Now if your first thought is, “What date night?” then this might be a timely post. Depending on your season of life, date nights can look very differently. If you are young with no children or are empty nesters, you may find date nights fairly easy to put together. But if you are like so…
“I’m really frustrated because I arrived home, expecting dinner, only to discover that nothing had even been done, no effort had even been made to start dinner!” Why did this person expect dinner to be ready? It might be because every other night dinner has been prepared. Or it could be that the person grew…
While those sound like good kind words; an offer to assist, to provide support – individual’s reactions often don’t seem appreciative. Why? I have found myself trying to carry an armload of stuff (probably too much stuff) to the recycle bin, and my wife says, “Would you like some help?” To which I reply, “No,…
I just finished a counseling session with a couple who talked about wanting to be on the same team, but then everything they discussed demonstrated that they are clearly fighting for their individual agendas. They are far from embracing a “team” concept. In a marriage we are two individuals who “become one”, creating a new…
You may think this a strange question. But I would really be curious to know. You see laughter is so easily lost. I mean, life is serious stuff – there are wars and rumors of wars (hmm), hurricanes, wildfires, political divide, and the list goes on and on. You might think, “What is there to…
Imagine that you received a promotion at work that came with a nice raise in your salary. This is a pleasant surprise and will provide money that you had not expected. So, what would you do with it? You are excited to share the news with your spouse, but when you do, a conflict ensues.…
First, if you are not familiar with oxytocin, in short, it is a chemical in the brain “believed to be involved in controlling fear, stress, social interactions, love, empathy, and the bonding with and acceptance of others.” It is a chemical that can strengthen good and positive feelings. Who wouldn’t want that? Last time I…
The question that I am asking is this – do kids prefer people or animals? In a universal ethical principles game developed by MIT researchers, some surprising results were revealed. When children were placed in a hypothetical situation that involved human versus animal life, they frequently chose to send a car careening into a person…
As we have looked at the faces of commitment in our last three times, we have examined the importance of following through on the things that we say we will do, remembering the big picture during times of conflict, and how we treat our mate when he or she is not present. In this final…
As we have looked at commitment in our last two times, we have examined the importance of following through on the things that we say we will do and remembering the big picture during times of conflict. Today I want to look at how we treat our mate when he or she is not present.…