Playing catch-up after busy season with a lesson from recent workshops & retreats in Dubai: Prioritize FUN even when life gets serious. Of course we need communication, vulnerability, trust and care, but FUN can also pave the way for deeper connection.
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These couples & singles showed up curious, excited and ready to grow. They embraced play, laughter, adventure and real vulnerability.
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And it reminded me how easily we can (understandbly) lose our spark amid the world’s general gloom. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
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So…Joke around. Laugh at yourself. Chat nonsense. Make room for play in relationships of all kinds. The world is heavy and a little joy, levity and love can be a part of offsetting that weight.

🚢 That’s a wrap on the Desire Couples’ Cruise Trieste-Montenegro-Dubrovnik-Sicily-Malta. Here are a few SFW pics & a handful of relationship lessons I picked up from the 600 couples on board:

“Have a short memory for irritation and a long memory for the good stuff.” Several couples talked about not turning every annoying behaviour into evidence of who their partner is. They talk about the big stuff, let the little annoyances go make a point of remembering all the ways their partner gets it right.

“Always be willing to be beginners together.” One couple shared that they keep signing up for new activities together: improv, pottery, figure drawing, swimming (they both learned in their 50s), DJing, photography, rock climbing. They didn’t love them all, but they say that “sucking at things together (especially improv) is a part of the fun”.

“Make your friendships a priority.” One couple talked about how important it is for them to have their own friends. Even though they work together and travel as a couple, they also spend time apart and have some friends that have never met their partner. “Every relationship matters. Not just this one, so I make time for my friends just like I make time for him.”

“Don’t try to keep your relationship the same.” Several couples talked about how much their relationships have changed over the years. What worked in their 20s didn’t always work in their 30s or 40s. Instead of trying to get back to how things used to be, they’ve learned to figure out what works for who they are now.