#Private Intensive Counseling Retreats

[helfandretreats]

Intensive Counseling Retreats Designed for Married Couples

Is your marital union facing challenges? Have you been seeking an effective remedy? The solution could be closer than you think. Our Marriage Quest 3 day intensive couples therapy retreat program has brought about significant improvements for hundreds of couples over the last several decades.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to reap the benefits of our highly acclaimed Marriage Quest retreat program.

The Marriage Quest retreat program is designed to help couples reconnect and resolve issues in their relationship. It starts with the belief that every couple can have a fulfilling marriage with the right tools. Our expert retreat  counselors coach couples on how to apply these skills effectively, while working on healing the root causes of the conflict..

Our couples retreats address a variety of issues, including:

Considering divorce

Midlife crisis

Sexless marriage 

Infidelity

Resentment

Communication problems. 

For instance, we help couples explore the possibility of divorce in a way that can rekindle the relationship. We also assist couples in dealing with a midlife crisis together, which can increase intimacy.

Our intensive marriage retreats also address issues related to sexless marriages and infidelity. It emphasizes that a healthy sex life is important for many couples and that infidelity is often a symptom of other problems in the marriage. The retreat aims to address these root causes to help couples heal and prevent future affairs.

Resentment and communication issues are also tackled during the retreat. Resentment often builds up from unresolved conflicts and lack of quality time, while communication problems can lead to feelings of being unheard or misunderstood.

The importance of intensive marriage retreats lies in their ability to achieve results in a few days, compared to years of traditional marriage therapy. Many couples have reported more progress in just three days at the retreat than in a year or more of weekly sessions.

See testimonials here.

Contact Marriage Quest now.

[bambirattnerau]

Intensive Therapy Retreats Offer Specialized PTSD Treatment

Heal Faster with Intensive Therapy Retreats for PTSD in Auburn, CA

AUBURN, CA - A mental health company named Intensive Therapy Retreats has opened in Auburn, CA, providing intensive therapy programs designed specifically to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). With a focus on rapid healing and symptom relief, these retreats aim to help individuals struggling with PTSD through immersive and supportive environments tailored to meet their needs.

Understanding PTSD and Its Impact

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex mental health condition often brought about by exposure to a traumatic event. Symptoms like flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, and intrusive thoughts can significantly disrupt a PTSD sufferer's daily life. Research shows that many traditional talk and group therapies have limitations in treating these multifaceted symptoms effectively on their own.

Intensive Therapy Retreats Offer Specialized Care

Intensive Therapy Retreat programs provide comprehensive care using evidence-based treatment modalities like mental health counseling, EMDR, IFS, and Accelerated Resolution Therapy. By incorporating these techniques focused specifically on trauma recovery into an immersive retreat environment, participants can get the tools and support needed to confront past trauma and build healthy coping mechanisms.

Intensive therapy for PTSD has demonstrated promising results for improved mental health and quality of life. Their programs aim to help individuals process traumatic memories, reduce PTSD symptom severity, and develop resilience.

Retreats Designed for Personalized PTSD Support

Intensive Therapy Retreats emphasizes tailored care centered around each client's specific needs. Treatments incorporate a thorough assessment of symptoms, triggers, experiences, and goals to create a personalized recovery plan. By focusing care around individual requirements in a secure and private environment, the retreats can provide rapid relief, allowing clients to regain control of their lives.

Through compassionate guidance from their professional and experienced therapists, clients can gain insight into their emotions, process traumatic experiences, and develop effective coping strategies. They build trust and safety so participants feel empowered to explore their journey toward healing.

Rapid Healing and Lasting Symptom Improvements

Immersion in PTSD intensive therapy allows faster processing of trauma and notable reductions in intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, anxiety, and other symptoms. By intensively focusing care over consecutive days, clients benefit from accelerated progress compared to sporadic or weekly therapies. These rapid improvements pave the way for lasting recovery and improved wellness.

Comprehensive Techniques Address Root Causes

Intensive Therapy Retreats go beyond surface-level PTSD management by holistically addressing underlying trauma sources. Evidence-based modalities facilitate deep emotional processing and integration of traumatic memories. Confronting root issues promotes genuine healing, empowering clients to overcome sources of PTSD rather than just coping with symptoms.

Tailored Treatment Plans Align to Individual Needs

Each client thoroughly assesses symptoms, experiences, triggers, and objectives. Therapists then develop customized treatment plans leveraging modalities like counseling, EMDR, IFS, and ART that target specific trauma and align with individual recovery goals. This level of personalization improves outcomes by focusing every aspect of care around client needs.

About Intensive Therapy Retreats - Auburn, CA

Just like all its locations, Intensive Therapy Retreats in Auburn, CA, is a secure and confidential environment for PTSD and trauma treatment. Licensed therapists with extensive experience guide clients through immersive, evidence-based programs tailored to address PTSD sources and develop resilience effectively.

They offer in-person sessions along with telehealth appointments to improve accessibility. To learn more about Intensive Therapy Retreats’ specialized intensive PTSD program or schedule a consultation, call (413) 331-7421 or email support@intensivetherapyretreat.com.

[northamptoncouplestherapy]

Premarital Counseling Retreat in Northampton

Don’t just plan a beautiful wedding. Plan a beautiful life.

1-Day & 2-Day Intensives for Couples Considering Marriage

Preparing for a wedding is a joyous time. There are bridal showers, cake testings and other important milestones. However, before you say “I Do,” consider the following points:

Couples who participate in premarital counseling are 30 percent less likely to divorce within the first five years, according to the Journal of Family Psychology. Also, according to marriage expert John Gottman, marriage therapy can have extra benefits when done in a state of positivity. It is from this state that couples can build on fondness and admiration, two of the most crucial elements in a rewarding and long-lasting romance.

So, put those premarital “flutters” to good use, especially as you prepare for your vows and find yourself asking, whether consciously or unconsciously, questions such as:

“Will my partner join me in my quest for adventure?” “Will I still be able to achieve my professional goals?” Or the inevitable, “How can I ever promise to love this other person for the rest of my life?”

There is an understandable amount of trepidation associated with an upcoming marriage. However, with those concerns comes a great deal of hope.

As the adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Starting off on the right foot with your future spouse could save you years of heartache (and therapy) later on. One great way to do that is through a 1-day or 2-day premarital counseling retreat.

Just what is a premarital counseling retreat?

It is a private retreat that offers you and your fiance an uninterrupted window of time to devote to one and other. It will just be you and your partner, with an expert couples therapist all to yourself for an entire weekend.

No work. No family. No nagging to-do lists and no beeping gadgets (yes, you will be invited to turn them off!).

With the guidance of a couples therapy expert, you will have the opportunity to envision your life together consciously. To skillfully balance the wisdom of your love with research and practicality, allowing you to build a solid marital foundation from day one. And, you’ll do so in a manner that feels safe and allows you to take risks, to challenge assumptions and to learn and grow together.

You will get the feedback, counsel and knowledge of your therapist, a devoted expert who is seasoned, skilled and who sits with couples everyday.

You will also gain the equivalent of a full month worth of weekly therapy, concentrated into 1-2 days!

During a premarital counseling retreat with NCCT, you can expect to:

Walk away with proven, research-backed skills on how to keep your relationship strong and connected well past the “honeymoon stage.”

Gain the tools and understanding you need to feel like a true team working towards a common goal.

Receive a roadmap for your romantic future in the form of a Gottman relationship assessment. Deepening your understanding of yourself, your partner and your relationship…..

The secret is to attend a premarital counseling retreat with a therapist who is trained in the leading evidence-based models in couples’ therapy: Gottman Method Couples Therapy and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). These models have the highest success rates of any couples therapy approach hands-down, and the Gottman Method alone stands out with over 35 years of research on more than 3000 couples.

We approach marriage full of hopes and dreams, offering the best of who we are in a spirit of generosity and good intention. While these dreams set the stage for beginning a life together – they are different than the strengths required to live a life together.

It sounds like a magic bullet, but it isn’t. Attending a premarital counseling retreat is hard work, and it can feel scary. But we assure you it is worth the investment and will transform your marriage and your life.

Not sure a retreat is right for you and your fiance?

We also offer weekly premarital counseling sessions. Click here to learn more about our weekly couples therapy and find out more about our team and what we can offer you. We also offer premarital counseling retreats and counseling for second marriages, blended families and more.

Want to learn more about our premarital counseling retreats?

Contact us, and our Retreat Coordinator will help you create a customized plan unique to your goals and schedule needs. She’ll even give you tips on fantastic places to stay and great places to dine while in the Pioneer Valley.

Best of all, once booked we’ll give you access to The Gottman Institute’s online Gottman Relationship Checkup, so you can begin your journey before you even arrive!

Take the first step and schedule your free initial phone consultation now. We promise to be in touch within one business day.

[lesbiancouplescounseling]

Private Lesbian Couples Retreat In Denver

LOVE IS A JOURNEY WE TAKE TOGETHER.

You can create massive momentum, as well as fast and enduring positive changes by focusing on your relationship in an intensive private couples retreat.

If your relationship is seriously struggling, reeling from a betrayal, or you’re on the brink of calling it quits, please consider investing in a couples retreat before giving up.

A Private Lesbian Couples Retreat can be a game-changer! Your guide, Dr. Lynda Spann will take you both on a journey of discovery.

I’m a little hesitant to break it to you, but a Lesbian Couples Retreat is NOT one of those fluffy get-aways where you drink green-smoothies early in the morning, head to yoga and meditation, sit in a large gathering where you talk about your relationship problems with a bunch of strangers and practice communication skills, have a vegan lunch, go on a group nature-walk, spend an hour with your partner and a therapist, enjoy a healthy dinner, get couple massages, and wrap up with songs by the campfire.

What exactly is a Lesbian Couples Retreat in Denver, you ask?

Think of it as a relationship-saving time-out in a beautiful city. A purposeful break from all the daily stressors, obligations, distractions, and demands that negatively affect you and your partner.

It’s a retreat in the literal sense of the word. You’ll be retreating from all those typical (but demanding) responsibilities and interruptions that make it hard to focus on your relationship for more than an hour at a time.

