Relationships Category
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
An author, researcher, and humanitarian, not only have I come across the benefits of friendship in my work, but I’ve experienced them personally. It’s important to be aware of other research which suggests that one should be careful to select positive friends, as the stress that comes from bad friends can negate the health benefits of having their friendship.
Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at Brigham Young University, has found that dealing with people who arouse conflicted feelings in us can raise blood pressure more than dealing with people we don’t like. Participants were hooked up to portable blood pressure monitors, and Holt-Lunstad and her colleagues found that blood pressure was highest when people were interacting with someone they had mixed feelings for. What especially surprised Holt-Lunstad was that these interactions caused higher blood pressure than those with people the research subjects felt completely negative about. She explains, “We suspect that people we feel positive toward can hurt us that much more when they make a snide comment or don’t come through for us because they are important to us. Friends may help us cope with stress, but they also may create stress.”
Having lots of friends can boost your immune system, help you survive longer after a heart attack, fight serious illnesses such as cancer, and increase your life span. With such positive advantages, you should make sure to increase your number of friends, but also keep in mind the importance of avoiding stressful, low-quality friendship and seeking out positive companionship.
Tina Turbin
Tags: Advice, Friendship, girlfriends, Health, tina turbin, Tina Turbin researcher, Women's Health
Posted in Advice, Author, Friendship, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Natural Alternatives, Networking, Relationships, Women's Health, Women's Issues | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Statistics are showing that Americans have fewer friends than they used to, according to a recent study, “Social Isolation in America,” which was published in the American Sociological Review. The authors found that the number of Americans who feel they have someone with whom they can discuss important matters dropped by nearly one-third from 1985 to 2004, and the number of people who said they had no one they could discuss such matters with tripled to nearly 25 percent of Americans. The authors suggest the cause for this decrease in intimate friendships may be longer work hours and the increased popularity of the Internet and television.
The same study also determined that the number of people who discuss important subjects with family members only increased from 57 percent to 80 percent, and those who depend solely on their spouse for such intimate discussions increased from 5 percent to 9 percent.
So what does this mean for you? It may be harder than ever to fight loneliness in society and to form intimate connections with others, but the health benefits are worth the effort to forge friendships with a large number of people.
Start visiting with friends on a regular basis and befriend their own friends, family, and acquaintances to instantly increase the number of friends you have. There are countless ways to meet people in your community as well. You can get involved in volunteer work, take local classes in subjects and hobbies you’re interested in, or start a book club at your neighborhood bookstore or café. You can also take advantage of online social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, but with the view of using these to set up real-life meetings with the friends you make online, taking the safety precautions of meeting new people in groups of people you already know and in public places, of course.
Tina Turbin
Tags: Advice, Baby Boomers, connecting to others, connections, friends, Friendship, girlfriends, Health, Relationships, research, tina turbin, Tina Turbin researcher, women's issues
Posted in Advice, Baby Boomers, Goals, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Networking, Relationships, Women's Health, Women's Issues | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Here is the moment you’ve been waiting for—your last child has moved out of the house and is now “on his own.” You can finally enjoy some “peace and quiet,” you tell yourself, some “me” time for yourself and “we” time with your spouse. Life after Mom-hood has begun!
Well, if you’re anything like me, the mother of three grown children, or like many other women out there who have raised their children and watched them leave home to start lives and families of their own, you may find that life after raising children has some definite challenges.
First of all, there is the matter of you. Who are you, after all? Many moms tend to identify themselves as moms, of course. Twenty-four hours a day, that’s what you’ve been doing for the past couple of decades. As a supporter of women and mothers, I know how important it is to take on this identity as a mother and I applaud any woman who does this. However, it is also important to have your own identity apart from motherhood.
This ties into the second challenge. Now what? Studies show how important it is to have goals and show a direct link between writing your goals down and achieving success. This one is up to you. What would you like to do now? Come up with one or more goals, and you will have something to serve as a foundation for your hard work and dedication in this new life after mom-hood. You know you are strong and capable—you successfully raised a child, after all!
Life after mom-hood is something you’ve been looking forward to for some time now, after all. You deserve to make it as rewarding as it was raising your children!
Tina Turbin
Tags: Advice, Baby Boomers, Goals, life after mom-hood, moms, Motherhood, Relationships, tina turbin author, tina turbin humanitarian, Tina Turbin researcher, Tina Turbin writer, tips, women's issues
Posted in Advice, Author, Baby Boomers, Being a Mom, Goals, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Organize, Parents, Relationships, Women's Issues | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
I have found setting goals to be an especially useful tool since my children left the house, leaving me with a lot more time to reconnect with and realize my dreams of being a children’s author and helping others. Whether your children are grown, your children are still young, or you don’t have any children at all, it is vital to establish your goals.
So, where do you want to go in life? Get a precise “big picture” of what you want to do in all of the fields of your life. These “big picture” goals should embrace various areas, such as artistic, education, career, spiritual, family, financial, physical, community service, and friendship goals. If you’re anything like me or the average woman, you probably have many different facets of life that are important to you—your marriage, your children, your career, and wellness or faith, for example. Make sure to write your grand vision down and all of the more detailed goals your vision encompasses.
By setting sharp, clearly-defined goals, you can measure your progress and celebrate the achievement of your goals, raising your self-confidence and your ability to achieve further goals. Your smaller goals should include dates and amounts where applicable so you can measure your achievement. Keep them realistic and attainable so you can reap the rewards of having attained what you want. Determine which goals have priority so you don’t feel overwhelmed by everything you’ve set out to do. Lastly, don’t let anyone but yourself determine what your goals are, and the sky is the limit in what you can dream.
