Challenge

It's simple to talk to an old flame when you don't have to look at him. So, an email relationship post-divorce is ideal. But when there are children involved in your relationship, keeping things civil between the two of you is even more paramount. Keeping the emails free of judgement, blame and arrogance is key to keeping a rift in your adult relationship from causing a rift in the one with your kids.

Passion is at least 50 percent of a relationship, but as time passes, unfortunately, passion is the first thing that diminishes. Quite often, couples become friends, which is great, but where is the passion? It's gone! And the reason it's gone is because you don't continue to do the things you did when you were first dating. You take each other for granted. Passion is essential in our lives. Not only in sex, but in everything we do. When it diminishes we feel uninspired, bored, unmotivated and flat. Nothing hurts our sex lives more than the lack of passion. To help, I'm going to share with you a few exercises designed to ignite passion and get you connected with your inspiration for love. Both you and your partner are going to have the most fun you've ever had doing homework, which is why I call it Love-Work. Step One: Forgiveness

Don't bother with the many fine how-to books on having a more fulfilling orgasm. The quick, easy and zero-cost answer to a more satisfying and intense orgasm is… drum roll please… daily Kegels. They are the best two minutes a day you could ever spend on the road to better sex. Before there is any eye rolling, please hear me out. When I speak to people about doing Kegels, many women nod their heads sagely and explain they have already done them. Problem is they only ever tried it once and it was a while back. And don't even get me started on how the men's Kegel movement still hasn't even caught on—I'm zealously working on getting them on board.

Sex after 60 is not a myth, and the same can be said for sex after 70. A healthy sex life can and does exist for many people well into—believe it or not—their 80's! If you're someone who's suddenly 60 (or not yet there but wondering how sex will fare at that age) and worried that your fun lovin' days are over, here are some smart ways to keep a relatively active sex life well into your older years.

"What do you want?" When your partner asks you that question do you know what to say? Do you tell your partner as soon as a desire rises up? Or do you brush it aside because you think it's inappropriate or because you don't want to seem selfish? Each time we brush aside our desires, we create a story about why we can't have it. This habit creates resentment and disconnection from those around us, which blocks us from having the intimacy we want with our partner. Many individuals and couples that I work with have a hard time articulating what they want because their desire is stuck in their body. When I first ask them that question, I usually get a blank stare and a "huh?" Women have learned to lock their desire away because they feel it's dangerous and/or inappropriate. Men have learned to hide their desire because when they are forward with it, it can overwhelm women and they risk getting slapped for it.

We have all been there. That semi-attractive friend of a friend you've had a mild crush on looks even better five drinks in. You are laughing, flirting and cannot believe how much you have in common. What?! He likes Taio too? This is clearly destiny! Flash forward to the next morning. After realizing that he is not Prince Charming, just that semi-attractive friend of a friend, you slip out and realize you have to somehow get back to your place and here enters… the notorious walk of shame.

Newsflash: It's perfectly normal for passion to decline in long-term relationships. If the flush of excitement you felt when you were first together starts to fade, you might begin to fret that something is wrong with your relationship and feel frustrated by your humdrum life together. Don't worry, you're not alone! For most couples, the hot desire, desperate longing, and ever-present passion they felt at the beginning of their courtship—and even well into the first months and years of their relationship—usually decrease in intensity over time.

Touching is one of the most intimate of all actions. It allows you to move into sacred space, creating presence and connection. Although most women love to hear the words, "I love you," touching catapults relationships into intimacy. Words are processed in the thinking part of our brains, whereas touch goes directly to our emotional centers. Regular touching of your lover as well as your own beautiful body gets the endorphins flowing, which create a sense of caring and pleasure, plus help to calm the stresses of the day.

We have all read the headline "Women Would Rather Sleep than Have Sex." For many women, this statement proves truer than they would like. It's not that women do not enjoy having sex, or that they get more excitement from these other things. The problem is that there are distractions getting in the way of having a satisfying and fulfilling sex life. It's true that the secret to sexual satisfaction lies in that region between the left ear and the right ear (the brain).

When it comes to thinking and talking about sex, not much has changed over the years. Many of us still think of sex as full-on intercourse. Unfortunately, this way of thinking supports the notion that sex is all about performance when, in reality, there's so much more to sex. An area in which this misguided notion is especially prevalent is in the advertisements for erectile dysfunction drugs—the message in these advertisements is clearly about being ready for sex, rather than about improving your relationship. And that's where their messages fall flat, and where—in some cases—they even become harmful. We need to question the use and meaning of the phrase "erectile dysfunction." In many cases, what one is experiencing is not even true dysfunction. If the penis is functioning properly, even in a flaccid state, and there are no other organic issues present, then it's pretty safe to conclude that there's something else going on.