You and your spouse are working on a project, putting a table together. It is going pretty well. You ask an innocent question as to where a part goes, and without warning, he or she responds with an impatient snarky comment. Does that ruin the afternoon? Do things go sour? Oftentimes it is not even…
DetailsI remember growing up watching a TV show called the “Honeymooners”. In that show, Jackie Gleason’s character would get mad at his wife and say, “To the Moon Alice.” Well, now there is a nonprofit project called “Inspiration Mars” that plans to send a couple into space in 2018 to slingshot around the red planet…
DetailsFor those of you who are married or who aren’t interested in online dating – don’t tune out just yet. There might be something in here for you or a friend. Twenty years ago, no one had heard of online dating. We were all still meeting people the old fashioned way – face to face. …
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Life can be very full and very busy. We can be occupied with going to the gym, raising kids, working in our kid’s classroom, cleaning the house, working a full-time job, and the list goes on and on. It is easy to be so focused on all of the demands of the day and striving…
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Have you ever been looking forward to a romantic evening with your spouse, when one of you inadvertently makes a comment that turns the rest of the night on its head? While you didn’t intend for things to devolve into a fight – they did anyway. We have probably all experienced this unraveling of an…
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Sometimes it may seem that other couples are happier than you. They laugh more and they just seem to enjoy each other more than you and your spouse. Are they just better matched or are they doing something differently? While I can’t speak to how naturally compatible they may be, I do find that most…
DetailsRemember when you were newlyweds and love oozed out all over? But then one day you walked in the door and your partner said, “I need to talk with you about something.” A dark sense of dread enveloped you and you suddenly knew that the honeymoon must be over and you were in trouble. How…
Details“Wow! This sounds powerful – what is it?” OK, are you sitting down? Here it is – Gratitude. You may be thinking, “That’s it? This is all you’ve got? That isn’t some new profound thing.” And you are right. It isn’t. But it is powerful and it is true. A recent study in Social Psychology…
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“Research shows that about 45 percent of youth in the U.S. now spend some time without a biological parent by late adolescence.” And for children from disadvantaged socioeconomic groups, the numbers are even higher. A sociologist from Princeton University states: “If we were asked to design a system for making sure that children’s basic needs…
DetailsYou call your husband during the day to let him know that you are upset with the fact that he forgot to take the trash to the street this morning, before he left for work, as he had promised. Not a big deal in and of itself – but it is about to become one. …
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