Empowering people to make strengthening choices
Most people believe they’re good listeners. They make eye contact, stay quiet, nod, and wait their turn. And yet, many conversations still leave people feeling unseen, misunderstood, or subtly dismissed. Learning how to be a better listener is often harder than we expect. The problem usually isn’t desire, but what’s happening internally while we listen. […]
As a marriage therapist, I’ve watched couples—good individuals and committed partners—find themselves stuck in the same painful cycles, often unsure how to have a healthy marriage when it matters most. When Good Intentions Aren’t Enough to Have a Healthy Marriage Through these experiences, I’ve come to realize that most marital problems are not due to […]
When couples first fall in love, their positive feelings and friendship are so natural. They enjoy spending time together—talking laughing and being curious about each other’s thoughts and experiences. Simply being together feels energizing and enlivening. But over time, something often changes. Marriage gradually becomes dominated by responsibilities—work, children, finances, schedules, and the endless logistics […]
When Tom and Laura met, something clicked instantly. Their first date stretched for hours as they talked over coffee, walked by the river, and found themselves laughing like old friends. For weeks afterward, they called and texted each other constantly, stayed up late, and told friends they’d “never felt anything like this before.” Tom was […]
In my last post, I wrote about strategies to build meaningful relationships. I want to continue this theme today by sharing a way for you to improve your relationships by taking responsibility for the relationship in your head. Be Proactive But first I want to say that responsibility means you’re proactive. You’re not waiting for […]
I’ve written a lot of articles, in the last several months, about how to create a happy and loving marriage or relationship with your life partner. A common theme throughout has been the importance of doing things, intentionally and proactively, to foster a climate of positive rather than negative sentiment. Sure, there will always be […]
Many couples worry about their sexual relationship, assuming that intimacy problems begin in the bedroom. In reality, most struggles with sex begin much earlier — with a gradual loss of emotional intimacy in marriage. Emotional intimacy is the sense of closeness that comes from feeling known, valued, safe, and emotionally connected to your spouse. When […]
A big strategy that gets at the heart of building positive feelings and friendship in your relationship with your partner is play and recreation. By this I mean doing activities that are fun and which you can do together. Number One Factor in Marital Happiness Marriage researchers at the University of Denver did a […]
