Meet the Intimacy Deck Packed with 150 conversation starters, the Intimacy Deck is designed to spark the deep and meaningful conversations that bring you closer together. Whether you’re long-term married or just starting out, the Intimacy Deck can deepen your love. Here’s how… Unlock the power of conversation “Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.” - Margaret Wheatley One of the most important things for a successful relationship is to feel deeply connected to another person. We want to feel seen and heard for who we really are. We want to feel that our partner understands us. This is why meaningful conversation is so critical. Talking helps you get on the same page as each other. It helps you feel united, which in turn makes it easier to resolve conflict, connect around your values, and feel that your relationship is growing. In comparison, when conversation stops, that feeling of connection can dissolve. The reasons are many, but familiarity can feel stale and it’s all too easy to get caught up in the autopilot of life. Work piles up, kids absorb your time, and when the evening comes all you want to do is switch off and binge watch Netflix! Goodbye quality time together! Worst still, it’s tempting to feel that you know your partner and therefore make assumptions about who they are and what they’re thinking.We rely on love holding us together [because that’s what the fairytales and romantic comedies promise], forgetting that relationships take work!Good news! There’s a super-easy way to ‘work’ on your relationship… simply commit to a conversation habit. This ‘work’ doesn’t have to feel contrived. Remember the mantra ‘what gets planned gets done’? Get together and choose a time to fit this ritual into your daily routine.Make your conversation time deep talk time. Dig into subjects that help you get to know each other on a deeper and deeper level. Allow curiosity to lead the way and figure out how your partner thinks and feels about various topics. For example, you could talk about: Hopes & dreams Your feelings Your values and beliefs Your wants and needs  And if these deeper conversations feel confronting, the Intimacy Deck has your back! How many times have you wanted to ask your partner something, but you felt awkward or uncomfortable - even embarrassed? The Intimacy Deck asks the questions - so you don’t have to. And with 150 prompts to talk through, that’s a LOT of conversations! How you use the deck is up to you. You can work through a question at a time, or pick a topic at random. And if you’re looking for creative ways to weave this tool into your relationship, here are 10 to get you started. 1. Date night! Do you naturally default to the same topics of conversation on date night? Work, kids, what you’re going to do at the weekend? While these topics are important, things can get predictable if your conversations feel repetitive. The Intimacy Deck helps turn date night into a conversation that lasts all night long! Pick a prompt and see where the question takes you. Perfect for disappearing down rabbit holes you didn’t know existed. Ideal for keeping things fresh and exciting. Designed to nurture intimacy. 2. Before bed ritual End the day with a meaningful conversation by pulling a prompt and talking about it together. It’s a great way to feel deeply connected and close before you drift off to dreamworld. 3. Over dinner Do you have a tendency to fiddle with your phone over dinner? Our phones are so integrated into our lives, often they feel like an extension of who we are. But when the latest notification draws you away from the person in front of you, we forget what’s most important. Get in the habit of putting away your phone and pulling an Intimacy prompt instead. It’s a simple ritual that increases connection and stops you from being overly distracted by the digital world. 4. When you’re feeling disconnected Still seething after a fight. Too tired to strike up a conversation. Feeling bored and frustrated and lacking energy? Again the Intimacy Deck can help. Pull a card and let the question focus your attention. You never know… once you get talking, you may not want to stop! 5. Send a text Want to move beyond emojis and small talk in your text messages? Pick a card, take a photo, and send to your beau. It’s a great way to spark connection when you’re apart - even strike up a conversation that continues when you’re back home. 6. Long-distance love Long-distance love is tough. The Intimacy Deck is here to keep you talking and feeling close - even when there are miles between you. Hold virtual date nights or start your conversation with a prompt - anything goes. 7. At work? Here’s an interesting example of the Intimacy Deck in action. Check out this video and discover how one wedding photographer uses intimacy questions to inspire incredible photographs of loved-up couples on their big day. 8. On a journey Planes, trains, and automobiles! Long journeys offer the time to dive deep into a conversation. In fact, those conversations can be just as important as the trip itself. Take some prompts with you and chat away in the car, at the airport, or in the cafe during a layover. Not only does a good conversation make the time go faster, but it can make you feel more connected too. 9. On vacation You’re in a different place with different weather, and no work to think about! Escaping the day-to-day routine is one of the best things about a vacation. When you’re surrounded by new things and you don’t have to worry about the everyday stuff, you discover new things about yourself and your partner. The Intimacy Deck can help ignite these discoveries by sparking conversations with your partner that go somewhere. 10. Reflect on your conversations You could write the date that you answer the question, or write in your journal about how the conversation made you feel. This can be a powerful way to track how your discussions help your relationship grow. Get Your Intimacy Deck Today! One of our top-sellers, the Intimacy Deck has rave reviews. Life is all the sweeter when we’re surrounded by people who we love. The Intimacy Deck is here to get you talking - so you can take your relationship to the next level. Whether you've been married for years or you’ve only just met, use this deck to spark deeper connections by exploring conversations you’ve likely never had. Get yours today!