Couples Retreats are sometimes referred to as Couples Intensives or Marriage Intensives. The value in this experience is that by focusing intensively on your relationship, with the help of a highly trained LGBT therapist, you will resolve your problems much faster.

You can accomplish the equivalent of 3 to 6 months of therapy by spending either one or two full days working with a compassionate, skillful counselor.

You won’t have to deal with the frustration of the long (usually at least a week or two) interruption between the typical (and far too short) 50-minute therapy sessions. Instead, you and your therapist will benefit from the luxury of having long segments of time to focus on assessing and correcting your relationship problems.

LGBT couples have told us that there’s something both profound and magical that comes from spending a one or two-day intensive focused on LGBT couples therapy with a skilled lesbian counselor.

Get Started Now.

A Lesbian Couples Retreat In Denver Is Perfect For You IF:

You identify as LGBTQ and you (or your partner) are at the end of your rope, and maybe threatening to leave your relationship

The trust between you has been shattered by infidelity, and you want it repaired but you don’t know how

You’ve never learned to communicate with each other in a way that really works

You don’t have time to spend 9 to 12 months going to short and ineffective couples therapy sessions

You’ve tried traditional couples counseling and it didn’t help much (or at all)

Your hope is running out, but a part of you still wants to find a solution to the relationship problems you’ve had for a long time

You want to give your relationship one last, honest chance before pulling the plug

If you don’t have months and months to spend in long-term same-sex couples therapy, and you want tools and skills RIGHT NOW that will finally give you the results you’ve been longing for, join me for a Lesbian Couples Retreat in Denver.

Take-Aways From a Lesbian Couples Retreat in Denver:

Discover how you each contribute to the vicious cycles you’re stuck in

Learn simple, proven solutions to the problems that keep arising

Gain a deeper understanding of how you each react to stress

Find out the communication errors that are sabotaging your progress

Get clear on what you and your partner really want for your future

Experience the relief of sharing anger, hurts, and resentments in a safe place

Make serious headway toward forgiveness

Take a break from the incredible stress of being pulled in a hundred directions (family, friends, work, school, projects, telephone, pets, kids, meetings, drama…) and give your relationship the gift of uninterrupted attention and intensive focus.

You and your partner deserve an immediate and lasting solution to the pain you’re in. A Lesbian Couples Retreat can be a wonderful, life-changing investment. And it will help you make sure you never have regrets.

Get Started Now.

About Our Location

The Lesbian Couples Institute is located in a central, lovely, re-urbanized neighborhood in Denver. Just a 35 minute Uber ride from the Denver International Airport (except in rush hour when it takes a little bit longer).

There are several delightful short term vacation rentals within walking distance. Check them out below!

And there are many top notch restaurants nearby. In fact the Number 1 Restaurant in Denver is the Sushi Den, and happens to be right across the street from us.

And if you really did want those massages, they can be arranged.

If you need more help, call me for an appointment.

[acquariusgb]

Extracts from the Clinton Tapes- the third wheel.

I’m reading the book Clinton Tapes by Taylor Branch. It’s the book written from the tapes Bill recorder with Branch during his White House years. There are some interesting things, from cute family moments to Bill’s personal thoughts on what was going on.  Branch met Bill and Hillary when they went campaigning in Texas in 1972 and he was someone they were sharing the apartment with. Both in Texas and also the times he was in the White House, the poor guy ended up feeling like a third wheel when they were together. Here are some extracts about this:

I had no strong theories about what drove Clinton. The stories of his philandering were troublesome, and so was the arrogance of judgment from afar. A few times, with other longtime friends like Strobe Talbott, I hazarded guesses about his sex life. My only firsthand evidence was that Clinton and Hillary had been ardently amorous long ago in Texas, to the point that I remembered for-lorn third-wheel moments. All I heard since were the common rumors of JFK-like affairs down in Arkansas. Without proof, I thought there was probably some truth to them. Affairs would not be unusual for a successful politician with big appetites. Strobe pretty much agreed, though he remained steadfastly baffled. Clinton was not among the youthful Lotharios even Strobe had recognized during their time together at Oxford. If subsequent rumors were true, the Clintons must carry many scars between them, but we found the marriage anything but loveless. Their private partnership still seemed warm and eager, never cold, with a spark from somewhere if not libido.  January 1998

Hillary came in as we began, still in her topcoat and scarf, flushed from a stressful event. We stood, and I fidgeted through their mysteriously long embrace. When he asked about her evening, she said she had been teary through the whole wonderful program. Sidwell Friends had staged its mother-daughter banquet, she explained for my benefit, with skits and speeches built around moms and their senior girls facing the big world beyond high school. She already felt the impact of separation even though Chelsea was only a freshman, with three years left. Hillary smiled in disbelief, asking how she could be a mess so far ahead. Three years left, she repeated. Clinton chimed in with his own wry complaint that the school held three separate banquets—mother-daughter, father-son and mother-son: one for each permutation except father-daughter. He said gender bias blocked his only chance, and vowed to organize something before Chelsea graduated. February 1994

In January, halfway through the five-week spectacle, I arrived somber and unprepared for a breezy surprise. First the elderly new Doorman, Harold Hancock, balked at instructions to take me upstairs. Pressed to explain, he stalled until something popped out about the Clintons kissing. Nancy Mitchell, the White House usher tonight, studied flickering mirth at the corners of a dutiful mouth. “Well,” she said, “you’re going to have to take Mr. Branch up. The president sent for him.” Hancock shook his head. He had just been there. “I want you to call first,” he said. They went back and forth about what he had seen, which sounded like smooching in a doorway, and Mitchell formulated a plan for him to announce himself from the stairwell and then close the three Southern hallway doors—bedroom, living parlor, bathroom—for privacy. She dispatched me as backup, which relieved him, but Hancock remained both tentative and tickled on our climb. It was mixed relief to confront the first couple nowhere on the second floor, and Hancock vanished when we finally located them with guests up in the Solarium. Any overt romance was suspended, but the Clintons communed intensely about the latest politics of impeachment. Not only did they complete each other’s shorthand sentences, but they exchanged the telephone in seamless conversations with several senators.   January 1999

Hillary called him from New York. They talked about the end of Chelsea’s sophomore year at Stanford. She was fighting for a better grade in one course, over some footnoting dispute. The president practiced for Hillary several variations on his notion to compare gun control with car registration, but mostly they discussed the frustrations of her trial campaign. His counsel grew so exercised that I stood to leave, but Clinton retreated for privacy into the bathroom off the family parlor. He was subdued on his return. June 1999

[kaibacorpintern]

For the prompt thing: kaiba + yuugi + professionalism!

this was fun!! thanks to @dxmichelle for the retail stories. kaiba as a retail worker is like me when I was a retail worker because when i worked at a barnes and noble, i spent a LOT of time perfectly squaring the books. anyway all the kaibacorp adventure park castmembers get some fat fucking pay raise/benefit boosts after this

***

This was all Jounouchi’s fucking fault and Seto was never agreeing to any stupid fucking bets again. When did he become a good duelist, instead of just a lucky one? And he knew it, too, announcing his plans to win the Domino City Invitational with the kind of brash, easy confidence that was a front for nothing, a Roman wall around nothing, with nothing he needed to defend on the other side. As hard to read as a coloring book. Asshole. 

“The gods have struck men down for less hubris than this,” Seto snapped, over a game of poker at Yuugi’s weekly game night. Mokuba had badgered him into attending after their return from the yearly strategic planning retreat with the board. You need to be around normal people! No more sharks in people suits! 

“So what? You don’t believe in higher powers, Rich Boy.”

 “In my experience, a god and a higher power are two separate things."

“Oh, okay, Neeshee. Maybe you don’t believe in me, but you do believe in games,” Jounouchi said.

“Devastating insight,” Seto said. “And it’s Nietzsche.”

“Bless you. Don't be rude and sneeze into a tissue next time. Let’s make a bet. When I win the Invitational, you… pick up all my shifts at the Kame Game Shop for a week. I take home all the paychecks, but you do all the work. You know, bog-standard capitalism.”

Seto rolled his eyes. “When you lose, you give the jet a good wash and wax. Then you throw your deck and your Duel Disk into the river, and never duel again.”

“Deal. And I tell you what, Kaiba. One day we’re gonna meet across the field, and you’re going to lose, but it won’t even bother you, because you had just so much fun,” Jounouchi said, extending his hand across the table, with a savage grin. 

“Don’t fucking threaten me,” Seto said, shaking his hand.

Asshole! Jounouchi stomped the competition with an ease Seto hadn’t seen since he was fourteen and unceremoniously sacking Inspector Haga at the Pan Pacific Final. 

At least Yuugi gave him his own nametag, instead of making him wear Jounouchi’s: a plastic, turtle-shaped badge with a white space for his name. There was a line below it that said MY FAVORITE GAME IS... chess, Seto wrote in moodily, with the marker. Then he affixed it to his dark-green apron, neatly and precisely, just over his heart.

Yuugi nudged the curtain into the stock room aside, wearing a matching apron and smiling like he was trying very hard not to laugh.

“Ready to clock in - oh, no. This is the Kame Game Shop,” he said, reaching up to fix Seto’s name tag, tweaking it to sit slightly at an angle. “Perfect right angles are for squares.”

“A KaibaCorp Adventure Park castmember wouldn’t be caught dead with their nametag this sloppy,” Seto snapped.

“It’s not sloppy. It’s jaunty and playful,” Yuugi corrected. “Now, let’s review. You’re an engineering prodigy, so I’m sure you can handle the register. What do we do when a customer walks in?”

Seto sighed, hands bracing on his hips as his eyes rolled towards the ceiling. That asshole picked up five full days of double shifts. 

“Welcome them when they walk in,” he said, as Yuugi nodded along. “Ask if they need any help. If they’re just browsing, leave them alone. Provide recommendations if they ask.”

“And?” Yuugi prompted, raising his eyebrows.

“Wrap and bag their purchases and thank them for wasting my fucking time.”

Yuugi reached up, pressing the tips of his index fingers into Seto’s cheeks. “No! Smile!” 

Seto bared his teeth.

