The Pathway to Choosing Pixels over People: Pornography

The first known use of the word pixel was in 1965. The creation was from pic + element to form pixel. /piksel/ Google defines it as a minute area of illumination on a display screen, one of many from which an image is composed. “The camera scans photographs and encodes the image into pixels.” Live the Life South Florida was launched in 2014. In 2015 we had about 800 people participate in one of our programs. All participants are asked to complete an anonymous evaluation of the class, and at that time they were asked to circle as many as […]

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The Magnitude of A Man

In the wake of the #MeToo Movement and the empowerment of women over the decades, it appears that the value and esteem of males are diminishing. Young women under 30 in 147 U.S. cities now out-earn our boys. Single young women are buying homes at the rate of two and a half times the rate of single men. In one generation, young men have gone from 61 percent of college educated to a projection of 39 percent. It’s the opposite for young women. Today young men between 25 and 31 are 66 percent more likely than their female counterparts to […]

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Meet the Needs

God created us for an intimate relationship with Him and others. Last month we addressed bonding; we were created with biological needs for bonding and closeness. We all have needs and were designed to be dependent. We’re physically needy. We need food, clothing, water and shelter to survive. We’re spiritually needy. Man needs communion with God and freedom from guilt and shame; we need forgiveness, mercy and grace from God. We’re also emotionally and relationally needy. We need a relationship with God and others. We’re intellectually needy. We’re born with intellectual capacity, but we need instruction and information. Many of […]

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Bonding

Last month we explored loneliness and its dramatic rise globally in all age groups. In a society that’s more connected than ever before, how can that be? Social media, the internet and mobile phones have provided more access to people and information than any other time in history. We have the world at our fingertips. We have an increasing circle of “friends,” we can interact expressing “likes,” posting well wishes or opinions with words, symbols or video clips expressing our thoughts. Facebook has 2.27 billion active monthly users (third Q for 2018); 1.49 billion active daily. About 68 percent of […]

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Loneliness Runs Deeper Than You Can See

  Live the Life South Florida has a mission to strengthen marriages and families through healthy relationship education beginning in middle school through senior adults. In addition to our marriage programs, we teach social and emotional wellness in the school system as an accredited class. Our reasoning for addressing students is they are the ones on the front lines, making decisions that may impact the rest of their lives and their relationships – decisions that could lead to an unplanned pregnancy or experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Some of their choices will be packed in the honeymoon baggage and carried […]

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Put A Ring On It

Pulling the petals of a flower reciting “He loves me; he loves me not” is a sweet memory for many of us beginning on school playgrounds. No matter our age, stage or season of life, we yearn to belong to someone, deeply loved and cherished. For many, Valentine’s Day and the month of love and romance is full of hopeful anticipation, flower deliveries, chocolates, maybe a proposal with the promise of forever love. The ultimate symbol of love and commitment in the Western world is marriage with a ring placed on the fourth finger of both the man and the […]

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Resolve to Forgive

The days following Christmas many will reflect and ponder the past year and the New Year. In 2017, 53 percent of respondents from a survey said saving money was their primary resolution followed by losing weight. Only 15 percent resolved to find love. With loneliness on the rise globally, I was surprised to read that only 15 percent wanted to find love. I wondered if it was really a lack of interest or a lack of hope. Are we shackled by past hurts and disappointments in relationships to the point that we insulate and isolate ourselves from attempting to emotionally […]

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Give the Gift of Listening

The last two months we’ve explored communication and it being the thermometer of your marriage. We discussed the daily touch points of the Daily Temperature Reading (DTR) and items we should communicate. We’ve talked a lot about talking, but two people talking with no one listening is just noise. The movies, advertisements, malls and decorations are replete with the Merry and Bright motif that every human yearns for: connectedness. We need, want and long for meaningful relationships. We long to belong. My favorite billboard for this Christmas season is an advertisement saying, “The best Present is your Presence.” Whether it’s […]

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Communication – The Thermometer of Your Marriage

Fall in South Florida is challenging for those of us who long for the splendor of the leaves while dreaming of a crackling fire and meaningful conversations. The temperature and humidity are often smothering, so we lower the degree on our AC and light a candle to set the mood. Our health is often measured by our body temperature. When it rises above 97.8 we begin to exhibit symptoms associated with an illness, go to a physician and often begin some type of medication to treat the symptoms and the disease. When it drops below 97.8 we begin to exhibit […]

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The Power of Us: Expressing Appreciation

In the previous issue of the Good News, we shared a very common story of Zack and Ally, a couple living the Marriage Selfie life; appearances say they are amazingly happy in their marriage and successful in life. Sadly, social media has allowed us and sometimes pressures us to create “fake news” images and stories of relationship wellness and fulfillment, pictures of what we long and hope for versus the reality of where many of us live. I recently had a man share that his wife posted a picture of their family vacation that looked like they were blissfully happy. […]

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