Picture the scene. It was August 2005, I was solo travelling in Sinai, Egypt, and I just met the man I was going to marry. When we first met, we were inseparable! We’d stay up all night chatting, there was always more to say, and we did everything together. We were each other’s everything! Yep, as cliched as it sounds, that whirlwind romance became a turning point that changed the trajectory of my life. Fast-forward 14 years and despite all the odds, my love and I have three children and 13 years of marriage under our belt. But it’s not all been a fairytale! Relationships are HARD! When you’re past that honeymoon period, boy does it get tough - especially when children come along [they don’t tell you that, do they!] Suddenly, you don’t have eyes for each other alone. Instead, small people become the center of your universe, and your one-to-one time alone takes a hit! But that’s not all… away from the sea air, desert views, and diving during that summer in Dahab, is ‘real-life’! Back in the UK, we had work, day-to-day chores, and all kinds of priorities demanding our attention. With so many things competing for your attention, energy, and time, it’s all too easy to stop talking with your partner. Then before you know it you’re drifting apart :( Of course, you don’t intend to get to this place. Instead, you just don’t have the energy. You convince yourself there’s always tomorrow to make more effort, but familiarity breeds complacency. Days merge into weeks, and with hindsight, you can see you’ve made the fatal mistake of forgetting that relationships [along with everything else you care about] NEED WORK! Here’s the weird thing… We think nothing about investing in courses and tools that help us build our business, crush our career, or close the gaps in our skills. But when it comes to relationships, it somehow feels odd to admit you may need to create rituals or routines that keep your love healthy. Surely if you really love each other, your relationship should get better and better without any intervention? Wrong! The passing of time changes us. We grow and evolve through life’s triumphs and challenges. In other words, you’re not the person you were when you first met your partner. In short, if you want to grow together, you have to proactively create routines and habits that keep things fresh, alive, and exciting - otherwise, you’ll drift apart. And one of THE most important things you can do to strengthen your love [or rekindle a stale relationship] is to talk. I’m not talking about chit-chat or surface-level chatter. I’m talking about the deep, meaningful conversations that cultivate connection, demand vulnerability, and encourage you to reveal more of yourself to the one you love. And if you keep reading, I’ll show you the EASIEST, most fun, and most non-intrusive way to do it :) Enter Prompt Decks... This summer, my family and I spent three weeks in Spain. It was lush :) We slept in this lovely log cabin by the most beautiful lake. The weather was warm, the kids could roam free, and we spent stacks on time wild swimming and paddleboarding. Phones were off, and the TV wasn’t an attraction. Instead, my husband and I spend the evenings sat on the porch, soaking up the atmosphere and... TALKING. This is an activity we hadn’t done enough in recent times. We’d got so distracted by so many other demands and pressures; we’d fallen into the dreaded small talk habit. It’s why I packed the Icebreaker Deck in my suitcase. This Discovery Deck contains 150 conversation cards divided into six categories: Life, Random, Deep, Experiences, If you could..? Would you rather…? Every evening, we’d take the Deck outside and use it to spark a conversation. The pattern was always the same… The first couple cards generated short answers and soundbites - and then we’d hit on a question that opened a door into this entirely new space. I remember there was one question in particular that kick-started a conversation that went on for hours about literally everything. We spoke about life, our plans for the future, our desires, where we felt stuck, what we wanted to transform - you name it. We hadn’t spoken like this in a very long time. It makes me tear up as I think about it now. It’s hard to express in words how incredible it felt to experience that deep connection with my husband again. I discovered things about him I didn’t know. I realized we had things in common that I thought only interested me. I noticed topics where we were so aligned and in tune, it brought tears to my eyes. It was the highlight of our vacation… And it was only possible because we proactively made an effort to stimulate deep conversation. My kids love it too! But it didn’t stop there… If you have kids [or you’re a sibling yourself], you’ll know that life isn’t always harmonious! Instead, there are times of bickering and arguing - especially when squashed in the back of the car! I wouldn’t say the Icebreaker Deck was a lifesaver, but it did help - a LOT! My children really, REALLY enjoyed asking questions [although deciding who would hold the cards did raise the blood pressure a little!] It was so beautiful to hear the resulting conversation. My husband and I got to share more with our children - and