“Can’t believe people call you a bad sport,” Yuugi said. “Maybe just smize instead. Go! Clock in! Upsell your own Duel Disk!”

Seto let out a final dramatic huff, took the clipboard off its hook on the wall, and added his billion-dollar contract signature to the timesheet, below several rows of Jounouchi’s scrawl. 

***

After four hours, Seto took his lunch break, an all-too-brief thirty minutes in the alley behind the Game Shop, leaning back with one foot propped against the wall, answering emails on his phone with all the speed and fury his thumbs could muster. It was high summer. Vines spilled over the wall on the other side of the alleyway, limp and vibrating with heat. Even the shade under the wall was warm. 

The side door opened. He turned his head, preparing a choice little bon mot for Yuugi, and paused, his breath hitching in his chest with a wild regret, birdlike, startled suddenly out of hiding. 

He stared at Sugoroku, privately cursing Jounouchi for the nth time for making the fucking bet, winning the fucking Invitational, and putting him here in this fucking alleyway, staring at Sugoroku. It was too late to go back inside. Sugoroku stared back, hoary-haired, stooped under the weight of his years. Even wizened, with skin like old, pale leather, the family resemblances were clear: the same big, warm eyes, the same bright smile, no less weakened for age. 

He shuffled out the door, dragging a small garbage bag of recycling beside him.

“Open that up and drop this in, will you please? My back’s not what it used to be.”

“Yes,” Seto said, rapidly stooping to take the bag. Should he add sir? Yes, sir? He hadn’t said 'sir' to anyone in ten years. What was he supposed to say? Sorry. I was not myself. I was myself, but the worst version. It was the beta release of me and we have removed the bugs (the murder bugs) in advance of stable release. All remaining bugs are acceptable. We have added accurate legal and medical disclaimers to all our SolidVision and Virtual World products about how the sensory intensity of KaibaCorp proprietary holographic technology may exacerbate existing heart conditions. I am taking good care of her and I love her and she loves me. Who? Her. The dragon. 

He dropped the bag into the recycling bin several steps away and turned around to face Sugoroku, summoning his resolve with an inhale, exhale, firm and deep. 

“How’s your first day?” Sugoroku said.

“My company isn’t going down in flames without me,” Seto said. “Color me surprised.”

“How’s your first day here?”

“Enthralling. The adrenaline high of consumer retail is really just something else - ”

“Speak up, I can’t hear you over all that racket you’re making,” Sugoroku said. Seto paused, bewildered, mouth half-open - and shut it, color flaring across his face.

“Uh - fine,” he muttered. “It’s fine. I helped an eight-year-old pick out a board game.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. She came in with all the allowance she’d saved up and she wanted something she could play with her sister. I sold her on mancala."

"That's a classic. Not a board game, but a classic. And hard to sell to children."

Seto scoffed. "I hate the crap they pass off as board games these days, with all the… fiddly, little plastic pieces and the arcane rules. Children get drawn in by the colors, but they don't have patience for the rules, so it ends up forgotten at the bottom of a bookshelf somewhere with half the pieces sucked up in the vacuum cleaner. Mancala is simple. You can play it with a patch of dirt and a handful of gravel. But if you want to win, you need to play with skill and wit. It's timeless. It’s elegant."

"Well, you've sold me. I haven’t played mancala in years. Shall we play tomorrow? During your lunch break?"

Seto said nothing, resisting the urge to bite his lip, a bad habit and a sign of nervousness.

“Yuugi speaks very highly of you, you know,” Sugoroku said. “I’d love to know why.”

He chuckled and shuffled back inside, leaving Seto fuming with an odd, stomach-clenching embarrassment. 

He checked his phone. Three more minutes left of his lunch break, and his feet were aching. He should’ve worn different shoes, not the Chelsea boots. Tomorrow. Mancala? Damn Jounouchi to hell. Better shoes.

***

“Excuse me,” the woman said. “Do you have Legendary Heroes II?”

Seto abandoned his task of aligning board game boxes at perfect right angles. Fuck jaunty and playful.

“No. That’s not out until December,” he said. The production issues on Legendary Heroes II were a fucking nightmare, and the thought of making his game developers crunch - making them miserable, overworked, and more likely to quit and get snapped up by Schroeder Corp - gave him hives. So he’d pushed release back to December, allowing the small hit to his stock under the rationale that the holiday retail season would make up for it. But she didn’t need to know that. 

“But - it’s my son’s birthday next Saturday, and Legendary Heroes is his favorite game,” she said, hands clenching loosely by her stomach, a gesture of pleading.

“I’m delighted to hear it. It does not change the fact that the game literally does not exist,” Seto said. 

“Can you just check in the back? He’s been asking about this for months now,” she said, and Seto clicked his teeth, face slipping into a snarl - from the corner of his eye, he saw Yuugi, watching him.

Smile, he mouthed, and pressed his fingers into his own cheeks, putting on a manic, plastic grin. 

“Of course. I’ll be right back,” Seto said, smiling, and stormed away. As expected, he did not find Legendary Heroes II in the stock room. He dawdled, checking his email, firing off a few replies, advising Mokuba on the right way to handle the zesty temperament of their general counsel - this’ll be fun, Mokuba said, I get to run KaibaCorp without you, like, dying or something - WHAT? - and stashed his phone back into his apron pocket.

“My apologies,” he said, returning to the woman. “We don’t have it in stock. If you’d like to pre-order it, it’ll be available just in time for Christmas. Just log on to the KaibaCorp website and enter the Kame Game Shop as your pick-up location. If you’re still looking for a birthday gift, I strongly suggest the new Duel Disk. The design is much better for children than the old one - lighter and more streamlined, with less intense haptics. If he already has a Duel Disk, he can bring that in for a trade-in.”

“Oh, perfect!” she said. “We'll do that. Thank you. You’ve been so helpful.”

“You’re welcome. Have a fantastic day,” Seto said, still smiling. He watched her leave and returned to his board game boxes, feeling hideously, fabulously smug. A customer walked in, carrying a bare Duel Disk under his arm, and Seto shot him a cheerful welcome. The man ignored him, heading straight to Yuugi at the counter.

***

Yuugi swallowed, squared his shoulders, and lifted his chin.

"I'm sorry. We cannot accept a Duel Disk return without a box or a receipt," he said. Clearly stolen. 

"But I bought it here two weeks ago. And the stupid piece of shit is defective," the man said. "I want my money back!"

Loud enough that Seto, re-stocking towards the front of the store, turned towards them, with open curiosity.

"What's the nature of the defect?" Yuugi said.

"It just doesn't fucking work. I don't know what else to tell you," the guy said. "Are you gonna do the return or not?!"

His least favorite type of customer: smashing reason apart with the baseball bat of belligerence. Yuugi steeled himself for the inevitable slew of insults. 

"Sir. I can't do the return without a receipt - "

A hand came down on his shoulder, pulling him with polite insistence out of the way. Seto, with a canny, feline smile, the kind that foretold bloodshed on the dueling field.

"Oh no, Yuugi," he said. "Let me handle this."

[guqin-and-flute]

How did jgy deal with his migraines when he was at the Unclean Realm? Can nmj recognize when he’s about too have one?

@little-smartass said:  a-fu gets jgy sick when they’re at the unclean realm… he cannot possibly travel… but lxc needs to get back to cloud recesses… “you’ll just have to nurse him back to health da-ge” says huaisang very innocently, who wants them to make up almost as much as lxc

[I’m going to smush these two together because you are both brilliant.]

Nie Mingjue doesn’t want to recognize the signs; actually resents a little that he knows the man so well, still. That he still worries at all about him. 

The visit was doomed from the start, from the moment that Lan Xichen lands with A-Fu in his arms, hands him to Jin Guangyao and their son promptly sneezes directly into his face. It would have been amusing if it had happened to either of his other fathers, but as it was, the familiar cycle begins to creakingly turn again. 

Lan Xichen anxiously eyes Jin Guangyao, running his fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck and gently asks how he was feeling. Jin Guangyao smiles and shakes his head and passes it off, as he always has; “I’m fine, Er-ge. It was probably from the altitude change or the cold--nothing says he’s sick.”

Nie Mingjue wants to scoff at his naivete, but holds his counsel. 

A-Fu begins to cough, to complain of a headache, of being cold and tired and, helplessly, they take care of him as best they can with soup and rest and snuggles, knowing what is coming. Jin Guangyao maintains his smile throughout. When Xichen worries if he should even be taking his turn at A-Fu’s bedside when needed, he simply points out that he has very certainly been infected already. “This is our time to be with him,” he reasons, as if he’s being very logical and placating, expression affectionately patient. “I don’t want to waste it worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet.” Nie Mingjue wants to shake him for purposefully continuing to push his luck in what could only be called idiocy. 

The adults are having a private dinner in Nie Mingjue’s rooms when Jin Guangyao coughs for the first time and immediately holds up his hands as 2 eagle eyed gazes swivel to him with intensity. “I swallowed wrong,” he insists with that stupid little apologetic smile that means he is hiding something. “I’m fine.”

He is not.

The next few days, Nie Mingjue watches him--out of annoyance more than concern--as he slowly but surely starts displaying all the signs of ignoring his own limitations and continuing to push. His dark circles deepen, his smile wilts at the corners, and, when he thinks no one is looking, it drops off completely and he closes his eyes and just breathes. Every time he coughs, he winces, stops his hand from going to his head. Idiot. Nothing they say can make him listen because they have both tried in the past. He just widens his eyes in that way he does, smiles and finds a way to squirm out of the conversation.  A-Fu trying to run around while still lingeringly ill was as good a distraction as any. He rolls his neck and forgoes meals, claiming he has no appetite. As he always has done when it starts to get bad. 

Idiot.

It was the last day of their visit and Lan Xichen had insisted on spending the night with Jin Guangyao, a fact that Nie Mingjue is trying and, for the most part, succeeding in not being disgruntled about--thought it’s not as if the man couldn’t take a damn nap every once in a while and avoid this whole thing. It’s not as if he doesn’t know how sick he gets. He is incredibly unsurprised when Xichen slips from the room and carefully closes the door behind, lips pressed and brow furrowed. 

“It’s one of his headaches, isn’t it?”

