A Few Quick Fixes For Your Relationship

One of my favorite articles as of late highlights the research of John Gottman. You can read Masters of Love in The Atlantic. If you want the cliff notes version, it compares successful couples with unsuccessful couples (masters vs. disasters). What the research found was that successful couples exhibit kindness and generosity towards each other […]

READ ARTICLE

From Conflict to Connection

In my couples’ counseling practice, one of the things I enjoy most is teaching couples new tools to work through conflict. If you’re considering counseling to work on your relationship, here is a video that encapsulates the answers to, “What is Imago Relationship Therapy?” and “How can it help me?” I have found the tools […]

READ ARTICLE

Six Signs that Stress Effects You Physically

Because of the pressures put on us by others (and ourselves!), stress has become imminent.  We’ve filled our days with activities and loaded ourselves down with expectations. Occasionally in times of serious stress, our symptoms can turn physical. The important thing is to recognize these symptoms and combat them with rest and relaxation before they […]

READ ARTICLE

Tips to Keep Dual Career Marriages Happy

More than ever, it is important for spouses to be able to balance their career and their marriage. Almost half of all the American marriages have more than one income. With this, however, there are going to be many stresses put on the relationship. These issues don’t just work themselves out. There has to be […]

READ ARTICLE

How Can Stress Affect Your Relationship

 Relationships are like roller coasters, they all go through their highs and lows.  What can make for even more low periods than normal is stress.  Stress can take an incredible toll on two people that are committed to each other and turn it into a rough experience.    Stress can come from a variety of different […]

READ ARTICLE

Why All Couples Could Benefit from (Good) Couples Therapy

During my training in Imago Relationship Therapy, one phrase has always stuck with me: “No one teaches us how to be in relationships.” If we have parents with a good marriage, modeling can be a great teacher but it’s still not the exact same thing as what it truly means to learn relationship skills. Intimate […]

READ ARTICLE

How to Communicate with your Significant Other

There may be times when you think that you are talking with your significant other, when they may feel that you are talking at them. Effective communication can really help to get your point across whether it is in a normal conversation or an argument. The first step in getting ready to speak your mind […]

READ ARTICLE

How Gender Roles Influence Young Children

By now, most of us have heard the term, “Man up!”, but if you haven’t, it is a term used to very strongly encourage boys, young men, and adult males, to show more so-called “strength”. It is a term commonly used to shame boys and men, into acting the way past generations feel they should […]

READ ARTICLE

Does the Way You Spend Bring Happiness?

“Much of our activity these days is nothing more than a cheap anesthetic to deaden the pain of an empty life.” ~ Unknown Echoing the wisdom of the world religions, new research suggests that people spending money on “stuff” rather than life enhancing experiences “are sacrificing well-being for a sense of value that never materializes.”  […]

READ ARTICLE

How to Use Conflict to Connect and Grow in Instead of Wound

As soon as my couples get serious about using conflict to grow rather than to wound or make the other “wrong,” things change quickly and dramatically. In the attached article (click link below), Brian Gersho writes, “If you were to witness a healthy couple disagreeing on an issue, it would be hard to determine that […]

READ ARTICLE