How do you respond to your partner when you disagree with what he/she has told you? What if your spouse does something that you don’t like? Do you yell? Give them the silent treatment? Or find ways to punish your spouse? Let’s say you have a spouse who is always running late. You are planning […]
How do you respond to your partner when you disagree with what he/she has told you? What if your spouse does something that you don’t like? Do you yell? Give them the silent treatment? Or find ways to punish your spouse? Let’s say you have a spouse who is always running late. You are planning […]
Almost every task can be completed in several different ways. However, most people become so used to the one way that they do things that whenever someone else’s technique varies, they assume it is wrong. Learning to recognize that how your partner does something might be right, even if it is not the same way […]
Physical health conditions can create a variety of problems for a relationship. If one partner is diagnosed with a health condition, it can be devastating for the individual as well as the couple. Despite marriage vows that usually mention “in sickness and in health,” for many people, physical illnesses can place a strain on the […]
How do you show your spouse how much you love him/her? There are a variety of ways people show their love to others. There are also differences in what makes people feel loved. Learning to recognize how you show love to your partner and what makes your partner feel loved can help you communicate your […]
How much privacy exists between your marriage and others? Some couples tend to be very private people. Other couples fight openly in public and air all their dirty laundry for the whole world to see. Sometimes one person in the marriage shares all the “secrets” to others. How much privacy should be within a relationship? Each […]
Many people consider emotional affairs to be “innocent fun.” Often disguised as friendships, emotional affairs take friendship too far. They can be just as damaging, if not more damaging, to a marriage than a sexual affair. People usually don’t set out looking for an emotional affair. Instead, they often seek out friendship. These friendships with […]
Internet porn is a very serious relationship destroyer. On the surface, many men and boys seem addicted to it. And while there are some women and girls who are addicted, women and girls find themselves badly affected by what is happening to the males in their lives. Let’s look at some suggestions for handling this. […]
Communication that involves attacking your partner will not yield positive results. Instead, it is likely to create more problems for the relationship. Attacking your partner verbally may include obvious forms such as name calling, or it may include more subtle forms in an attempt to manipulate your partner. Name calling is never productive. Calling your […]
No, this is not another ad for financial retirement planning! I’m assuming you have enough money and resources to retire. What you need to do is to think about what retirement means to you. Does it mean the end of your present life or career? Opportunities for a new life or career? Does it mean […]
People often have difficulty really listening to their partner. Listening requires more than simply remaining quiet while the other person is talking (although many people struggle with doing just that). Truly listening to the other person means paying attention to what they are saying. Listening is a skill that many people struggle with and this […]
Verbal abuse can be a more subtle form of abuse that may be more difficult to recognize at times. It may include outright name calling, swearing, and threats, or it may involve other tactics to make the other partner feel bad. It impacts people’s feelings of self-worth, can make the person feel crazy, and sometimes […]
Although computer addiction is not yet a recognized official mental health diagnosis, emerging research shows it is an addiction similar to a gambling addiction. The addiction is sometimes referred to as an internet addiction, cyber addiction, or internet addictive disorder. People with a computer addiction may be looking at pornography or may be playing games, blogging, using […]
In case you’re looking for some free advice, and you haven’t yet made the decision to go forward with real therapy or marriage counseling, I want to introduce you to a website we started 4 years ago. Talk About Marriage (http://talkaboutmarriage.com) was started so the public would have an open, supportive forum where they could […]
Sometimes couples report that they never fight, disagree, or argue. In fact, sometimes their marriage sounds more like a polite interaction with a store clerk or the mail carrier. Marriage is not supposed to mean that both people will get along all the time by agreeing on everything. Many couples go to great lengths to […]
Debt can have a big impact on a couple’s relationship. Perhaps you had a student loan or two, a car payment, and some credit card. Then you married someone who had a few more student loans, another car payment, and quite a bit of credit card debt. Adding these two together can seem like a […]
An emotional affair is one that may become physical, but not necessarily. Emotional affairs can sometimes be even more damaging to a relationship than sexual affairs. Emotional affairs take away from intimacy within the relationship and create a wedge between two partners. Sometimes people think a relationship is innocent if nothing sexual is going on. […]
If you have been hurt by your partner in the past, letting go of that hurt can be difficult. Past hurts that are not dealt with often lead to ongoing feelings of resentment, frustration and anger. It can cause a variety of relationship difficulties when someone has not been able to forgive and move past […]
People who have different values and ideas about money can learn how to work together as a team in a relationship. If one partner is a saver and the other is a spender, each partner can learn from the other person’s strategies. Differences in opinions over money can cause problems in the relationship if they […]
These days it is not uncommon for one or both spouses to lose their jobs unexpectedly. The unemployment rate has been steadily rising over the last few years, which proves the dire situation we are in. When this situation arises, it can cause feelings of depression, anxiety, stress, and even grief over the loss of […]