Lan Xichen sighs and nods, running his thumb over Shouyue’s sheath. “It is. Not as bad as it’s been in the past, but bad enough. He admitted he hasn’t been sleeping well, probably because of what he caught from A-Fu and it’s probably triggered it. So, now it’s both.”

Nie Mingjue vents an unimpressed sound through his nose, arms folded and Lan Xichen shoots him a gently reprimanding look. “Da-ge, he’s in pain.”

“And if he had just taken care of himself like an adult, he wouldn’t have to be.”

With another sigh, Xichen tugs one of Nie Mingjue’s braids and moves down the hall away from the door, wordlessly asking him to follow, which he obliges. “Is A-Fu packed up and ready?”

Nie Mingjue nods, reaching out to take Lan Xichen’s hand as they walk, which makes him smile--which was the whole point. “He is. You know he’ll be alright. He always is.”

Xichen grimaces. “He can’t fly today, he hasn’t the strength.”

Nie Mingjue grimaces right back, but tilts his face to the wall so he doesn’t see. He isn’t exactly surprised, but having the prospect confirmed doesn’t make him any happier. “I figured. Well, it’s not as if I’m going to kick him out, he can stay until he recovers. We have plenty of servants.”

As they reach the main hall where A-Fu is playing some intense game that involves Huaisang’s feet and cascades of shrieking cackles, Lan Xichen looks as if he wants to say something but instead shakes his head with a sad smile, then leans in and kisses his cheek. “Behave?” He murmurs into his ear, the warmth of his breath making Nie Mingjue suppress a shiver.

“I’m not going to harass a sick man, Xichen. I’m not that heartless,” he rolls his eyes and leans his temple against his. 

“Mmm,” Lan Xichen hums, setting his chin down on his shoulder briefly. “You’re not heartless at all, A-Jue.”

After Nie Mingjue has gathered the both of them into a hug and pressed kisses to their cheeks and instructed them to fly safe--to which A-Fu had cheerfully reminded him that he had no say in--he reluctantly turns to Huaisang. “Jin Guangyao--”

“Is sick! I know, I heard from a little bird named A-Fu who very much wanted to stay an extra day, apparently,” Huaisang cuts in airly, tapping his closed fan against his lips. “Very distressing.”

“Xichen had a meeting with a Caiyi town official and it couldn’t wait,” Nie Mingjue agrees almost grudgingly. “I was wondering if perhaps you--”

“Oh, I couldn’t, I have sabre practice today!”

Huaisang does a very good job of holding his disbelieving stare, eyes wide and guileless. At least for a little while, after which he begins to waft his fan in distracting little circles, sucking his lips in to keep his smile from spreading across them. “Fine,” Nie Mingjue says, testily. “I’ll ask Zonghui--”

“Oh, he’s the one who is teaching me sabre practice today,” Huaisang blurts hastily, edging sideways for the doorway. 

“Huaisang--”

“Ah! I’m late! Farewell, Da-ge!” he calls as he sidles right out the door, leaning back in only to say, “Tell San-ge that I said hello! Hope he feels better!” This last bit is steadily fainter as his footsteps retreat at speed down the hallway.

Though he feels distinctly annoyed by the incredibly transparent lie, he heaves a sigh and sheathes Baxia in her stand by his throne before backtracking through the hallways to Jin Guangyao’s room. It’s probably more decorous for him to not pawn off a host's duties onto someone else, anyhow. And, he has to grudgingly admit, Jin Guangyao is Xichen’s other partner and A-Fu’s other father. And he already knows how to care for such episodes from when he was still Meng Yao, still his vice-general. 

His jaw clenches at the memory, grinding his teeth, but he gathers what he needs all the same.

Jin Guangyao stirs groggily at the sound of the door, but he doesn’t open his eyes. “Er-ge...I’m….” his voice his small and hoarse and for all that Nie Mingjue does not like him, is annoyed by his inability to take care of himself, and wants to not pity him, he does have to admit--he sounds absolutely wretched. 

He remembers a time when Jin Guangyao had curled into the corner of Nie Mingjue’s bed, years ago, crying silently with the pillow over his head as the Clan Leader hovered anxiously, not knowing what would help and what would hurt. Nie Mingjue grimaces and pushes it away. 

At least he knows, now.

“It’s me.” He is sure to pitch his voice low and quiet. “Xichen left.”

Jin Guangyao gives a weak start, his eyes blinking open and then squeezing back shut in obvious pain, his mouth pressing thin. Gods, he’s pale, from his hairline to his lips. Nie Mingjue had forgotten exactly how pitiful he could look when he was sick. At least this was one of the only times he can be sure he is seeing the truth from the man--no one as obsessed with control and saving face as him would ever show such obvious weakness to someone like him.

“Oh. Da-ge...you needn’t…”

Nie Mingjue rolls his eyes because he cannot scoff and quietly makes his way to the bedside, setting down his armful of supplies on the nearby table. “Hush. Talking makes it worse.”

Jin Guangyao makes a vague, thin sound that might have been agreement and falls silent, eyes slitting open again to watch him arrange things briskly, blinking slowly. This close, his breathing is wet and shallow, his pale lips dry and Nie Mingjue fights the urge to strangle him. He wants to reprimand him, to demand what he thinks ignoring illness would do but this, if he thinks that A-Fu would enjoy his father becoming seriously ill because he wanted to stay up and play pretend with him, whether he thinks at all about how this sort of thing affected the people close to him, but he bites his tongue and thrusts out a cup. “Drink. It’s water.”

Watching him slowly attempt to struggle upright snaps the last little bit of patience and he leans in and, keeping his touch light, carefully sits him up and leans him against Nie Mingjue’s side. He is searingly hot through the single layer of underrobe he wears and he squeezes his eyes shut. “Da-ge….” grinds out of him, worryingly slurred and Nie Mingjue holds the cup to his lips. 

“Drink,” he commands quietly, again. 

Jin Guangyao does. It is quiet and dark and close and Nie Mingjue is focusing on the far wall so he can pretend that Jin Guangyao isn’t tucked against his side, his heartbeat thrumming through his back like one of Huaisang’s birds against his bicep. Until he begins to cough. Nie Mingjue knows it’s bad the moment it begins. The coughs are like what A-Fu had, but worse, deep and wracking and, from the way the hand that’s not covering his mouth goes up to clutch his head, make the pain all that much more splitting. Nie Mingjue doesn’t move, doesn’t hold him--though he almost feels like he should from the way it feels like he’s shaking apart beside him. He knows that every touch is magnified, every sensation translated to discomfort at best, pain at worst. 

It ends with Jin Guangyao stifling gagging, fingers digging into the bed covers, doubled over, before they peter out on panting breaths that huff out on an involuntary half-whine. Nie Mingjue takes in a breath to speak and Jin Guangyao winces at just that--so he doesn’t. He merely carefully sets the cup down and taps his fingers against the pillow. Slowly, Jin Guangyao leans back until he’s sunk back into it, hair spread like inky, tangled clouds across it, his even paler face now shining with sweat--and tears. 

Without speaking, Nie Mingjue carefully lays one of the soft cloths over his eyes then wets another in the cool water from the pitcher, slowly wiping down his face and neck. His lips are pursed the entire time and his intent is to glare down at the idiot in his guest bed to convey just how avoidable this whole thing was, but he feels that the effect is a little muted by just how like a corpse he looks, lying there, pale and utterly still. It’s unnerving. If it wasn’t for the fast, labored breaths and his unnaturally hot skin, he would be indistinguishable from one who was freshly dead. 

Then, said-idiot swallows and asks in a ragged whisper, “Fufu...left?”

Nie Mingjue nods, murmurs, “A while ago. Xichen worried he would be too loud for you.”

The hand that lies on his chest curled, as if it wants to tighten into a fist but hasn’t the energy and he whispers, “Ah.”

“This was enormously fucking stupid of you,” Nie Mingjue points out grumpily, unable to help himself.

Jin Guangyao is silent for long enough as Nie Mingjue loosens his robe enough to wipe down his whole chest, carefully tugs his damp hair free from behind his neck that he thinks he has fallen asleep, but as he slips the cloth back into the bucket and rises to leave, Jin Guangyao twitches. “Thank….”

“Hush. Drink more water when you wake up.”

[kazuwhora]

Hey! I have never done a match up before and thought maybe I could try if possible! I'm a Taurus and my mbti is ISTJ. The best way to describe myself is basically the quiet kid. I mind my business and just keep to myself even at work or school. Im not very social at all unless I need to be and I'm satisfied as long as I got that 1 really good friend. I love to just chill and relax like binging horror movies and then going on a late night drive with music. 👌👌 best day. I hope this is enough 🏃

HI TAURUS BABE as a taurus I love u <3

I think you would be a fantastic match for Mitsuya <3

mitsuya is an infj, and infj's seem to get on really well with other introverted types. in your case, mitsuya can respect the fact that you're the quiet kid, and he finds himself drawn to it. a big part of being an infj is discovering, and counselling. they feel inclined to get past the barrier people may set up, they want to get to know people and find out how they tick. mitsuya is no exception to this rule.

the two of you share quite a few things actually. mitsuya is quite private, and prefers to mind his own business when going about life in general just as you do. however, like I mentioned about being an infj, he just really wants to figure you out ok? because he sees you as so much more than just the quiet kid and he wants to uncover every aspect of your personality so that you can confidently say that you're so much more than just quiet.

mitsuya wants to find out the things you're intensely passionate about. if he finds you don't have anything, mitsuya wants to create one. he wants to see you fired up, he wants to see what you're like mad, he wants to see you emotional. he wants to put together the pieces of the puzzle that is you, and bathe in the satisfaction of his newfound discoveries.

but mitsuya is also incredibly respectful of your boundaries. he doesn't want to push you too far from your comfort zone, and he doesn't want to see you retreat because he may have pushed you a bit too far. but boy does he want to watch you have fun. if that means taking you for a midnight drive on his bike, letting you pick the music to blast, he'll grin from ear to ear at the energy you radiate from behind him and that's enough to keep him going.

to mitsuya, you will be so much more than just the quiet kid because he knows that in the depths of your personality you're intriguing and he can't help but want to pick that a part.