we got to hear their opinions and thoughts on things I just wouldn’t have thought to ask about. We shared stories of our childhood, things we wanted out of life, experiences, memories, beliefs etc. Somehow, that Deck brought us all a little closer together. And it doesn’t stop there… Decks for everyday life I’ve got the full set of BestSelf Discovery Decks. They sit on our kitchen table so anyone can use them at any time. I love that when boredom creeps in or when we get pulled back into unhelpful habits, those decks are a trigger to create something different. They get us talking. They ‘force’ us to connect, to share more about who we are, and to ask meaningful questions that actually go somewhere. But not only that, because they’re a physical product, they also provide that much-needed respite and detox from digital media and tools. Conversation can be a remedy for so many things. It makes us feel connected, it fuels self-expression, and it can lead to the support and accountability we need to live our best lives. It’s something we can all do… but also something we can get lazy about. Nowadays, it’s all too easy to get lost in your phone. It’s so easy to get pulled away from the people standing in front of you when notifications are whizzing off, and you feel strangely compelled to know what’s happening on social media, in the news, or in the next installment of your favorite boxset! Tech is designed to be irresistible. It’s engineered to suck you in and hold you tight! It’s programed to give you that dopamine hit, so you keep coming back for more. Don’t get me wrong; I wouldn’t want to go back to the pre-internet days. That said, it’s vital to have strategies that keep you rooted in what’s ‘real’. BestSelf Discovery Decks are one of those easy-to-use tools that achieve just that. How To Use Your BestSelf Decks I’m grateful to have daily access to my set of decks. I’ve found there’s no right or wrong way to use them. Instead, they fit into your life - any way you want. Here are some examples of how we’ve used them: 10-minute ritual - ask questions for 10 minutes and see where it leads To kick-start child-free time - the new Intimacy Deck will make this a lot more interesting! Over dinner - so we can move beyond the obvious “how was your day?” While travelling - it’s highly recommended! As a game with my parents - my children LOVED learning more about their grandparents To change your mood and get out of a funk - because questions change your focus Anything goes :) And now it’s your turn… How could you incorporate BestSelf Discovery Decks in your life to spark more conversation, connection, and creativity? There’s only one way to find out! Grab some Decks today and make them part of your everyday life. Just 10-minutes a day with one of the decks, could inspire some pretty transformative results. I’m excited to hear about what opens up for you when add decks to your best self toolbox.

When you’ve got your head down and you’re hustling hard to build your business, it’s easy to let your social wellness fall by the wayside. Maybe you skip dinner with your family to squeeze in “just one more hour” of work on your website. Perhaps you cancel the coffee you’d planned to catch up with an old friend in order to get ahead on tomorrow’s projects. It’s tempting to neglect your relationships with other people in pursuit of business and financial success. Maintaining your relationships as an entrepreneur requires mindfulness and care. After all, what’s the point of building a successful business if it comes at the expense of your connections with other people? To help maintain your connections, it’s valuable to understand the concept of social wellness, a term that mental health professionals use in order to evaluate an individual’s mental health within the broader context of society. What Is Social Wellness? Social wellness refers to the quality and strength of your relationships with others. It comes from having a positive social network. This network includes family, friends, professional contacts and even more casual acquaintances like the barista at your regular coffee place. When your social wellness is high, it means that you have a rich social life and a variety of healthy personal relationships spanning romantic, social and professional contexts. Quantity doesn’t necessarily matter here — someone with fewer, deeper relationships could have a higher degree of social wellness than someone with a larger number of superficial or unhealthy relationships. Why Is Social Wellness Important? Social wellness is crucial for your overall well-being. As the NIH reports, higher levels of social wellness correlate with increased life expectancy and improved health. On the other hand, “loneliness and social isolation are linked to poorer health, depression, and increased risk of early death.” Having a strong support network of people you trust is also important for overcoming adversity. When you have social support, it’s easier to deal with the hard times that accompany the death of a loved one, the failure of a business venture or the pain of an illness. And even in less extreme circumstances, a network of supportive people is helpful for getting through a bad day, a boring job or bouts of self-doubt. 