Q: The first step toward spending quality time with your significant other is to make your relationship a top priority. A feeling of closeness is one of the most important “ingredients” for a healthy relationship, which you can only find if you spend quality time together.  If your girlfriend or boyfriend is, say, number 5 on your list of daily activities, that relationship probably won’t go very far. If you do find that your relationship is a low priority to you, simply apologize to your girlfriend or boyfriend and start making changes. If you feel like your relationship is a low priority to your boyfriend or girlfriend, you need to discuss this. If your relationship has not been a high priority, it’s time to make positive changes. Adopt a mindset like the one we all get about New Year’s resolutions. Make sure that you start small and choose only one behavior to change at a time.  Choosing only one behavior makes it manageable and prevents you from getting overwhelmed. Once you have made one positive behavior a habit, you can move on to the next one. Your relationship will slowly but surely rise to the top of your priorities. Apologize for not making the relationship a priority if it's your fault. One positive change that shows your girlfriend or boyfriend that you are starting to prioritize your relationship is making it a weekly goal to spend time with him or her. One way to do this is to choose one night per week as date night. Pick a night that rarely has other commitments so that you aren’t tempted to cancel plans with your partner, or a night that your partner isn’t usually busy. Once you make a plan to spend one night (or day) a week with your boyfriend or girlfriend, stick to it. Don’t ever make plans on that night. Sticking to your promise each week will build trust in your partner. You will probably find that spending consistent time with your boyfriend or girlfriend makes the relationship a priority in your mind without you even realizing it. If you’re a teenager still living at home, you need to inform them of your relationship and your intention to spend quality time with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Ask their permission to spend this time with him or her.  They may say no sometimes because they want you to focus on schoolwork. Tell them that this is understandable but that you would like a balance between school work and your relationship. If they don’t agree with your relationship, this is another issue and you need to tell your boyfriend or girlfriend. If your parents won’t let you, you will either have to break up or wait until there is no school to spend time together.
A: Prioritize your relationship. Make positive changes. Make spending time a weekly goal. Stick to your new schedule. Clear it with your parents.

Q: The most important first step in shedding pounds through dieting is to select a dieting plan. Tailor that plan to your lifestyle, and establish clear weight loss goals. It is essential to construct a plan that is appropriate for your goals and medical/health history. This is best done by a dietitian. There are many different ways to achieve weight loss through dieting. Below, a few different diet plans are listed.  Keep in mind that, whichever dieting method you choose, dietary and medical specialists suggest that losing more than an average of one to two lbs. a week is not safe for your body. Also, some studies suggest that rapid loss increases the risk of gaining weight back. In order to lose one to two pounds per week, average adults need to cut 500 to 1,000 calories per day from their diet.  Low or No Carb Diets: These diets utilize a method of eliminating carbohydrates from your diet and replacing the nutritional value of those carbohydrates with protein-rich foods. These diets, while helpful with losing weight, can lead to nutritional deficiencies, as carbohydrates are a natural part of human health requirements.  Low-Fat Diets: These diets are designed to cut the overall intake of fats from your diet, thus eliminating excess calories that can lead to weight gain. Also, decreasing fat intake lowers the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.  Low-Calorie Diets: These diets control the overall intake of calories, found in all types of food, to help produce a reduction in the overall body mass of an individual. These types of diets can often lead to fatigue, as an individual’s overall caloric intake and, thus, energy is reduced. It is always important to speak with your doctor before beginning a weight loss program. Drinking water is not only healthy, but can also reduce hunger and the urge to eat by making you feel full. Also, taking a daily regimen of multivitamins can help replace the extra nutrients that you may be missing from your diet.  Doctors recommend that adult males drink at least 3 liters (0.79 US gal) of water a day and adult females drink 2.2 liters (0.6 US gal) of water of day.  Vitamins are essential as many people who start diet plans tend to cut out foods their bodies are used to eating, thus creating deficiencies. Dieting does not equate to skipping meals. Eating breakfast, contrary to popular belief, actually helps to kick-start your metabolism, which assists in burning excess calories throughout the day. Start off the day with a 500 to 600 calorie meal. A very healthy and filling meal at that falls in line with this calorie intake would include a banana, a bowl of oatmeal, whole-grain toast with one to two tablespoons of peanut butter. This will provide you with a mix of carbohydrates and protein. Carbohydrates give you quick energy and protein will provide energy throughout the day. If you have eaten breakfast and plan to eat dinner, there is no reason to eat a large lunch. However, you can still eat a healthy and filling meal at lunchtime.  For lunch, eat 300 to 400 calories. Salad, yogurt, salmon, chicken (not fried, but grilled), fruit, cottage cheese, steamed vegetables, or soup are all good choices.   Avoid foods that are heavy in saturated fat or high in calories. This would include fried foods, heavy sauces, and creams, For most Americans, dinner is the largest meal of the day. As a result, it is very important that you limit the portions of food you eat at dinnertime. Don’t overindulge and avoid following-up dinner with a dessert. You should eat a dinner that falls somewhere around 400 to 600 calories. Roasted chicken with whole wheat pasta, mahi-mahi tacos, beef stir fry with broccoli and shiitake mushrooms, or pork medallions with pomegranate sauce are all tasty choices that provide the necessary nutrition while still falling in this calorie range. Snacking on chips, candy, other unhealthy foods in between meals is devastating to one’s diet. All of the "unhealthy" snacks, or those that contain high levels of “empty” calories or high levels of fat, are deemed excess calories by your metabolism and stored for later use. Also, soda and alcohol, especially beer, are high in calories and generally unnecessary for your body’s nutritional requirements.  As an alternative, try snacking on a handful of almonds, carrot sticks and hummus, calorie-limited snack packs, or yogurt.  It is critical to point out here that diet sodas have never been proven as effective as weight loss tools. Actually, the sweetness of the diet soda tricks your body into thinking it is getting high-calorie input, without providing any actual calories. Because of this, drinking diet soda is likely to increase hunger as well as the desire for sweet, high-calorie foods.
A: Devise a diet plan. Speak with a doctor or dietitian. Drink lots of water and take vitamins. Eat breakfast. Eat lunch. Eat well-portioned dinners. Avoid unhealthy snacks, soda, and alcohol.

Q: It’s much easier to have someone lay the stones on you than it is to lay the stones on yourself. Ask someone that you trust, such as a close friend or family member, if they would be willing to meditate with you and lay the stones on your body. Choose a time and place to meditate where there won’t be any distractions. Make sure to close the door and turn your phone off before starting. Try meditating in a guest bedroom or a room/space where you can feel the energy to be relaxing. You can also try going outside if the weather is nice. Once all of the stones are on your body, lay still for twenty minutes without moving or speaking. Keep your eyes closed and focus on taking deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Let any thoughts that pop into your head come and go; try not to hang onto them.
A:
Ask a friend to help you meditate. Find a private, quiet space. Lay quietly for twenty minutes.