[marjosoberliving]

Guide of Sober Living Home

Sober Living Homes in the Washington, DC metropolitan area are located all throughout the city of Tuckahoe. There is several Sober Living Homes in Tuckahoe that offers both short-term and long-term services. A few areas in Tuckahoe that have Sober Living Homes include: Shady Hollow, Stone Mountain, Cherry Knoll, and the Deep South. The number of Sober Living Homes is increasing along with the number of treatment facilities. In an effort to increase the number of treatment programs for those with drug and alcohol addictions in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area the administration has decided to implement a drug addiction treatment program in the Tuckahoe area.

The Sober Living Home near Tuckahoe VA offers inpatient treatment as well as outpatient services. An inpatient facility will allow an individual to stay at the Sober Living Home on a one-on-one basis with trained counselors and healthcare professionals who are able to give individualized care. The residential treatment program also offers individuals the ability to receive medication refills in an environment that supports recovery from addiction. The outpatient services are also available in an outpatient setting, if an individual does not wish to stay in an inpatient facility.

The Tuckahoe area of the Washington, DC metropolitan area has experienced an increase in traffic and crime over the last two years. This has been an attraction for criminals to move into the neighborhood and take advantage of the lucrative real estate properties for sale. This has prompted the Tuckahoe Police Department and the City of Tuckahoe to increase their security tactics in order to discourage potential criminals from moving into the area and creating a safety concern. These measures have been implemented so that individuals who suffer from substance addictions do not feel intimidated in their own home. Tuckahoe is one of the best places in the country to find sober living and treatment programs that can help people overcome addiction.

A Guide of Sober Living Home near Tuckahoe VA offers training to its residents in areas related to relapse prevention so that they will be better prepared to handle emergencies related to substance abuse. The goal of the program is to help residents transition back into the community without engaging in criminal activity or self-destructive behavior. It also offers education on how to become reintegrated into the business community and learn how to work with other addicts. It is a valuable resource for any community trying to address the problem of addiction in its public and private schools. In addition, the sober living center offers a safe haven for families of addicts, children of addicts and vulnerable adults looking to retreat from the temptations of everyday life and the burdens of drug addiction. The Center offers short-term residential living and long-term boarding and care so that vulnerable adults do not fall into the trap of returning to the community only to fall into the same trap again.

The Tuckahoe VA has four programs that focus on helping individuals deal with the emotional aspects of addiction and recovery: the Tuckahoe Halfway Houses; Tuckahoe Outpatient Program; Tuckahoe Drug Rehabilitation Project and the Tuckahoe VA's Comprehensive Street Team. The Tuckahoe Halfway Houses is designed for those who are just getting out of a residential treatment program. The program provides housekeeping services and laundry services for low-income families while offering intensive one-on-one counseling. Outpatient treatment programs are available to patients suffering from addiction who do not require twenty-four hour supervision but may require medications and daily monitoring. The Tuckahoe outpatient program incorporates the academic and clinical components of inpatient care while allowing the participant the option to participate in the program when it is convenient for them. A majority of halfway houses offer intensive detox and rehabilitation services to their residents along with after care and stabilization services.

The Tuckahoe VA offers the following services to residents who qualify: alcohol and drug abuse treatment, household counseling, housekeeping and laundry assistance, elder care assistance, life coaching, spiritual support, and relationship and trust building programs. The full list of services is available online. All residents are required to follow the House Rules of Sober Living and all residents are prohibited from possessing or reselling alcohol or other drugs. Alcohol and drug abuse are strictly prohibited at all times.

[circe-poetica]

Venus Sextile Neptune

 With the sextile, the sensitivity in the conjunction is still present, although not felt so intensely, and there is more of a mental orientation towards the external world and an ability to work effectively with people for social harmony. Creativity and communication are enhanced with the sextile, and these gifts are used to create meaningful and evocative objective forms which many others find resonant and inspiring, such as those in art, music or literature.

The imagination is active and fertile, and the channels are present through which the images can flow easily and naturally; this creative talent can greatly enrich your life once it is properly released. You prefer to emphasize the positive and beneficial aspects of life and human nature, and are basically optimistic, although there should still be a realistic streak within you which adds a shade of balance. Whilst your emotions are too general and diffuse to be restricted to any one person, your basic outlook is that of a universal compassion linked to an understanding and acceptance of human nature, and you may find that you become a confidante to others and perform a role whereby you offer counsel and support to others in difficulty. The love aspects as represented by Venus and Neptune (individual and universal) flow well together, and the emotion expressed through the heart and mind is very comforting and soothing to others, often possessing healing qualities. This could be more formally expressed through medicine or psychotherapy situations, and you can be an adept resolver of conflicts through restoring harmony in any tension between people.

Social or community work could be attractive to you in some form, if you choose to work in the outer world. Some prefer to work in the inner realms, and choose to apply their talents through music, art and literature to express similar qualities to the world. Privately you are likely to hold romantic ideals, often entering alliances with similar-thinking and -feeling individuals, especially those of a mystical and sensitive disposition. Ideal love relationships are probably sought, and this can leave you quite vulnerable to emotional pain and disappointment, especially through others failing to live up to your probably unreasonable expectations.

You tend to elevate your love affairs to sublime realms, using them as a mystical stepladder to reach those subtle spiritual lands that are your private dreamscapes of paradise. Often your emotions are associated with a mystical and religious importance, and the sextile and trine have been described as 'lovers of the universe'.

Relationships may be an area of sacrifice for you, a sphere of transformation, as well as an area where you may be forced to come to terms with the real world through compromise with others and by realizing that for harmony to exist difficult inner emotional battles may need to be fought and adjustments made.

Sometimes, when under pressure, you may retreat into that inner ideal world, and lapse into a rejected state of apathy and inertia whilst your sensitivity is renewed and made ready to face the world again. Your natural gifts and talents could be used to restore more beauty and harmony to people and the world, to make it more like your ideal dream of a perfect universe, so look to that direction to express your creativity

[daphner20]

Justice Browne

Restoration

Prologue

My name is Justice Fritzgerald Browne, and ' Truly God is good to me!” My father wanted to name me John Fritzgerald, but my mom said , “ not a day like it!”

I met the love of my life Alicia Leah (nee Dean) at a Catholic Retreat for young adults called T.E.C ( To Encounter Christ), 25 years ago. She was 19, and I was 24. We were married 6 months later. And that union has blessed us with two sons. Joshua, 20 and Jamie 18.

Joshua is a Senior at Notre Dame University, he is a bio/chemistry major, his next step is med school. Jamie is a sophomore, at Notre Dame as well, but they are on different campuses. Jamie is studying accounting. Both of my sons, graduated from High School at 16. 

I am so proud of my sons, they are truly one of the joys of my life.

Almighty God, has also prospered the work of my hands. I am one of the largest grocers in The  Bahamas. With 4 grocery stores in Nassau, 2 in Grand Bahama, and 1 in Abaco. I own substantial shares in a local bank and insurance company. 

I am also on the Economic Council for The Bahamas. I am also the past president of the Chamber of Commerce.

When I was in CCD, as a child, I remembered Sister Cecilia, teaching us the 10 commandments, the sermon on the mount, and corporal acts of mercy. I have spent my entire life, living as closely as possible to these teachings.

My parents, were the greatest in the world. I was the product of their old age. They were married for 18 years, before I came along. My mom was forty, and my dad was 47. My mom told me that she had never stop trusting and believing that God, will bless her womb. She lived to cradle my sons in her arms. She died 10 years ago, and Daddy followed 2 years later.

As, I lit a candle after mass. I am thankful and grateful to the Lord, who has bless my family, my work, my health, and my faith all these years. I also lit a special candle for my boys, just in case they didn’t go to mass this morning, and asked God to forgive their sins.

Chapter 1

“ So you don’t have any classes today,” said Justice 

“ No, they are cancel until further,” said Jaime.

“ I suggest, you go and stay with Joshua,' said Justice.

“Daddy,” said Jaime, “it’s just a tropical storm!”

“ Jamie, tropical storms can be dangerous as well,” said Justice.

“ The school has taken all precautions, we will be fine. Further more, Josh, campus is on lockdown as well,” said Jaime.

“Ok,' said Justice, reluctantly, he knew how strong will Jamie is. 

'Love you Daddy,” said Jamie, laughingly, he knew his father normally gives in.

“ Love you kiddo, said Justice. ‘Youth’ muttered Justice, they think they are invincible.

5 minutes later.

“ Hello Josh” said Justice.

“ Hi Pops” said Josh animatedly.

“ I heard, about the storm, are you taking precautions.

“ Yes sir, we will be fine, you are aware, that we have been through storms before said Joshua.

“ I know, said Justice, “but it has always been with me and your mother.”

“ We will be fine,  I will check on Jamie every day, don’t worry.”

“ I love you Joshua, you are a good son and great brother,” said Justice, holding back tears.

“I love you too Pops,” said Joshua, smiling, “ and turn of the water works, your too old for that.”

As Justice, hung up the phone, he realized, that he wasn’t trusting  God to protect his sons.

A few days later, the weather channel, said the storm had been upgraded to a category 3. It will bring lots of rain and high gusty winds.

“I will go by church, this evening to light a candle for my boys,” said Justice in his heart.

When I got home, it was late breaking news on all the stations, that Hurricane David, had come ashore as a Category 5, and there were wide devastation.

“ Have you heard from the boys today,” I asked Alicia.

“ I spoke to them, yesterday, but they told me, that the power company was shutting down the power. They said they will call me, as soon as the power comes back on.

It’s been two days now, and still no communication from our sons. I told Alicia, that I was going to North Carolina tomorrow.

Finally, the phone rang, it was Jaime's  number.

“ Jaime, thank God, son how are you? Shouted Justice.

“ This is Dr. Matthew, from Raleigh General,  is this Mr. Browne? We regret to inform you that your son,  Jaime Browne  died two days ago. We finally charged his cellphone, and we found your number. Also, we regret to inform you that your other son Joshua Browne died this morning.

Chapter 2

“The Lord giveth, and the Lord take it away, blessed be the name of the Lord,” said  Justice.

