Everyone has heard of the Golden Rule. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". At least in theory, we teach our kids this is a really important way to live life. Yet, somehow, it can be hard to apply it routinely in our everyday life. It's easy to make excuses. It's easy to ...read more
Resolve to Prioritize Your Partner in Your New Year’s Resolution
It's days from the New Year and resolutions are on the horizon. Typical resolution choices involve exercise, diet and overall physical health. Don't get me wrong, these are great things to do. How about making a relationship resolution and actually KEEPING it this year? Often, our primary ...read more
The Lost Art of Apology: How to Say I’m Sorry
Has giving an apology become a lost art? Often I hear about how our society is less civil and it seems that one part of that loss is the ability to apologize well. Linked closely with an ability to apologize is obviously the ability to take personal responsibility or to hold someone accountable. ...read more
The Importance of GOOD Premarital Counseling
Engagements bring much excitement and dreams about the future but often don't bring up thoughts on the importance of good premarital counseling. It's so easy to worry that this kind of counseling will somehow "spoil" the joy. Given that engagements should be about marriage and not a wedding, it's ...read more
Exercising Empathy: Understanding Each Other
Most people know that exercising is important for overall health, even if they don't like it. Did you know that exercising empathy is equally important in relationships for understanding each other? First it may be important to really know what empathy IS. The most basic definition is the ability ...read more
Betrayal! Losing trust in your relationships.
Betrayal is a big word so sometimes we worry it's just too much. However, when you lose your trust in your relationship that's how you end up feeling--betrayed. Some betrayals are bigger than others, of course, like infidelity. Other times there is a build up of disloyalty that can feel like ...read more
It’s Not Adding Up: Counting Equally in the Relationship
People often ask what the most common issues are in marriage counseling and the generic answer is usually "communication". Digging deeper into what can create real conflict between partners, though, is a sense that both people aren't counting equally in the relationship. Not counting equally is a ...read more
Giving the Benefit of the Doubt
When a good friend tells you something came up and she has to cancel plans, what do you do? Do you make the worst case assumptions about the "real" reasons or are you good at giving the benefit of the doubt? Often, in friendship and in early dating, we are all better at giving the benefit of the ...read more
Put Your Oxygen Mask on Yourself First.
Have you ever listened to the security instruction on airplanes about what to do if the oxygen mask drops and you are traveling with children? They tell you to put them on yourself before you assist your children. That's because if you don't take care of yourself first, you can't actually help ...read more
Is it screen time? Parenting the digital child.
Facebook. Snapchat. Instagram. Kik. Yik Yak. Tumblr. Twitter. Vine. Google+. What's App?. Whew! How in the world to keep up with parenting the digital child today? Every day it seems that there are more and more social media sites parents need to be aware of and understand. A recent Pew ...read more
