Relationships

For starters, we all know that good sex can be fun, romantic, exciting, and something that makes most consenting adults feel warm and fuzzy all over.  Over the years we have interviewed thousands of successfully married couples, and most report a reasonable degree of satisfaction with their sex life.  But here is our most important research finding concerning this issue – no marriage was ever saved or made successful because the couple had a great sex life! Read More

 This need to label makes it easy to forget how much we are like them. If we demonize behavior that is outside societal convention is it because we fear it in ourselves? What if these women are not "gold-digging whores" and "mistresses," but are actually just people - like you and me - who have some emptiness in their hearts, who want to believe they might be loved and chosen by someone, maybe even someone as powerful and talented as Tiger Woods? Read More

Several months ago, I began offering the starter-kit for people who wanted to start a group for people pursuing happiness projects together. Since then, more than 3,700 people have requested a starter kit! (Request yours here.)

I'm really curious to hear about how these groups are doing. If you're in a happiness-project group, I'd so appreciate it if you'd take a minute to post a comment. Read More

QUESTION

Dear Irene,

I met my best friend at a small restaurant where we both used to work. Even after I quit, Dee and I were very close and talked on the phone two or three times a day. We knew every personal detail of each other's lives. She used to tell me you are lucky to get one good friend in a lifetime and that I was her one true friend. Read More

We humans are capable of great kindnesses as well as heroic acts. Every so often we hear the news report of the neighbor who rushes into a burning building to save a young child or the tourist who jumps into the ocean to rescue the drowning stranger. We read these stories and we feel good about humankind. Read More

There's a little bit of Tiger in each of us.  The trick is to understand this reality and to do what is necessary to counter it.  Read More

Identical twins’ shared DNA has led to some extraordinary dilemmas when it comes to assigning paternity or assigning blame.  For example, I am aware of several cases in which women have had sexual relations with both members of an identical males twin pair, such that the biological father of their children cannot be identified.  Strangely, the identity of the child’s maternal grandmot Read More

The Ugandan parliament recently introduced a bill that would make it illegal to be homosexual or advocate in any way same-sex relationship. Fast on the heels of this legislation is a similar bill that stands before the Rwandan parliament. What this positionality roundly, and sadly, suggests is that the only traits that we, as a species, have managed to perfect in the past 10 billion years are how to hate, fear and marginalize those who are different.

  Read More

Two African American men, who were standing behind me in line waiting to be seated at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in a small Georgia town, started bragging to me about their sons. These men had just watched their sons play outstanding ball in a championship high school football game, their sons' skills essential in helping the team secure victory. Read More