How to Help with a Friend’s Marriage
We have had people ask us, “How do I help a friend who has confided in me that they’re struggling in their marriage? That’s a great question. And research tells us that about 75% of us are going to find ourselves in that role someday. When someone you care about shares a marital issue with you, your instinct is […]
3 Things to Contemplate Before You Consider a Divorce
Have you ever found yourself asking one of these questions? “Am I the only one working on this marriage?” Or, “What if my spouse is taking and never giving?” or I’m lonely, I’m unhappy and I want to call it quits?” What should I do? For some, calling it quits means living in the same house and experiencing a mutual co-existing marathon of misery. For others, calling […]
Do You Suffer from Couple’s Complacency?
We see couples all the time in our intensive weekends whose marriages are suffering from a fatal illness. Couple complacency is a progressive disease that leads to loneliness, bitterness and indifference. If this is left untreated, it will often lead to a slow and painful death of a marriage because it spreads so unnoticeably many couples don’t even realize the deterioration of their marriages until it’s too late. That’s why the second […]
I Like it When You…
When’s the last time you told your spouse, “I like it when you…” Why that question? Because too many marriages are characterized by negative and blaming phrases like “You never do this for me” or “you’re always doing this wrong”. This negative attitude and tone does nothing positive to build your marriage, so why not try something new? Whenever your spouse does something that you […]
Living Out Your Vowels
What is Your Tone of Voice Saying?
When our children were small, I used to hear my wife speaking to our kids in a tone of voice that sounded like they were her worst enemies….but she couldn’t hear it! And she would hear me speaking to our kids in a tone of voice that made her fear for the lives of our […]
Is Boredom Beating Your Marriage?
Let’s face it … we live in a culture where we’re quickly bored. We change jobs … channels … and conversation topics in the blink of an eye. Today’s media knows this and bombards its ADD audience with sound bite messages every 15 to 30 seconds … Unfortunately many of us who are married … have lost […]
5 Reasons Why a Vacation Can Strengthen Your Marriage
It’s summertime … and for many of us that means … it’s vacation time! A chance to “vacate” our everyday routines of work and life that can break down family relationships! Did you know that going on a vacation can strengthen your marriage and family? Here are five reasons why that’s true: Vacations lift moods: A change […]
How to Prevent Getting Stuck in a Rut
We work with many couples who are experiencing challenging marriages after they attend one of our intensives. They realize how their marriage slips slowly into the crisis situation that brought them to us. They had let things get too far out of hand. They slipped back into a rut. So here are some thoughts to help us from letting things get too far: 1. […]
Tackling Stress in Marriage
Have you ever gotten so stressed out that it hurt your marriage? Overloaded family schedules, under-funded bank accounts, mountains of maintenance, stuff that needs to be done around the house, parenting pressures, not to mention the little bits of stress that we import every day from our day. Jobs all take a toll on our marriage and family relationships. These negative effects of stress are obvious. […]