Category: Couples
Hello! Let me introduce myself: I am Anne Contee. Together with my husband Barry Contee, we invite you to join us on a lighted-hearted journey of healing and deep connection. I am a storyteller and enthusiastic facilitator. My optimistic, self-confident view of the world is not merely one in which the glass is half full, […]
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The Center for Erotic Intelligence defines eroticism as “the interplay of desire and arousal with the daily challenges of living and loving,” and describes the five main elements of erotic intelligence as body attunement, social intelligence, emotional intelligence, self-awareness on steroids, and creative imagination. Erotic intelligence thus combines body, mind, heart, and soul and is essential for us to feel […]
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At the heart of Imago Relationship Therapy is the idea that unresolved wounds of childhood have a way of programming us–patterning us–with an internal blueprint for a partner. The partner who fits this blueprint has the capacity to wound and disappoint us in just the ways we were wounded and disappointed as infants and children. […]
READ ARTICLEAnnual Trip to Your Gynocologist For most women, a visit to the gynecologist includes a vulnerable and unpleasant experience and necessity: A Pap smear to scrape cells from the back of the cervix is no picnic. However, this screening test is a matter of life and death in some instances. A visit with the OB/GYN […]
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Can You Give Me what I need? Being in a committed long-term relationship is the hardest thing we do. Individuals in a relationship boil down into two distinct categories. You can call them Pursuers and Withdrawers, Minimizers/Maximizers or the-one-who-is-eternally-Disappointed and the-one-who-lives-in-fear-of-eternally-Disappointing. It all boils down to the same fears: “I am never going to be […]
READ ARTICLEMentality {(Need for Romance + Security) > (Fear of Rejection)100} -Memory {(Declaring Love led to Intimacy last time) ÷ (That relationship ended badly)3} × Anxiety (Will she/he reciprocate?)10 √ {(Is this bad timing?) +Intuition (I’m getting a good vide.)} × (Courage + Nerve ± Recklessness) = “I love you.”* What does it mean to you […]
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Are you Really There for Me? Why are some couples so quick to respond to their partner with anger or defensiveness? How can we break the cycle of extreme arousal, pain and more wounding that some couples experience with nearly every interaction? “We can’t stop fighting,” I hear. “Everything turns into a major blow-up!”. According […]
READ ARTICLEAccording to the Eastern chakra system, when a person’s heart chakra (seat of love) is closed, it can’t hear, feel, or discern emotions. As stated in ancient Eastern text, modern man/woman is ambivalent and confused due to a lack of knowledge. Living without knowledge in a couple is like being hijacked by fear, dispensing energy towards […]
READ ARTICLEInteractions with other people wire the brain for resilience. This dharma talk parable illustrates how interactions can be positively and negatively encoded in the brain. A seven-year-old boy and his family are having dinner at a local restaurant. The waitress, addressing the boy, asks “What would you like, hon?” And the boy cheerfully answers: “I […]
READ ARTICLEDo you ever dream of a beautiful exotic getaway with intimate moments of delight? The adventurous intimacy that you yearn for is not as far away as it might seem, but it’s not always easy to get there. You have to visit your partner’s world–not their office or their hometown, but rather their private inner […]
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