After enjoying Thanksgiving with the family, it is not the time to feel lonely. Make Black Friday dating more fun and interesting. Officially Black Friday is considered to mark the beginning of the shopping season. Christmas being a few weeks away, shopping is a top priority. Add more spice to your life by combining shopping with dating.

With over indulgence in food it is always nice to take a break and go to the beach or get involved in some adventure activity with a companion. Black Friday gives that opportunity to eat, drink, shop, indulge in some activity and have some fun time. Find the person who believes in this and go on a date with him or her with members on this dating site.
Why shop alone when you can find a companion to make shopping more enjoyable. Being the last major holiday before Christmas, make it more fun and exciting with a person whose interests match yours. Go on a date with that person and add a new dimension to the way you shop.

Make Black Friday memorable by spending time in activities that you enjoy and they become more enjoyable when you have a date to share with. Make the most of this holiday by adding some adventure to your day. Drive around the region, enjoy the wine at the winery, shop at a different place and make this Black Friday a memorable and an unforgettable day.

Black Friday continues the holiday mood for one and all, so spending time with the right person gives you insight into the person’s thinking and yours too. Dating on Black Friday can help you find not only a date but probably a life partner too as the mind is more relaxed and open. Enjoy Black Friday dating and make the day more special

Tags: black Friday, Christmas, dating, shopping

Thanksgiving dates back to 1621 when a group of English people came and settled in America in 1620 during the rough winter conditions. Most of them could not survive but those who did, attempted to grow crops for sustenance though they had no knowledge of farming in this new frontier. The Wampanoag tribe came to their rescue and taught them the method of farming.

The new settlers got a bumper harvest and wanted to thank the Almighty and express their gratitude to the Wampanoag tribe as well. All were invited to the grand feast where the natives brought their own harvest food as well. This is how the custom of Thanksgiving was born.

Thanksgiving is celebrated in America on the fourth Thursday of November and is a time to have fun with loved ones and friends. The family gets together to give thanks to the Creator and spending quality time with family. Thanksgiving dinner is a complete family affair and Thanksgiving gifts are mainly gifts related to the table to make the dinner experience more enjoyable and memorable.

Thanksgiving changed over the years with people expressing their gratitude towards family and friends along with thanks to the Almighty. Families get together on Thanksgiving and enjoy the traditional sumptuous meal that have been painstakingly prepared. Later, friends too were invited over to join the Thanksgiving dinner with the host preparing the traditional Turkey and the friends who came over would get gifts for the host. Traditionally gifts brought were wine bottles, table cutlery, centerpieces or fruit baskets.

Gifting trends have changed with change in technology. Electronic gadgets and appliances have gained popularity as Thanksgiving gifts due to its high versatility.These now include music players, game consoles, tablets and kitchen appliances too. The son chooses to gift his father with an iPad!

A long weekend for Thanksgiving has made it very convenient to make it a travel weekend. It is one of the busiest times for travel for most people. Remember to plan your holiday well in advance. With so many getaway options available a lot of dating couples gift a holiday to their partner.

Expressing gratitude through gifts has always been the norm. With the change in lifestyle the trends in gifting has changed considerably. The scope of gifting has further narrowed down to men, women and kids.

A guy can be gifted wine tumblers, bar set, engraved wine bottle stoppers, monogrammed party plates, thermometer, tool set, photo frames and eatables. A woman can be gifted knive sets, electric knife, napkin ring sets, wine bottles, gourmet herb garden basket, wine stoppers, cookware, pitcher, place-mats, cookie jars and a whole lot of eatable goodies. For the teenagers nail art patches, boxers, candy or lollipops make an acceptable gift. For a child it can be books with pictures and clothes.

Unique Thanksgiving gifts which are eco-friendly too have become highly popular. There are re-usable paper plates, organic fruit basket. Others unique gift options are universal remote control bottle opener; nail patches, set of olive oil, ceramic decanters, Swiss cheese boards, cheese plates and bottle openers. For couples who are dating, a weekend spent together at some destination as per the interest of both is one of the awesome gifts that can be given for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving gift basket can be loaded with various gift articles besides the traditional one too. The change in thinking and attitude towards life has a tremendous impact on Thanksgiving gifts that have become more utility gifts rather than simply following the tradition of restricting the gifts to table gifts.

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
—Melody Beattie

Tags: dating trends, Thanksgiving Gifting

Title Hooking Up

Author- Kathleen A Bogle

Summary
With changing times, the laws of society with regards to what is acceptable have also changed considerably. Earlier just a peep of the stocking was shocking but today anything can go and won’t be as shocking. Values have changed and the change can be definitely scary. Finding mates was monitored by the family and society which forbade intercourse until marriage and there was a limit to physical interaction too. Today what we see are many teenagers that have already lost their virginity by 18.

