Friends and family can gather to renew their relationships.
It is always a challenge to keep affection and caring as fresh as it should be. Playing games with a partner, family or friends helps to refresh the reasons and the meaning for relationships that wane over time. Children learn best from their own parents show caring and love. Friendships and intimate partnerships can be renewed and deepened by intentional games leading to affectionate expressions becoming frequent and reinforcing.
Touch Tag
Sometimes a caring gesture says more than volumes of words.
Play a game of touch tag with one person or a group. Walk up to the person. Touch her on the shoulder, the forearm or the back of the hand. Whisper in her ear, "Tag you're it, because I care." With an intimate partner or a child, whisper, "Tag you're it, because I love you."
In turn the partner touches someone else in a group setting, or returns the touch to the originator. The game can be discussed as each person specifies what that touch did for her at the time.
Sticky Love Notes
Use sticky notes to express affection.
Take a pad of sticky notes, a different color for each person or for each emotion: happiness, love, joy, and excitement. Write a brief love note and place it where a loved one will find it.
Discovering a bright pink sticky note in a briefcase that says, "I miss your smile when you are away" can bring a smile to a business person at the office or on the road. Finding a green sticky on the mirror in the morning, saying, "You are loved and I hope you find joy in an unexpected place" can lift the spirits of the recipient and start the day off on the right track.
Non-occasion Party
Surprising someone who is a little down can turn their day and their life around.
Find that person in your circle of friends who is having a difficult time. Plan a party for him, where everyone brings something that he needs or that might make him laugh. Invite him over and don't tell him what is happening. When he arrives, everyone shouts, "We're here for you!" or hold up sign that says, "We are your friends and we care for you. Happy non-occasion." Then let every one share the opening of the presents. Be sure to have plenty of fun food and drinks to keep everything light and positive.
Couples Only
Nothing says I love you like a special time together when it is unexpected.
Set up a special and unannounced night out alone. Get a babysitter or pet sitter, if necessary. Plan for dinner at that special restaurant. Go to a movie, a concert or a show that she would not go to on her own. Then go home and relax in each other's arms, doing what comes naturally. Be sure to say, "I love you." often and with sincerity.
Tags: each person, sticky notes, that says