4 Techniques to Cultivate Social Wellness Now that you understand the importance of social wellness, let’s look at some ways you can increase it in your daily life. These aren’t quick fixes, but rather long-term strategies for building a life that is more rich and connected. 1. Prioritize Your Mental Health When we discuss healthcare, we often focus only on conditions that we can clearly see and diagnose. This is a dangerous tendency, as it neglects the fact that mental illnesses are just as serious and debilitating as physical illnesses. Indeed, modern medical science reveals that the traditional dichotomy between the brain and the body is a false one: Our mental health is just as physical as any other part of our body. Knowing this, don’t brush off your emotional health as unimportant, something you can just worry about “later” when you’ve achieved your goals. Not only is neglecting your mental health harmful to overall health and wellness, but it can also damage your ability to achieve those goals to begin with. Just as it’s difficult to perform at optimum levels if you have a physical illness, it is hard to do your best work if you’re struggling with anxiety, depression or other mental health issues. Of course, just as in other forms of illness, there are degrees of severity when it comes to mental health issues. Feeling occasional mild depression or anxiety is something you can overcome through mindfulness, exercise and getting enough sleep, just as a cold or upset stomach are conditions you can treat at home using rest or over the counter medication. In contrast, just as you would go to a doctor about serious chronic pain, so should you seek out professional help if you’re experiencing anxiety so severe it affects your ability to perform daily activities or depression so intense that you can’t get out of bed. 2. Build Healthy Relationships Healthy relationships can mean the difference between a happy, fulfilled life and a dreary one that feels devoid of meaning. You need to surround yourself with the right people who boost your self-esteem and bring you joy while also challenging you to be a better person. These are the sort of people that will make up a support system to get you through adversity. You should seek out these relationships in all spheres of your life, particularly in those where you can exercise a high degree of choice. You can’t always control who your co-workers or neighbors are, but you can decide on the friends you hang out with and the people you date or marry. If people are treating you poorly and reducing your quality of life, then you should stop spending time around them. Instead, seek out new people who treat you the way you deserve to be treated — your mental health will be better for it. 3. Maintain Relationship Balance In addition to filling your life with healthy relationships, you need to maintain proper balance among the various relationships in your life. This keeps your life interesting and varied, while also ensuring that you don’t neglect certain relationships in the pursuit of others. You should ensure balance among your relationships with the following three groups of people: • Family members• Friends• Co-workers If you’re spending a disproportionate amount of time with one group, it can hurt your relationships with the others. There’s no right amount of time, and it depends on your circumstances. The amount of time you spend with family will be wildly different if you have several children and a large extended family than if it’s just you and your spouse. You should also make sure you don’t neglect one other personal relationship, one critical to self-care: the relationship you have with yourself. You need to have time alone to reflect and rest apart from the time you spend with others. Of course, how much time you need depends on whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, but all of us need some time alone in order to maintain our mental health. 4. Practice Self-Disclosure Self-disclosure is a term in psychology that refers to “a process of communication by which one person reveals information about himself or herself to another.” In more colloquial terms, we often call it opening up or getting deep. This process is key to building the trust that forms the basis for meaningful relationships. If you’re struggling to forge deep connections that go beyond the surface, then self-disclosure is an important step to take. We’re not saying you have to tell your deepest secrets to someone the first time you meet them; this can be inappropriate and make you come off as intense. But with time, self-disclosure is the route to creating the supportive relationships necessary for a happier, adversity-resistant life. If you struggle with with self-disclosure, here are some things you can share: • Thoughts• Feelings• Aspirations• Goals• Failures• Successes• Fears• Dreams• Likes• Dislikes• Favorites Build Social Wellness for Life A strong social network will lead to a life that is happier and more resilient, not to mention improves your health and longevity. Social wellness isn’t something you can achieve instantly, but it is something that’s worth the effort to pursue.

