bright,

opening her arms to hold me tight.

I see her there,

I cried as her death neared,

her loss a burden, I need not have feared.

Though she has traveled away from here,

she remains near.

At my side.

I see her there.

And….

She Looks

 

She awoke,

he was passed away from her.

Wondering the halls,

searching rooms,

dirty,

unused,

cold and damp,

she looks for him.

Outside,

the grounds are vast courtyards

where many elaborate events

echoed joyous laughter,

echo no more, further frustrate

her search.

She looks for him,

for forty years she conducts

this ritual,

refusing to accept what all

know.

Her mind sees only one vision,

she looks for him,

knows he has passed away from her,

knows he has not gone far,

and soon,

she awoke,

he lay next to her,

she looked no more.

Finally, we come to the “greatest honor” bestowed upon parents.

Greatest Honor

What greater honor,

when they move forward,

they leave behind in each of us,

the best of what they were.

Love is the one constant that survives through the ages. It also, is the constant providing every emotion from pure joy, to hate, to unrelenting remorse. Through all its success and faults, love remains true as the only constant ensuring our future.

In today’s world, often you might have to stay away from home for studies, work or other issues. Long distance relationships are an extremely normal thing in today’s era. There is a common perception about long distance relationships that it does not last and is extremely difficult to sustain in the long run. Agreed that there are loads of cons involved in case of long distance relationship but it is not impossible to maintain one.

The following 3 steps will help you keep the fire alive in a long distance relationship:

Have Trust: Every relationship is based on trust. If you do not believe a person, no matter how close you stay – your relationship will not be successful. In case of a long distance relationship, faith and trust are even more important. In such cases, you do not get to meet the person for months and sometimes even years at a stretch. It is only your trust in your partner that keeps it going. Your trust that your partner, though miles away from you, will be faithful to only you.

Both should have the same Wavelength: It is important for both the partners to be on the same wavelength. More than often, people in a long distance relationship drift apart as they outgrow each other. Often living in different cities away from each other changes people and their perceptions. If not shared with your partner, both of you will drift away. Try and do the same thing- read the same book and discuss it. Catch the same movie in different cities and talk about it. These small things will bring both of you together.

Share small things: We all are so busy with our daily lifestyle that more than often, we forget to share things with each other. Take time out from your daily schedule and talk to your partner. Share with your partner each and every small thing that has happened during the day.

These tips will ensure that distance makes the heart grow fonder.