You anxiously open an e-mail from a friend you haven’t heard from since she got married six months ago. It pokes fun at men … and contradicts all that giggling praise you heard about her “shining star.”

Why do we shift our focus from what we’re grateful for to what irritates us? Often we’re complaining about such petty things as toilet seats and toothpaste caps!

Once we get what we want — the shining star — we want more. He begins to seem ordinary, not because he has changed, but because he hasn’t. We decide he should twinkle from more angles or change colors now and then.

You have to decide if you want to keep trying to satisfy your insatiable ego or satisfy your heart.

Keep in mind that what you don’t appreciate has a way of slipping through your fingers. Remember the skin you didn’t take care of, the opportunities you took for granted, or the friend you thought would always be there? They’re gone.

“Women complain, men leave,” says Noelle C. Nelson, Ph.D., author of “Your Man Is Wonderful.”

If you’re thinking that nothing could drive your man away, you might ask yourself if he’s still there emotionally.… More

Often we’re so engrossed in snippets of our lives that we fail to see the big picture; but life, directed by the mother of all directors, has a way of bringing the pieces together.

Think of your favorite movie. It’s tough to find a single segment that conveys the message of the whole; individual pieces range from blissful to horrifying. And it takes all of the pieces to create a great movie–or a great life.

I recently watched “Scent of a Woman” for the third time. Lt. Col. Frank Slade played by Al Pacino ruthlessly dismissed others, made a pathetic scene at his brother’s on Thanksgiving Day, risked his guardian’s life and tried to take his own. He also sensed a stranger’s pain, helped a number of women connect with what made them beautiful and delivered an oration to save his guardian that would have made Lincoln proud.

So, who was he?

Like you, like me, he was a human being riddled with contradiction and paradox. He was not one piece of his life. He was all the pieces coming together to make a whole. He was his past, present and future shaping him into the best lover and friend he could be.… More

Remember how you used to wear shorts under your dress as a little girl? Well, it’s still okay to do that. Why would we want to stop playing?

Be ready for fun! … More