Family & Friends

Coming out to your friends and/or family is a big decision as it means you have accepted your orientation and are now ready to share this with those closest to you. Keeping in mind that this must be a sensitive decision, here are some points that might help you plan for the discussion.

Extreme feelings of loneliness can be debilitating. However, there are many steps which one can take to overcome these feelings.

In recent times, homosexuality has become more open and been gaining more acceptance. However hearing that a family member is gay, can still be a difficult experience, for both the family and the one opening up.

We live at such a frenzied pace that sometimes we have time only for our work and barely manage to squeeze our family into our daily schedule. Here are a few suggestions to enhance your relationship with your siblings.

Life comes a full circle and before we know it we find the roles reversed! We become caretakers of our parents and, at least in India, most of us give a lot of thought to this responsibility. While earlier with joint families and single income households, caring for the elders was not a big issue, now with the dynamics of families rapidly changing, there are a few challenges.

It was found that while conflict by itself may not be destructive to a relationship, certain communication patterns repeated and intensified over time could spell the deathblow to the relationship. Find out if you are the victim of any pattern and improve it now.

To be able to say no when you want to, you first have to recognise that you also have personal needs that have to be met. It's also necessary to remember that you can't always please everyone. Try the following steps to learn when and how to say No comfortably.

Some of us have been told that we need to be more assertive, yet we wonder if that is really something that we want for ourselves. There is a tendency to confuse assertiveness with aggressiveness - a quality that is not desirable in healthy relationships. This article should help clarify the difference between assertive, aggressive and passive behaviour.

Celebrations ARE important. Our everyday lives are often a matter of routine and monotony, and celebrations give us a break from the everyday grind. The anticipation of change can brighten up our lives and give us something to look forward to. Here are some suggestions to enrich your celebrations...

A lot of us end up with friends who make use of us for their benefit and we may not realize it for quite a while. The manipulating friend does what she/he does because she/he has this internal need to be in control of everything. They feel that they need to be on top by hook or crook and sometimes the only way to achieve that might be by tricking you into it. This article gives you some more information on such a friend and on how to deal with him or her...