Dating was a norm for the lower class but it was a way to rebel for the upper class. They went on a date away from the watchful eyes of the girl’s mother. The mother usually decided if the guy was good for her daughter or not and only if he had a good futures could he could get married. All this changed as romance took place and sex was the topmost of the minds of most youngsters. Men were seeking sexual gratification while women were looking to get expensive gifts and money with attention splurged on them.

Earlier, the mother controlled who her daughter met; it changed to the peers deciding the power and degree of sexual intimacy. Dating in college has no boundaries as a lot of women too started going to the same colleges as the guys. Hooking up became more fun and frolicking rather than a romantic and intimate relationship.

Sleeping with the partner overnight is a choice of the individual and is perfectly acceptable without any undue attention. Some may choose to sleep over, some may prefer to go back home. Each person can decide the level of intimacy that is permitted by them. There are no set norms and each is free to decide depending on their own beliefs.

Developing a serious relationship is least probable from a hook up. Hook ups are just casual spending time together with no intention of a serious relationship. Of course some may develop into a serious one but most of them don’t.

The trend to marrying later in life is probably responsible for this hookup culture. With so much freedom of thought and action available today, men and women indulge in sexual interaction for the fun of it and not with any emotions involved. They are clear when they want to marry and what type of a partner they want. Hooking up is just a way of life amongst the students today.

Few students are not part of the hookup group as they may probably be in a relationship already or their religious beliefs do not allow them to enter into such intimate physical relationships. There can be no generalization on the hookup scenario.

The 1970s can be called the era of sexual revolution where women learned to embrace their sexuality. This bought a change in cultural behavior. Men and women both indulged in double standards as the confusion regarding sexual relationships kept changing.

It tells us the difference between dating and hooking up and where this trend has lead to the students of today. This book provides a fantastic insight into the thinking process of the college student’s generation.

What We Can Learn

Dating trends changed with the times. Dating that was monitored by the elders in the family got influenced by peers. Hooking up can be defined as spending time with someone and indulging in physical interaction without emotional content. Physical interaction could mean just kissing or even sexual intercourse. Racial minorities and very religious minded students have successfully kept away from the free thinking hooking up era.

Hooking up is a vague term and is used by students to define various sexual activities. It is a path to a romantic relationship with no guarantee of commitment. It is not necessary to know the person prior to hookup. You may meet that person that very evening and just decide to spend time together.

Know the difference between hookup and dating. Follow your mind to know the subtle difference and its consequences. What are the double standards when you fall into a physical relationship, understand them so that you are not hurt and you are more emotionally balanced.

Dr Dato’s Comments

Dating was a culture until the 1920s. The girl’s mother decided who her daughter could meet and identified the qualities of the potential guy whether he was suitable for marriage. The guy had to visit the family when invited by her mother and follow a set of protocols. With time this changed when the man and the women decided to meet outside the house. This was a rebellious behavior which gave the young men and women the power to decide their paths in life.

With this new found freedom, the norms of dating changed. This casual relationship with the opposite sex was generally called hook up. Hook up can cover the extremes like just going for a movie together or having sexual intercourse.

Women are more emotional and they search for a commitment in a relationship. Men are just fine with casual sexual relationships. Women when hooking up must keep the consequences in mind and understand the guy’s thinking. The guy is looking out for a casual physical relationship with no strings attached. If only the one night stand is acceptable to your mind, women should go ahead with this hook up or they are heading towards depression.

The hook up scenario is based on physical attraction only. After a few drinks at the college party, the men and women find each other more attractive. This physical attraction leads to spending time together and results in a physical intimacy instant sexual gratification.

Condition your mind that this is just a one night relationship and do not expect any commitment from either partner.

Rating
4 out of 5 points as this book explains well the whole concept of hookup that is followed at college campus around the world . A must read for all students and even those in a relationship to be able to identify the thinking process of college goers.

Tags: dating, Kathleen A Bogle, relationship book, sexual, society

Understanding relationships where you assume a reactionary role stems from your deep seated inferiority complex and low self-esteem. You need to rediscover yourself and change within, however do not do this whenever you find yourself in a bad situation or when your partner goes to the edge. You need to constantly weigh the situation in light of your partner and understand how both of you can get along well and be happy. Be strong in your opinions but not overly so with plenty of fairness in your arguments and discussion.

I recently came across a documentary called simply ‘Happy’ and this has some interesting content that anyone can learn from. In one part of the documentary they discuss the happiness levels of some couples in Japan where the environment is highly competitive. This often leads to much conflicts within relationships where the man can be removed from the family and enjoy less time with their loved ones. This can also lead to higher rates of suicide. It is important that we have a balance between work and play. The documentary speaks of ‘relationship building’ as of paramount importance to achieving a good state of happiness.

