Remington O.

Before hosting, figure out your reason for gathering. Ask yourself how you actually want to spend your time, with whom, in what way.

We often make the mistake of conflating the category (e.g. birthday party) with the purpose (e.g. to surround yourself with the people who bring out the best in you).

A purpose doesn't have to be serious, but simply adding an intention can begin to shape the group's experience of the night.

Many of us have a private language that is only known in our home life. Perhaps you have a nickname from a parent or share an old joke or a shared reference to a song.

Also known as familects, these invented words, pet names, in-jokes, and personal memes emerge from spending time together in close quarters. Listening to recordings of other families can feel like being immersed in a different world.

Much like our gut microbiome - the diverse ecosystem of bacteria and other microbes in our gastrointestinal system that keeps us healthy when balance - so our social biome is the unique ecosystem of relationships and interactions that keep us emotionally, psychologically and physically healthy.

The term contains the pattern of social interactions throughout your life, the who, what you talk about, and how you communicate.

Some of the reasons why we are not that good at friendships is the fact that we don't have a clear idea of what a really good friend might be like.

Maybe we should try to come up with a list of traits for an ideal friend, so as to focus our desires to acquire the sort of character we would want to find in others.

One thing we see in every movie we have ever watched is that the main character, the hero or the heroine, doesn’t give up. No matter what kind of trouble or hardships arise, they never run away leaving people behind. They have the maturity, resilience and loyalty to not to lose faith in the people they love.

That being said, giving up on one or two people may be a necessity in the course of our lives. Instead of providing certain people with the benefit of the doubt every day, or forgiving them one more time, we might need to let go of someone as a price to pay for keeping faith in ourselves.

You can’t set good boundaries if you’re unsure of where your limits are.

Identify what you can permit and accept and what makes you feel uncomfortable or stressed.

People have been telling stories about why things matter to them for centuries. 

These objects may be created from cotton, wood, or clay, but our feelings about them turn them into valuable assets. We cost them well above their price in the marketplace.

To be narcissistic is to be selfish, manipulative, and ego-driven. But this trait has varying degrees of intensity, from reasonable selfishness to a villainous and psychopathic personality disorder.

Narcissists need not always be the flashy and over-confident people who are not letting others speak. Many narcissists are insecure, self-focused, and are not in the limelight.

Prayers, toasts, recitals, or singing Christmas carols are basically structured, and repetitive actions that lower anxiety and make the world a bit simpler.

Festive meals are always the main attraction, with special attention to home-cooked treats. Many cultures have elaborate rituals related to how food is cooked, served or eaten. From cooking seven different kinds of curry to spit-roasting a lamb on Easter, many cooking rituals are time-honoured and make the festival special.

Whenever something doesn't go as we planned it, we often look for something or someone to put the blame. It's our primal instinct and it's a habit that can make us difficult to deal with.

There are many reasons as to why we "play" the blame game. It could either be because it's easier to blame someone else than to accept responsibility or because it's an excellent defense mechanism.