It was a bright and sunny morning, three weeks later, when I buried my boys. How could a day be so beautiful, when my children will never see it again! It’s like the world is mocking me. I am numb, I am on autopilot. I am doing everything that needs to be done, without any emotions.

I flew to North Carolina, to officially identify the boys. I had to make arrangements, to bring them home. I had to pick out the coffins.  I had to decide their burial clothes. I had to choose the photos and songs for the obituary. My boys were altar boys and a part of the youth group,  so every body wanted to play a role in the funeral service. There were such an outpouring of sympathy, I had to make sure they were acknowledged. Instead of two individual plots, I chose one. Joshua at the bottom, and Jaime on top.

Because, they were inseparable, growing up, they were together when they died. Joshua roommate told us, that when the storm got upgraded, Joshua decided to go and stay with Jaime. However, the storm had produced several tornadoes, and one of them had flatten Jaime’s dormitory.  Jamie, the coroner believed died instantly, and Joshua died three days later.

Alicia grief is inconsolable, she is heavily medicated, I don’t know what to do. I just have to be strong, for her and my sons. My head says there are gone, my heart says they are here, and there is no reconciliation. As an accountant, this should be easy. 

Just as the sun rises each morning, I must do the same. Everyone is remarking on my strength. I told them, it’s not me,  but the Lord. His strength is made perfect in my weakness.

A month later,  I returned to work full time, Alicia is turning the corner, she is off the sedatives. She is still profoundly sad, but that is to be expected, and she has me.

“ Mr. Browne, here are the papers, you wanted,” said Sheila my secretary.

“ Mr. Browne, Mr. Browne,” Sheila is frantic now. The last thing I heard her screaming was Call an ambulance!!

Chapter 3

Two weeks later, I woke up in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

I had suffered a massive stroke, I was totally paralyzed on my left side The doctors told Alicia, that my recovery will be long. Not only will I need a physical therapist, but a speech therapist as well. Another, prognosis, was that I may never fully recovered, and be a shell of a man. All of my  physicians were in agreement with that!

Alicia, brought me home three weeks later. The house was completely transformed. There were ramps for my wheelchair. My study, became my hospital room. Because, I couldn’t swallow on my own, I had a drip in my arm, I was also feed intravenously, I also had to use a catheter. My care also included 3 private nurses on shifts.

Alicia had spared no expense.

My first visitor, was my oldest and dearest friend Greg Henfield, he was also my boys godfather.

“ I am sorry Justice, first the boys, now this, I have known you all my life, I can’t believe this is happening to you, you were a Saint living amongst us! What did you do, to make God so angry,” he said.

Thank God, I couldn’t speak or move, I would have kicked him out.

Next, visitor, was  my lawyer, Charles Powell, “ I think you should sell your business, seeing that you have no longer have heirs, and  you and Alicia can live a comfortable life, with the proceeds,”he said.

Blood in the water, thought Justice, the sharks are circling.

Finally, my father-in-law, Wilfred Dean, came.  I loved him like a father. “ My daughter, can’t take anymore, first her children, now you, this is to much for her. I told her to sell your businesses and shares, and put you in a nursing home and take care of herself,” he said.

“What about our vows?” I wanted to scream, “ for better or worse, sickness and in health.”

Alicia, took his advice, she sold everything, but she didn’t leave me.

Laying in that bed day in and out, with only my thoughts. Why God, I am a good person, you took my boys, my health, my work, my friends and family. Why me?

I wish I never was born, I wish I was like a stillborn child, who never saw light. Why did you bless and then take away. I pour out my complaint and bitterness day unto day.

Until one day, The Lord Spoke!

Chapter 4

“ Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

“ Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.“ Where were you, when I laid the foundations of the earth? Who determined it’s measurements? Surely you know!

Then Justice answered ,” I know that you can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from you. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see You, therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.

Justice didn’t realized, that he was speaking. He had gotten, his speech back. Praise the Lord.

Over, the next few months, with the help of his therapists, he regained the strength and the mobilty of his limbs. Justice Fritzgerald Browne made a full recovery and discovery.

“ Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him!” Justice said.

Alicia, had kept the life insurance benefits of the boys. With that money, he was able to purchase 10 grocery stores. And the a year later, Alicia gave birth to twin girls,  Hannah, and Annah. Double grace and favor!

Justice, lived to see his children’s children.

And God bless Justice's latter, greater than his former!

The End

“

[helfandretreats]

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Our couples retreats address a variety of issues, including:

Considering divorce

Midlife crisis

Sexless marriage 

Infidelity

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Communication problems. 

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[minyoongleschimjoongles]

Preordained IX

Pairing(s):Poly!BTSxOC, Sub!BTSxOC,

Warnings: Implied sexual situations, Mentions of sexual situations, implications of Dom/sub relationships.

Masterlist

“You cut the purple out of your hair! And you’re so tan!” Namjoon cooed, observing Zara through the laptop screen. Zara chuckled, looking at her own arms. They were indeed, far more tan than they had been two weeks beforehand, and she’d chopped the dead hair off her head days ago.

“That’s what happens when your parents move to Hawaii and decide to live by the beach instead of on-base.”

Namjoon’s lips split into a grin. 

“We miss you,” he said.

Zara’s own lips turned up at the corners. “I miss you, too.”

They chatted for another hour, before Namjoon went quiet, biting his lip. Zara’s eyebrow rose, along with her anxiety.

“What?”

“Do you remember that video Jin-hyung posted to his youtube channel for the project? Of the singing?”

“Yeah?”

“Mr. Lee sent that clip around to an old friend who founded an Entertainment company called BigHit. We didn’t tell you because we didn’t think it would go anywhere, but...”

Zara’s eyebrows had completely disappeared into her hairline.

“But?”

“But he called Mr. Lee back and said he wanted to sign us to BigHit. As an Idol group.”

Namjoon watched the emotions pass over Zara’s face, and was more relieved than he’d like to admit when she settled on amusement and burst out laughing.

“Congratulations, but now I’m going to have to fight off a bunch of thirsty teens that want to sink their teeth into my Soulmates! And Yoongi? An Idol? Jesus, fuck.”

An indignant, “I heard that!” came from the background, and that sent Zara into another fit of laughter.

“BangPD-nim wants to have a meeting with you when you get home, Zara-ssi,” Namjoon said, which quelled Zara’s laughter. “About the Soulmate thing. Jin-hyung’s videos have all been made private already.”

“Ah,” Zara understood now, their hesitance to tell her their news earlier. Idols and boy bands, typically, ‘weren’t allowed,’ to have Soulmates, and if they did, than that Soulmate needed to remain hidden from the public. It wasn’t a very fair rule, and it was a rule that tended to put a lot of stress on relationships, but it was a rule that was intended to keep Soulmates safe.

In the case of Zara and the Seven, there was a bit of a wrench in that plan because of Jin’s YouTube project, which clearly pointed towards Zara being not just the Soulmate of Jin, but all of them. It made sense that their new manager would want to have a meeting with her to figure out what to do.

“Okay,” Zara agreed easily. “So tell me about this new boy band I’m going to have to listen to.”

Namjoon gave Zara a relieved smile and leaned forward.

“So, they’re calling us Bangtan Sonyeodan, BTS for short, and it means...”

xXx

Zara received a flurry of text messages the second she stepped off the airplane in Seoul. Mostly from Yoongi, who, in an All-Caps-Rage was telling her that the choreographers wouldn’t let them go from practice long enough to pick her up.

Zara snorted. Leave it to Yoongi to completely fly off the wall about something as trivial as picking her up from the airport. She’d already known before taking off in Honolulu that her Soulmates wouldn’t actually be there to pick her up from the airport, since Namjoon had been told the day before about the intense choreography lesson, and had told Zara about it. While it meant she didn’t get to see the boys right away, Zara wasn’t too upset by it. BigHit had even been kind enough to send her a ride.

The driver that had been sent, Gunwoo, was a perfect gentleman, putting Zara’s bags in the trunk and chatting with her as they drove. He asked her about school, she told him she wasn’t sure how much longer she’d actually go to school if the boys weren’t going anymore.

“Becoming a citizen won’t be a problem if your boys make it big,” Gunwoo said. Zara smiled.

“Ah, it won’t really be too difficult anyway. I’ve lived here for so long already.”

Gunwoo nodded his head, smiling slightly.

“Now, don’t be nervous about meeting BangPD,” he encouraged as they pulled into the underground parking structure. “He looks tough, but his bark is worse than his bite.”

Zara quirked an eyebrow, smirking. “Oh, I’m not worried about that, either.”

Gunwoo smiled back at her in the rear view mirror, pulling into a spot and letting Zara out. He led her through the building, stopping at the service desk to get Zara an access pass to get in, in the future. Then he brought her up to the top floor of the building, stopping at a door that read “Bang Si Hyuk,” on the nameplate.

“Just come back down to the lobby when you’re done, and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.

And with those parting words, Gunwoo retreated.

Zara took a deep breath, turned to the door and knocked.

xXx

The silence had stretched on for nearly 20 minutes already, neither Bang Si Hyuk nor Zara willing to start the conversation or to break the staring contest.

Zara, confident despite her less than professional wardrobe of a gray hoodie and black leggings, had her ankle hooked on her knee and an arm propped on the back of the chair she sat on.

BangPD mirrored the posture opposite her, his white dress shirt crisp under his black blazer and tie.

This was a battle of Wills, and both were determined to win. They both knew what he wanted to ask her, but he wanted her to bring it up.

Zara glanced at her watch before raising one eyebrow, tilting her head and lacing her fingers together. BangPD shifted in his seat.

Intimidating men didn’t scare Zara. She could do this all day.

Finally, after another 10 minutes, BangPD cleared his throat.

“Underwood Zara-ssi, I’m aware of your unique situation with Bangtan Sonyeodan, however, those of us at BigHit think it would be beneficial for you to hide that connection from the public eye and separate yourself from the Boys as much as possible.”

“Mm,” Zara straightened her head again, but didn’t move from her lax position. “Hard no. Both of us know Yoongi’s little temper tantrum was a case of Soulmate Separation Syndrome. How is Tae doing? Behaving himself? How about Jungkook?” BangPD shifted in his seat again, but didn’t reply. “It’s been weeks since they’ve seen me, I’m sure they’re absolute joys the be around, all Seven of them.”

