There are some conversations that everyone likes to have – talking about vacations, hobbies that interest them or sharing a happy or proud moment. Then there are the conversations that aren’t so fun. The reality is there are also moments in life where things need to be talked about that make us feel uncomfortable or […]

According to the Infidelity Recovery Institute, research has shown it takes roughly 18 months to recover from infidelity. Of course, all couples are different and in order to truly recover from an affair, a couple must put in a significant amount of work. Some might think it takes a lot of work on the part […]

Most people know what a physical or sexual affair is. They’ve seen movies about affairs, know people who have cheated or been cheated on and are familiar with some of the warning signs. Emotional affairs tend to be a lot more confusing for people. Most people aren’t clear on what an emotional affair is, how […]

Have you ever found yourself thinking any of these thoughts or maybe you’ve even said them to your partner in frustration? “I shouldn’t have to ask…” “It doesn’t mean as much if I have to say something…” “It was obvious I wanted/needed that…” We all want our partners to show they care about us. We […]

I love Christmas shopping (and if I’m honest, I love all shopping). I find it exciting to look for deals starting the day after Thanksgiving (who doesn’t love Black Friday?) and fun to buy gifts throughout the year. My husband doesn’t start shopping until 2 weeks before Christmas and he doesn’t buy anything except for […]

Have you ever gotten into an argument with a loved one and gotten so angry you didn’t really hear a word they said? I think we have all been there and it never feels good. While it’s impossible to avoid all conflict, we can actively take steps to repair and learn how to process our […]

We’ve all been there – angry, frustrated, hurt or misunderstood – trying to communicate a concern or issue to our partners only to find the discussion gets so far off track and escalates to a point that we aren’t even sure we know how we got there. It’s crazy, right? John Gottman, a leading researcher […]

We’ve all been there – wounded and reeling after being mistreated by someone in our lives. No one is immune to being wronged; it happens in every relationship, sometimes intentional, often not. When people walk into my office, they often bring up painful memories of injustices and times when they’ve felt wronged by the people […]

Apologizing: I think it’s safe to say that we all agree it’s a good thing. We know we need to do it when we’re wrong – we value “saying sorry” as the “right” thing to do. Actually putting it into practice? That is a whole other story. Why is that? For starters, I think the […]

Just the other day my husband and I were out running errands when he saw a side of me that he isn’t used to seeing. For the most part in our relationship I am more passive and let him handle all of the “tough” situations. Well, on this day we were picking up something that […]