What does it take to give truly thoughtful gifts? Though we love to do it, gift giving can be incredibly stressful. Even with a plan, we always find a way to cast doubts on our choices. When the slippery slope of questions start the gift we're so sure of gets put back on the shelf. We resign ourselves to spending hours wondering around stores second guessing every new choice, until frustrated and tired we settle on a gift card. We reason with ourselves that while this is not one of the most thoughtful gifts, at least they'll get something they really want. The Conundrum of Thoughtful Gifts After the turbulent search for those perfectly thoughtful gifts we are left to wonder... "Why is it so hard to find the right gift?" If you've ever experienced this, you know what we're talking about. The stress of gift giving can consume whole weekends, and even distract from completing other day-to-day priorities. It's the thought that counts. This is supposed to be the easy part, whether we are giving or receiving gifts only a few are ever really sad or mad about the gift itself. Frustration arises when there's a perceived lack of thoughtfulness attached to it. When frustration strikes, even after we've agonized over what gift to get, it's a terrible feeling for all involved. We end up feeling unappreciated for our effort and they're disappointment stings for both sides. How do the best intentions for thoughtful gifts go wrong and what can we do so they don't? Solving the Mystery of Giving Thoughtful Gifts The problem we often run into when selecting gifts is we prioritize only one or two aspects of a gift and slot them into  a few broad categories. We begin to relegate particular types of gifts by age and interests. We tell ourselves things like "This gift is fine for a child, but I'd never give that to an adult." We rationalize, "They like this, but do they like it enough to get them something related to it as a gift?" While age and interest are fine factors to base gift selection on, thoughtfulness is rarely part of this kind of selection intentionally. When we lack intention, using age and interests as the deciding factors can end up making the gift little better than defaulting to a gift card. Which is why justification of buying the gift card can be so easy. In both cases we're not sure what to get our loved ones and the choice boils down to: get what's popular, take a shot in the dark, or buy a gift card. Certainly the gift card is the safest choice. But we don't want to give safe gifts, we want to give incredible ones! So how do we insert thoughtfulness back into gift selection? The answer is three fold, and it focuses on some little thought about factors of what creates the perception of a truly thoughtful gift anyone can appreciate. Even if it's not exactly what they asked for or have a huge price tag. Aim for your gifts to fulfill one aspect of each to find a great thoughtful gift! Focus on Longevity Intent for longevity on a gift indicates how long the gift is intended to bring joy. At one end, some things are intended for novelty, are perishable, or cheaply made so they aren't likely to last, sometimes even past one use. While at the other end some specialty items are intended to last generations, and everything in between. Depending on the type of celebration, one could be far more appropriate than the other. Walk around any store and you'll find things are designed, and made to fulfill exactly these contexts. So think about how long you really expect the gift to last in the life of your loved one. \ So ask yourself: "Is this the kind of gift I want to last a lifetime, a few years, a few months, a few days, or a few minutes? A Note: Don't underestimate the power of a  gift with limited longevity! When recalling an experience, one of the largest contributing factors to our decision of whether we remember them fondly or otherwise is how they end. In this way a gift that provides a momentary burst of joy which resolves quickly can be thoughtful gifts indeed! Focus on Message Focus on message will keep your gift relevant to the experience your creating for a loved one. No matter what gift you give, you are sending a message with it.  You could be telling the person any number of things about your relationship with them. This is what makes gift giving so much fun and exciting! Maybe you want to show you notice them or take an interest in what they like. You could be showing them you recognize their challenges or support their endeavors.  Your gift could also be intended to show just how much you care, or to create a memory that lasts a lifetime. So ask yourself: Will this gift strengthen our bond through laughter, sharing, conversation, mutuality, or remembrance? Note: Let go of framing your gifts as what people "NEED", giving gifts isn't about need. If someone needs something that's just taking care of them. Never wait to fulfill the needs of a loved one. Needs are much too important to be put on hold. Focus on the Experience Focusing on the experience of receiving a gift will really add that extra WOW factor! We like getting things, but things aren't what we remember or what we value. Rather it's the experience of using or doing those things that make a gift both thoughtful and memorable. So, use the senses to amplify the experience and message of your gift! If the gift is funny then package it in a silly way, rig a cheap gag so when they open the gift a curly snake pops out! If it's an emotional gift take some time and extra care in the wrapping, attach a nice handwritten note for a stronger impact. When your gift is romantic, give it a little spray of a nice smell. Maybe your gift is meant to comfort and would benefit from having something soft included as a tiny add-on gift before they open the big gift.  Some gifts come best after a speech or a song, if they are meant to be in appreciation of someone. Amplify the elements of sight, sound, touch, and smell with your gift and it will take your gift giving skills to a whole new level! So ask yourself: What type of experience will amplify the overall message of the gift? Note: It's the smallest details that make the biggest impact. When you've put thought into how someone receives the gift, how the gift will be meaningful to our relationship, and are clear on the longevity we expect from the gifts we give there is no doubt of it's thoughtfulness! The Most Important Part of Thoughtful Gifts Last but not least, don't give your gift and let the interaction end there. Engage with the recipient about the gift! Ask questions about it, share in the consumption, go and watch them enjoy the gift you've given. Be present during the initial excitement and help them have a good time. The whole point of thoughtful gifts is to appreciate, celebrate, and bring loved ones together. They don't have to be huge sweeping gestures, they don't have to cost exorbitant amounts of money, they don't even have to be something people are expecting or have asked for. They just have to mean something for your relationship with your loved one. Spread the Love Sharing stories is one of our most powerful tools to inspire and motivate. We want everyone, to find their perfect gifts and most importantly connect with your loved ones during any special event!