More silence. Zara smirked. 

“Would you like to try again?”

He sighed. “It would still be best if your relationship with the boys was kept a secret, for everyone’s safety, but we could hire you on as staff in order to keep you close at hand. Kim Namjoon-ssi says you’re double majoring in Fine Arts and Psychology, and he said you have a knack for languages. That gives us a lot to work with; Makeup for music videos and concerts, counselling the Boys and staff, translating interviews if they make it big after their debut.”

“Keeps me busy, keeps me close.” Zara nodded. Power in the room had shifted to her, she was going to run with it. “Fine.”

BangPD relaxed back into his chair, sighing. He hadn’t told her this, of course he hadn’t, but whether or not the boys stayed on with the company depended on whether or not he and Zara came to an agreement. If she’d said she was out, all Seven of them would have walked out of the program.

“Understand, Zara-ssi, that cover stories only work for so long. Eventually fans will figure out the truth, and when they do, a whole lot of hate will be coming your way.”

“Bang Si Hyuk-ssi, I grew up surrounded by Soldiers and Drill Instructors. I can handle a lot.”

“Ah, Zara-ssi, I hope that’s true in the end.”

xXx

At first, the boys didn’t notice her standing at the door to the dorm that the Seven of them had been sharing, all of them sprawled out, resting or asleep, exhausted from training. From where she stood, she could see that it was a cramped space, barely large enough for two people to live comfortably, let alone Seven. She could see the kitchen, dining room and living room area easily from where she stood, and everything about it shouted disorganized chaos. Jin was probably losing his damn mind.

Still though, there were accents of her in the space already, despite having never been in the dorm. A few pairs of her shoes on the shoe rack, some of her blankets on the small couch, her winter jacket on a hook by the door. They even had a coconut scented candle burning, which made her smile.

When she had, had enough of just looking, she waved her second key card of the day through the air.

“They should be more careful who they hand these out to,” she said, and Jungkook’s head jerked up from the back of the couch, “some horny chick from Hawaii could walk in at any moment.”

Jungkook practically tripped over the half asleep Yoongi to get to Zara.

“Noona!” he dropped to his knees when he reached her and pressed his face into her stomach, arms wrapped around her legs.

“Kookie,” her hands found purchase in his hair, only prompting him to tug her closer.

Jimin was next, Jungkook’s body the only thing stopping him from plowing Zara over as he rushed to get his lips on hers.

“Noona,” he murmured, kissing her repeatedly. Then the rest reached them, and suddenly Zara was at the bottom of a dogpile.

“Fuck,” Yoongi’s voice was rough from sleep as he spoke directly into her ear as Namjoon kissed her next. “Fuck, I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too,” Zara grabbed his hair and yanked him into a kiss as well. She felt Hoseok maneuver himself between her thighs.

Taehyung tore Zara’s t-shirt over her head, planting his lips on her collarbone.

For the next several moments, there were hands and lips everywhere as they all recovered from the Separation Syndrome.

Afterwards, Zara cuddled into Jin’s chest, and the rest of her Soulmates found some way to snuggle into her. She was gently scratching her nails over Yoongi’s scalp, almost making him purr.

“As absolutely fucking glorious as this is, we should probably talk shop,” Zara said. She felt Jungkook nod against her right thigh.

“We’re not dropping out of University yet,” he said, attempting to snuggle even closer. “But they wanted us to stick together so they moved us into this dorm. There’s lots of bunk beds in one of the bedrooms, but we left the other bedroom open for you.”

“For me?”

“Mmm,” Taehyung replied against her stomach. “We kind of wanted you to stay with us, if you wanted to. If not all the time, than maybe just every once in a while?”

Zara’s eyes flashed again over the small, cramped space, to her stuff scattered around the dorm. They had wanted her with them so badly while she was gone that they had filled their home with things that reminded them of her, possibly at the risk of not having enough room for themselves.

“What about Ji-yoo?” Zara asked, “Did anyone see if she was okay with you guys stealing her roommate?”

“I did,” Hoseok grinned at her, “she said if you didn’t text her and tell her about all the wild sex we have alone in this dorm than she was going to hunt you down and strangle you.”

Zara’s lips tilted into a smirk.

“That's approval,” she said. “Okay, I’ll move in with you. Now let’s see about making some space in here.”

Zara knew it was the right answer when Yoongi’s arms tightened around her.

@babyboytae1 @snowythellama @bewitch3dforivar @peachy---bangtan

[northamptoncouplestherapy]

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Northampton, MA

John Gardner, MA, LMFT

He/him

“Going back to childhood, one of the things I’ve always thought was important was to be able to listen. If I can listen deeply enough to someone, I can get where they are, where they live, where they’re coming from. That alliance has always been the most important thing to me. If I don’t have that, I don’t have anything.”

John’s manner is understated and self-effacing, but his sharp wit shines forth after a few minutes’ conversation. What may take longer to reveal is the breadth of his knowledge and the depth of his commitment to the people he works with. John is not just talk. In his own quiet, understated way, he puts his money where his mouth is and is a fierce advocate for the power of commitment. Combining over 30 years of experience helping families and couples. In his personal life, John and his wife have raised six children, four adopted, and fostered 50 children. He has personal insight into how to make unorthodox families work and feels a lot of supposed children’s problems are to a large extent couples’ problems.

Services Offered: Couples therapy at NCCT home office and online couples therapy with couples that are residents of MA and international couples. Private intensive marriage retreats at NCCT and in Boston, NYC and LA.

Ask me about: My family

Ever since I was young, I’ve been: Reading, loving the outdoors, hanging out with different types of people.

My favorite quote: “You can be right or you can be married; but you can’t do both.” — John Gottman

Favorite kind of couple: Couples who want to work hard to heal – regardless of the level of distress they are in

Credentials

John is the senior clinician at NCCT, first hired at its founding in 2010. LMFT – University of Connecticut, School of Family Studies Gottman Method Therapy – Level I and II Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy – Certification Eligible Pragmatic Experiential Couples Therapy – trained by Brent Atkinson Additional Training in: Discernment Counseling PACT Level I Therapist

Talk With An Expert.

[lesbiancouplescounseling]

Why Are Lesbian Couples Retreats So Powerful?

Chances are, this question…Why are lesbian couples retreats so powerful?…has never even floated across your mind before.

That’s because private couples retreats are just now coming onto the scene. This intensive type of therapy is a new (and improved) option for rescuing your relationship, fast.

And let me tell you, it’s a brilliant option for many, many couples like you.

Especially if one of you is thinking about ending your relationship, but you both know deep down that you haven’t tried everything (yet) to save it.

Don’t make the mistake of throwing in the towel before you exhaust all avenues to get back on track. Otherwise, you’ll be plagued with that heavy, dreary feeling of regret…forever.

You know the one I’m talking about!

WHAT IS AN INTENSIVE LESBIAN COUPLES RETREAT, ANYWAY?

Here’s the formula:

One lesbian couple + one lesbian therapist + one or two full days of therapy lesbian couples retreat. That simple.

WHAT OUR LESBIAN COUPLES RETREATS ARE NOT…

So, at the Lesbian Couples Institute, our couples retreats are not the kind of retreat where you have to pull out your dirty laundry in front of a bunch of other couples that are also hurting and broken. No public exhibitionism required.

Nor are they spa-like get-aways designed for rest and relaxation. (You can book a yoga retreat in Costa Rica for that!)

And, they’re definitely not about trapping yourself into a therapy room with a straight therapist that doesn’t really get what it’s like to be a queer woman. Where you’ll feel mortified to open-up about the private details of your sex-life.

Nope, the lesbian couples retreats that we offer are individualized, unique, immersive experiences designed to comfortably equip you and your partner with the road map, supplies, and skills you’ll need to create a lasting, secure, and fun journey of love together. All under the guidance of another queer woman.

How does that sound to you?

WHY ARE OUR LESBIAN COUPLES RETREATS SO POWERFUL?

I’m glad you asked. Because I’m cheesed to share the 5 R’s of these relationship intensives. Don’t worry, the 5 R’s don’t have anything to do with reading, writing or arithmetic!

These couples retreats are so extremely powerful because they include these five relationship healing elements:

1. Retreat

Ok, just so you know, I get that it sounds a bit (or hugely) redundant to use the word retreat to describe a retreat. But in this case I’m using retreat as a verb. An action word. Whereas a lesbian couples retreat is a thing. A noun.

Onward…

I simply cannot over-emphasize the value of taking the time out of your very busy life and routine (dare I say rat-race) to pause and focus on your relationship for two days.

Creating a relaxed and ample context where you’re not bombarded with typical distractions and interruptions (think: job, phone, pets, appointments, family members, social-media, TV, cooking, dishes, deadlines) is a gift of pure luxury.

Priceless!

Having a safe space and abundance of time will put you in a position to make much better use of specialized couples counseling. Without all of the normal obligations barging their way into your limited brain-space.

Retreating from your every-day life will give you the margins and inner resources needed to learn and integrate new skills and create emotional muscle memory that will last.

Let me be honest, it’s much harder and longer (as in months and months of counseling) to pull that off by going to a 50-minute therapy session once every couple of weeks.

In fact, it’s often impossible to fix what’s broken and create a relationship that thrives in traditional, hourly couples counseling.

2. Reboot

Have you ever had a computer virus worm it’s way into your prized operating system?

Where your only choices were to chuck the machine and loose all your files, memories, and data. Or to initiate a complete system Reboot. All the while keeping your fingers crossed that your precious history would be saved.

Well, my friend, a lesbian couples retreat will provide you with a reboot to your relationship operating system.

Getting rid of faulty patterns of communication and learning how to finally have even the most difficult conversations (in a way that you both feel understood) will be one of the most significant parts of this reboot.

You will both walk away from the retreat with clarity about the root of your problems and how to solve them. You’ll develop a deeper understanding of how you’re each wired to react under stress. And you’ll discover effective ways to protect one another from now on.

Think of a lesbian couples therapy retreat as the quickest and most effective way to reboot your partnership and to onboard the very best Anti-viral software for a secure future.