Tina Turbin
Tags: Advice, goal setting, Goals, personal goals, tina turbin author, Tina Turbin researcher, tips
Posted in Advice, Author, Baby Boomers, Being a Mom, Goals, Health, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Organize, Parents, Relationships, Women's Issues | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Now that the kids are older, or even out of the house, you’ll probably find that you’re more able to focus more attention on your marriage. Divorce statistics for the over-50’s age group continues to rise steadily. Happily married for thirty years now, I’m often asked for tips on how to strengthen marriage. Open communication is the number one element of a successful marriage, I tell them.
Make sure to listen to your partner, and let him know that he has been heard. Set the example of the communication you like to give and receive from others. Chances are you don’t like to be interrupted, and you like to know that when you’re talking to someone, he is listening to you. It is likely your partner feels the same way, so set the example yourself. Be honest and encourage honesty in your partner. You can’t truly face the problems of life unless you’re working together. Communication is how you’ll solve problems, work out differences, get on the same page, and express admiration and gratitude to each other.
Open communication also means not letting others interfere with your relationship. In-laws and friends will often have a lot to say about your marriage, but you’ll find that you can often do much better without their advice or comments. If you’re unhappy about something your spouse does, sit down and talk it over in a positive way, geared toward a resolution. Sometimes friends and family can exacerbate already-existing non-optimum conditions in your marriage by adding their own “two cents,” and the next time you confront your spouse about the subject, you may find yourself spewing out to him angrily, word for word, what your mother has to say, for example. You may like it when your girlfriends agree with you that your spouse’s overspending has to stop, but the best person to discuss this with is your spouse.
Tina Turbin
Tags: Advice, marriage, Relationships, tina turbin, tina turbin author, Tina Turbin researcher, tips
Posted in Advice, Author, Baby Boomers, Being a Mom, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Relationships | No Comments »
Friday, November 20th, 2009
I am thrilled to have been chosen as the Tampa Bay Parenting “Extraordinary Woman” of the month.
You can get your copy of Tampa Bay Parenting magazine at a variety of locations all throughout the Tampa Bay area (including Publix grocery stores) or you may view it online by clicking here – flip to pages 26/27 to read the full article!
Tina Turbin
Tags: extraordinary woman, extraordinary woman of the month, humanitarian, tampa bay parenting, tampa bay parenting magazine, tina turbin, tina turbin author
Posted in Being a Mom, Children, Goals, High Quality of Life, Managing Life, Motherhood, Press and Media, Relationships, Women's Issues | No Comments »
Saturday, October 31st, 2009
As one of the featured columnists for the Best Boomer Towns website, I have the opportunity to write about issues that are of importance, not only to Baby Boomers, but the population at large.
Click here to read my latest column devoted to “keeping the spark in your marriage”. Here I will share with you some of my personal, successful tips for maintaining a happy marriage. Thanks for reading!
Tags: Advice, boomers, families, marriage, Parents, successful marriage, tina turbin, women's issues
Posted in Baby Boomers, Managing Life, Relationships, Women's Issues | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 16th, 2009
Please visit me every 2nd Monday of the month at 12 noon, EST. The wonderful host is Jordan Merecedes of Thrive-In-Balance, a terrific and entertaining show. You are welcome to call in and ask questions. Every month we are covering an interesting topic and will be having some wonderful surprise guests!
The next show is November 9th, so mark your schedule and connect up. The topic of conversation is Gluten-Free and Celiac Disease! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Thrive-In-Balance Please send me any suggestions of topics and I will be sure and share them with Merecedes for her consideraton.
Listen to the previous show in which she interviewed me on a variety of topics and suggested tips to balancing life.
Click here to listen to the previous show.
November 9th, EST 12 noon: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Thrive-In-Balance
Tags: Author, celiac, Family, gluten, Gluten-Free, Goals, humanitarian, interview, National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, quality of life, radio, radio show, tina turbin, tina turbin artist, tina turbin author, women, women's issues, writer
Posted in Baby Boomers, Goals, Health, Managing Life, Motherhood, Radio Shows, Relationships, Women's Issues | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
I will be interviewed in a casual setting on Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul radio show about what it is to be a children’s author and the influence that children’s literature has on our children for their current life as well as their future. We will also discuss the importance of a parent’s time with a child in reading, spending quality time with our children and more. Lynn and I had a lovely conversation this past week to prepare for her show and I know you will all be very pleased with what is ahead. Please tune in on August 5th 1PM eastern time at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn. You can listen to the show at any time on “demand” (after the broadcast).
Tags: bedtime, children's literature, demand, Garden of the Soul, interview, Lynn Serafinn, Motherhood, radio, reading, role of mom, show, story time
Posted in Artists, Baby Boomers, Being a Mom, Children, Goals, Health, Home Schooling, Managing Life, Motherhood, Organize, Parents, Press and Media, Relationships, Women's Issues | No Comments »
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
Children are easily influenced by their peers as well as the adults around them. It is up the parents in these years to make some very important decision and to set certain examples, which are well, noticed by those little eyes and ears, soon to be teens or even young adults themselves.
There is no doubt that the parents have an incredible impact on the future of our society via raising their own children. We all run our household, make the rules and set the pace in our own ways. In some families it is the father or man of the house which is the guiding factor. In some families the father is working too much to make these choices hence the mom wears many roles.
In our current society we have many working moms and this may introduce another adult to help raise the children if both parents must be gone many hours. In many families it is the mom who oversees many of the household functions, school troubles, sibling rivalry etc.
In any case the family unit is a very important pivotal point in our society and sincere care and concern should be given to the raising of our children and issues involving children. The issues are truly overwhelming : education, health, nutrition, arts, human relationships, home economics, their goals, sports etc.
More on this to come soon and I welcome your input!
Tina Turbin
Tags: child, Children, Family, father. mother, household
Posted in Children, Parents, Relationships, Women's Issues | No Comments »
