Opportunities to Practice

In a study released last year by the American Sociological Association, it was discovered that Americans with siblings are more likely to stay married than those who were only children.  The Ohio State University researchers found that each sibling a person has, up to seven, decreases their risk of divorce by 2%. Now at first…

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Want to Suffer?

As you read that title, you are probably thinking, “Of course not.”  And that echoes the sentiments of most of us.  We hate suffering.  We want comfort.  We want to lay in a hammock, drink wine, nap, get a massage – anything that pampers ourselves.  But suffer – no thanks; I am happy to skip…

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Responding to Crisis

On July 6, 2013, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 from South Korea crashed short of the runway at San Francisco Airport.  The plane struck the ground with the tail hitting a seawall.  Three flight attendants were ejected.  One of the remaining flight attendants, Lee Yoon-Hye, helped hundreds of passengers get safely out of the plane and…

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Radical Acceptance

I recently heard a client make the statement, “My husband doesn’t accept me.”  When I asked for her to give me more information, she went into a lengthy list: “I go to bed too early, I don’t vacuum correctly, I take too long getting ready in the morning, I don’t set the table the right…

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Is Your Partner Good Enough?

While this may seem like a strange question, it is one that was raised recently by author Robert Frank.  He discusses a conversation between two women in which one verbalized her frustration and wondered aloud why she kept chasing after guys that had no interest in her.  At this same time other guys in whom…

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A Kiss a Day . . .

Can a kiss a day keep the doctor away?  Wow – wouldn’t that be great!  If that were the case, if kissing could be both fun and healthy, how cool would that be?  In a recent interview, Andrea Demirjian, author of “Kissing: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about One of Life’s Sweetest Pleasures,” offered…

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Prepare for the Storm

Couples always come to see me for counseling because they are in crisis.  Now you are reading that and probably thinking “Ah, well, yea!”  I know – nothing profound about that.  I sometimes think it would be nice if a potential client called and said something along the lines of, “Hi, my wife and I…

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When Your Spouse Seems Angry

We have all experienced those times when we have walked into the room and our spouse has “that look.”  I have heard it called the “evil eye,” or the “stink eye”, but regardless of what you call it – we all know the look.  We used to get it from our parents.  We didn’t like…

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K.R.M.F.

It was recently brought to my attention that there is a disease that most of us have experienced, if we are parents.  It is one that we have rarely named, but we know when it is happening.  One author calls it Kid-Related Marital Friction.  Even as I write that term, there are probably a variety…

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