3. Repair

Ever feel like you’re walking across a rug where there are lots of buried piles of unresolved resentments and hurts that you’ve both swept under there? Or like you’re constantly walking on eggshells around each other?

That’s probably because you two never fully repaired and resolved painful situations from your past.

And you don’t trust that you can speak up without causing conflict.

During the couples retreat, you’ll first learn why it’s so important to embrace steady vulnerability and speak your truth, as well as to lean into radical curiosity when you’re listening to your partner.

Then you’ll discover the power of repair.

You’ll have opportunities during the lesbian couples retreat to repair past hurts and to learn how to deliver and receive soothing repairs moving forward.

Quick repair is an essential element to building a secure and happy relationship for the long haul. Without repair, your relationship becomes tattered and uncomfortable. Like a sock with a big, nasty hole in it.

4. Reconnect

Tired of feeling disconnected from your partner?

If you’ve been living in the lonely desert of disconnection, you’ll be happy to know that our lesbian couples retreat will definitely help you and your partner reconnect.

I’m talking a deep reconnection of your hearts. As well as a rekindled physical connection, if that’s what you both desire.

But don’t worry, this won’t be a fleeting reconnection, destined to dwindle a few days after returning home.

In fact, a major purpose of the lesbian couples retreat is to equip you with a set of easy steps that will help you maintain a meaningful and satisfying connection over the months and years to come.

5. Recommit

By the end of your time in one of our retreats, you’ll be prepared to make a solid recommitment to one another.

No more waffling on whether you’re going to go or stay.

And no more worries about whether or not your partner is on her way out the door.

Along with a renewed commitment, you’ll have a clear plan for moving forward in a way that will continue to support the repair, growth, and intimate connection in your relationship for good.

With this newfound recommitment, you’ll be able to work effectively as a team. And become what I call a Power Couple.

If you’re ready to move from being a mess of a couple to becoming a power couple, you should seriously consider scheduling a lesbian couples retreat in Denver.

We’d love to help rescue your relationship and then set it on a course to thrive.

Let us know if you’d like more information about scheduling a couples retreat. It could save your relationship.

[infpisme]

10 Things You Should Know About Being In A Relationship With An INFP

Love is the life-blood of those who identify as the INFP personality type. As “lovers of love,” finding a compatible partner willing to investigate our complex nature can be hard. Thankfully, we found you.

In a relationship, our No. 1 desire is to be understood and accepted for who we authentically are. While INFPs are keenly self-aware, we can struggle to explain our perplexing ways to others. If you haven’t already noticed, we can be paradoxical, possessing many traits that contradict each other.

Getting to know an INFP can be an expedition full of surprising twists and turns. Here’s what you need to know about your compatibility with an INFP — and how to decode us in a relationship.

Who Is the Perfect Partner for an INFP?

Rest assured, any type is compatible with the INFP in a relationship — or with any other type. It is true, however, that INFPs tend to most commonly date certain types, which include the INTJ and ENFJ (ENFJs are often described as the “perfect match” for INFPs, although this is highly subjective).

Truth is, there are advantages (and drawbacks) to every match. INFPs who partner with a similar personality — like the ENFP, our extroverted twin — will have almost endless traits in common, but the two will share glaring weak spots with no one to balance them out. On the other hand, an INFP who choses to date or marry an ISFJ will have to overcome some major differences, but the ISFJ can help hold them accountable and keep them organized. (On the flip side, the INFP will help the ISFJ think big, dream big, and express the emotions they may normally bottle up.) There are some very strong couples who are complete opposites.

As with any relationship, maturity and communication are key. And nothing helps more than knowing what to expect from your INFP partner and understanding what they need in love and relationships.

10 Things You Need to Know if You’re in a Relationship with an INFP

So, here are 10 things you should know about us:

1. We reveal ourselves slowly.

In the beginning of a relationship with an INFP, you may notice their hesitance to reveal certain parts of themselves. Extremely private by nature, we reveal ourselves in layers, and the stuff that matters most to us will take time to unveil. We take emotional (and physical) intimacy very seriously, as we want to be sure that you are fully capable of accepting us.

Tip: Despite our reserved nature, one of our romantic ideals is to share our innermost self with you. But we may need help doing that, so ask (gentle) questions to draw us out. Conversely, pressuring us to open up may result in more resistance — we’re stubborn that way.

2. We’re genuine romantics.

Think: a Shakespearean sonnet as opposed to a Hallmark greeting card. Sure, we’ll enjoy those fresh flowers or dinner by candlelight, but more personalized gestures will make us really feel special.

Tip: A foolproof way to accomplish this is through handmade gifts. Whether masterful or loaded with imperfections, your gift is thoughtful because you put in the effort. Finding creative ways to say, “I love you” that are uniquely suited to your INFP demonstrate that you understand us — which is the greatest gift of all.

Bonus tip: After spending many years counseling couples, Dr. Gary Chapman concluded that there are five love languages, or in other words, five ways that people speak and understand emotional love. The five love languages are: words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. I’ve noticed that INFPs tend to appreciate quality time the most. Try deliberately fitting us into your schedule for some one-on-one time so we can feel connected to you.

3. We’re hopelessly devoted to you.

Thanks to our ever-present idealism, when we fall, we fall hard… to the point where we might overlook our own needs and desires. We love to please others, especially you, the one we adore.

Harmony is important to us, and we value working together so we both win. Unfortunately, as the song lyrics suggest, being “hopelessly devoted” can result in staying in relationships that don’t serve us well. Due to our devotion, we’re sometimes taken advantage of — and we may end up damaging important parts of ourselves to serve our partner’s needs.

Tip: If your INFP has dealt with codependency in the past, remind them that it’s all about balance. Take care of them the best you can, but make sure they consider their own needs, too.

4. Take our emotions taken seriously.

INFPs think with their emotions. Using our dominant Introverted Feeling (Fi), we navigate the world via our personal feelings, tastes, and values. As a result, we feel things deeply and intensely — even when we don’t obviously display it.

Tip: If you aspire to understand an INFP, you must understand that emotions are how we perceive the world. And, you must aspire to respect this. We are accustomed to judgment and criticism when we share how we feel. Dismiss our emotions or values and you might as well be rejecting our entire self. Please choose to listen. And of course, kindly assist us when we aren’t being objective and it’s clearly called for.

5. We’re open-minded (most of the time).

Due to our auxiliary Extroverted Intuition (Ne), we have a penchant for exploring ideas, possibilities, and patterns. This is what makes us unconventional, easy-going, and (almost) always willing to try something new.

Nevertheless, these traits can come with the price of indecision. Don’t expect us to know where we want our life to be in five years — or where we want to go for dinner. We’re much better at laying out options and deciding together when the time is right.

It’s tempting to bask in the convenience of our open-mindedness, kicking around even the craziest ideas… until you hit up against one of our core values. We’re compromising — to a point — but when it comes to our ideals, we don’t give an inch.

Tip: Highly individualistic, each INFP will have values worth defending and standing by, no matter what. These may appear unexpectedly, and seem to come out of nowhere, so be ready for them. You don’t have to agree with what we believe (or feel), but if you show respect for it — and don’t push us to change on these key points — you will be even dearer to our hearts.

6. We can be cryptic.

Being direct can feel impossible for us, as Extroverted Thinking (Te) — our logical, no-nonsense straight-talking function — is our last and least developed cognitive function. That means we can be reluctant to divulge specific emotions straightaway, which can make our roundabout manner of communicating hard to decipher.

In moments of affection, this may mean we prefer to tell you how much we care about you through a heart-felt letter rather than a face-to-face conversation. In moments of frustration, we may unfortunately resort to passive-aggression, along with some uncharacteristic lashing out.

Tip: If we lash out, approach the situation directly, so it can be resolved. Try not to take this personally (we know, it’s hard). INFPs who feel “heard” will also feel loved, and INFPs who get a clear, direct message about your feelings will appreciate you even more.

7. We need a lot of time and space for processing — alone.

This need manifests a number of ways. As introverts, we need time by ourselves to regain lost energy. Our creative process also requires isolation so we can form new thoughts and ideas. Without sufficient alone time, we may become overwhelmed, irritable, and unable to focus.

Tip: Please note that alone time is the most critical when an INFP is processing their emotions. We often know how we feel instantaneously, but we need time to sort through our labyrinth of emotions before sharing them with others. Be mindful that we may be unable to properly share how we feel unless we’ve had time to think things over on our own.

8. We may need your help when we’re stressed.

Everyone has to deal with stress from time to time, but it can be particularly daunting for INFPs.

We can quickly become distraught when our perfectionism kicks in. Tedious day-to-day activities can add up and contribute to the madness. As I mentioned earlier, we have trouble being direct — and this applies to asking for help. Step in and help us when we need it, even if unasked, and we’ll love you for it.

Tip: Crossing things off our to-do list for us will win you major points, especially the little things. Sometimes we’ll need to vent while you dry our tears of exasperation. Thank you in advance for this; you don’t know how much it means to us.

9. We want you to be honest, despite how sensitive we can be.

Being completely honest with us can seem dangerous. We don’t take criticism well and can often respond emotionally when confronted with an issue. However, we truly believe that it doesn’t help anyone to withhold concerns, and we will become hurt if we realize that you can’t share your heart and mind with us completely.

Tip: INFPs can be receptive to negative statements if they are explained in a loving and affectionate manner. Try to phrase things in a way that won’t be perceived as an attack. We recognize compassionate intentions. Approaching potential conflict this way shows you’re trying to help us, and ultimately, help our relationship.

10. Be our rock.

The world can be a harsh place for the sensitive and emotional INFP. We regularly feel misunderstood. We worry that our attributes are not highly valued by those around us. We can struggle with crippling self-doubt. As a result, our imagination often serves as our place to retreat and feel free.

Tip (and the way to our heart): When we come back to reality, we want to rely on you, our romantic partner, first and foremost, for support and care. Be our refuge when we’re caught up in the unfairness of the world. Be our champion and point out when we’re not properly sticking up for ourselves. Be our source of comfort and assurance when we’re in need of empathy and a warm hug.

by Aute Porter, IntrovertDear