Now that may seem like a strange question. You may be thinking, “I don’t want to ‘use’ my friends. That wouldn’t be good.” And I agree. I am asking more about the role that your couples friends play in your own marriage. For example, I know of couples who feel as though their mate never…
DetailsThere is a story told that “Following a parade, the mayor of a large American city was walking with his wife when they passed a man sweeping the streets. The wife recognized the street sweeper as one of her old high school boyfriends. The three had a short conversation before the mayor and his wife…
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I sit with couples on a regular basis who argue and fight. They tell about their conflicts at home and they frequently live those conflicts out in my office. Fortunately, when they are sitting with me, I am often able to redirect them or get them to pause their thinking and consider other possibilities. When…
DetailsYou get home from work and once again your spouse has . . . . (fill in the blank). It could be – left the dirty dishes in the sink, didn’t feed the dog, left the dirty laundry on the floor, or numerous other possibilities. And with this repeated annoyance – the conflict begins. What…
DetailsI frequently hear individuals express their seeming inability to control their reactions to their feelings. They can be intense feelings of anger or of love and they feel compelled to act upon them, often to their own detriment. But here is the truth – you don’t have to act the way you feel. You see,…
DetailsIf you are breathing, you have at one time or another encountered individuals who get angry and fly off the handle at the slightest provocation – or maybe, seemingly, with no provocation at all. It may be a spouse, a child, a parent, a boss, a co-worker, or even a best friend. You may find…
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Now while your first thought might be, “I don’t have any expectations in my relationships,” as you give it a little thought, I believe that you probably do. For example, if you are married, you most likely began the marriage assuming some things with regard to: how money would be managed; how much time you…
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Whether we are talking about a marriage, a work place relationship, or a friendship – most of us would, at least initially, think of disagreements as a negative experience. While I know that it often feels that way, is it really? Disagreements come in all shapes and sizes. Sometime we have minor arguments – such…
DetailsPeople respond in a variety of ways to a question like this. Some might say (because we all want to appear to be reasonable) that they always calmly and rationally discuss disagreements. Others would answer with an honest expression of “We yell at each other, get it all out in the open and then we…
DetailsIf you are a guy reading this title, it may have struck instant fear in your heart as you think, “I don’t dance with my mate. I am not good at dancing and I don’t want to do it.” While most females read this and only wish they could get their husbands to dance. But…
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