We also need to learn to balance our desires to achieve materialistic wealth over other intangible ways that make us happy. You need to re-examine your goals and try to understand what your priorities are right now and if they are making you happy. Most people normally find that they don’t always achieve happiness at work and again this may very well be your own perception of the job. For example, in the above documentary, they show a chef working in a busy kitchen and found the chef to be extremely happy even though he was in a very physically demanding job. Try to understand what it is about the job that is not making you happy, perhaps you don’t like the boss and therefore your work suffers. It could be that you are not pushing yourself or afraid to do the things that you really want to do for one reason or another. If the excuse is just sheer laziness…sorry I can’t help you there and probably no one else can. Being active are essential ingredients to increasing your happiness meter.

Happiness can come from a deep affection for the well-being of another person or persons. Find out ways that you can revitalize the important qualities of compassion and empathy. Many folks have given up high-powered jobs just to work in the slums of Calcutta to help the poor and desperate. Their lives have changed to such an extent that they cannot imagine going back to their old life. If you are finding that you are not enjoying life, then you first need to change internally. Find all the things that makes you happy and if you look really hard enough they usually stem from doing things with other people such as family or friends.

We need to be thankful for having festivities such as Thanksgiving Day or Christmas as it brings people together in the spirit of the festivity with plenty of food, laughter, joy and happiness. Take a moment to really appreciate your happiness and what makes you tick and try to replicate this in other times of the year.

Enjoy your week and Happy Thanksgiving!

Tags: dating, happiness, relationships, Thanksgiving

You probably have heard the word narcissism used to characterize particular groups of people who are very egotistical, arrogant and generally tend to be males. Women however, can also display strong characteristics of this personality trait. Not many people know that all of us have some degree of narcissistic behavior within us and it is important how this behavior can affect our external behavior with other fellow human beings. Understanding narcissism is important in relationships as it will help you better understand yourself and help in your relationship building.

Narcissistic personality disorders usually stems from a person who feels that they are always the center of attention. They usually don’t have any empathy towards other persons and their lives always revolves around them. As a result, they are usually arrogant, always value their opinions over others and feel they have a right to entitlement. A quick and good test to see if you border on narcissistic characteristics is to take the online test from here…
http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/narcissistic.htm

I happen to take this test and scored 12, which is on the normal scale (:-). However, when I looked at my test for the areas where I scored high, I found that it was in the area of wanting attention to power. This is understandable since I do know that i have to exercise some power over the things I do in my everyday life. I constantly strive to improve myself and push myself so I can discover not only more about myself but able to get things done rapidly. This can come out as a power-struggle in some of the people I work with and I always know that I have to balance this character with the abilities and hopes of others. The quiz also explains that a score of 18 can signify that you are a celebrity where your attention is normally focused on themselves. A score above 18 can signify strong narcissistic qualities which you may need to address. I do encourage you to take the test to see the kind of things you have a tendency to do more than usual so you get a better insight into yourself.

In relationships, where one of the partners is a narcissists the relationship could become strained and it is up to each one of us to do something about it. It is a commonly held belief that a narcissist will pair up with someone who has low self-esteem. Usually men with their aggressive dominant behavior can be instantly attracted by women who are usually more subservient. However, over time as they become more accustomed to their personalities and grow to learn more about each other, their maybe a departure from their original personalities and blame ensues as the relationship develops. Please review the recent article on self-esteem where the topic of narcissism can be thinly veiled within a relationship.

A Visual Aid to understanding Narcissism and the world you live in

In order to better understand how we view ourselves within our environment, I have created a few illustrations to help us appreciate our shortcomings and attempt to improve ourselves. Remember, I have always emphasized in my previous articles that any beneficial changes that you are seeking in your life has to come from within YOU. Do not expect other people to change for you because you demand it, or you enforce it through coercive methods… this normally never works. In fact, using the latter methods always lead to personality conflicts and more frustration within the relationship that you are trying to build. Truly understanding yourself and changing your ways can bring the maximum benefit to any situation when working and living with other people. This requires more effort in ‘removing’ yourself from the own you ‘ego’ and looking into yourself in context of other people in your environment and situation. Eckhart explained this situation well in his book ‘The Power of Now’, where he once found himself very depressed and repeatedly saying to himself ‘I shouldn’t be here’. This opened his eyes to the fact that he was addressing himself in a two-way conversation with himself and gave way to his teachings of interpreting your thoughts and behavior from the mental noise that carries your life (see references below).

Tags: attraction, men, relationships, women