How to keep your ex-boyfriend’s artwork on your wall.

I have a charcoal drawing on my bedroom wall of a couple dancing cheek to cheek. You can’t see the woman’s face, but you can see the man’s. His eyes are closed behind the lens of his glasses, by the expression on his face and the way he holds her close, you can tell he’s in love.

Although I can’t see her face, I’ve always known she’s in love with him too.

That piece of art is special to me for many reasons. The first, because it’s technically well-executed and simply beautiful.

The second, because it was a gift from an ex-boyfriend. …

Or should you actively pursue a relationship?

“You’ll meet someone when you least expect it.”

“The more you look for someone, the harder they are to find.”

“Love will show up when you’re most distracted.”

“I wasn’t looking for anybody, and then I met — ”

I’m sure you’ve heard some variation of those sentences at some point in your life. You might have said it yourself in an attempt at encouraging a long-time single friend.

Perhaps that single friend was you, and you said it looking in the mirror.

The go-get it approach to relationships

Some people argue the opposite. They claim that, as with anything in life, if you want a relationship, you can’t passively wait for one to drop on your lap, you should actively go get it. …

These don’t look good on anyone.

Online dating is easier than most people think — if only you pay enough attention to the details.

If you’re not attracting the kinds of matches you want, it might be because you’re making a few basic profile mistakes. While what each person seeks when it comes to dating varies, there are a few things that don’t look good on anyone’s profile, regardless of who they are:

Too many group pictures

Some people do like to see one or two group pictures on a potential match’s profile because it implies they’re not a loner. …

Begin by being honest.

I have a tendency to get passive-aggressive.

It’s something that has gotten in the way of my relationships in the past, and that I’ve been struggling to overcome over the years. I’ve made a lot of progress, but occasionally the passive-aggression bug will bite, and I don’t always have the antidote to its poison at hand.

A passive-aggressive attitude arises from a combination of issues. It comes from the desire to avoid direct conflict, combined with the inability to process one’s feelings. …

The Victorian era was an age of technological innovation, but also of great danger

The Victorian era was marked by industrialization, the expansion of cities, and the ascension of thousands of people into a more affluent middle class. Sure, there was poverty in Victorian times, but there were also cheaper products and a higher standard of living.

The Victorian lifestyle, however, was fraught with danger. Advertisements propelled the sale of questionable products, and anyone could claim their products were “scientifically proven,” even without the proper credentials. As a result, the Victorians put themselves at risk even while operating with the best of intentions.

From the way they decorated their homes to how they treated their illnesses, the Victorians often managed to poison themselves — mostly by accident. …

Our obsession with unrealistic female bodies didn’t start today, but now, it’s the perfect fuel for the plastic surgery industry.

In the mid-1800s, the ideal female form required a waist so small, models had to be drawn in magazines instead of photographed. No real-life woman had a waist that small, not even with tightly laced corsets, so drawings were the best resource to show women what they were expected to look like.

Inspired by the image of an ideal body type, women would damage their health and even shorten their lifespans by wearing tighter and tighter corsets.

If in the 1800’s it was drawings in magazines that provided women with body image goals, from the 2000’s onward it was photoshopped photographs. …

And why you should open your eyes to see what’s actually there.

It’s common to fantasize abou a romantic relationship, especially if you’re not currently in one.

A good relationship is easier to dream up than to build, and whether you’re single or coupled, the temptation to take what’s real and right in front of you and fill in the gaps with idealized fantasies is far too real.

The danger is having the fantasy have take over real life, tainting what you see and causing frustration once you realize what you have is not how you imagined it would be.

These are 3 ways you’re idealizing romantic relationships, and why that’s dangerous:

A relationship will complete you

You’re looking for a relationship to fill a hole in your life. …

How does Meghan Markle stack against other controversial royal brides?

Prince Harry and Meghan have been married for nearly three years at this point. Harry, once considered the world’s most eligible bachelor, finally shed the title when he married American actress Meghan Markle before their closest friends and family, heads of state and dignitaries, and an avid audience of millions around the world.

Meghan has been under the media’s watchful eye, especially the British cutthroat tabloids, ever since her engagement to Harry became public. Much has been dissected about her origins, past, genealogy, personal affiliations, and preferences. …