Relationship Radio: Marriage, Sex, Limerence & Avoiding Divorce

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! If you’re going through a separation or a divorce, your spouse may have stopped wanting to communicate with you. At Marriage Helper, we’ve developed a method called SMART contact that we built just for this situation. SMART contact is an acronym that we use to describe the process a person can go through when they are trying to teach themselves how to best commun...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! In this episode of Relationship Radio, we interview Rozanne; a Marriage Helper client who sought help after going through some difficult problems in her marriage. Hidden addictions, poor communication, and other issues were leading them towards disaster. She later found out that there was a secret affair going on between her husband and another woman. Rozanne fou...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! Forgiveness can be difficult to both give and receive. When we’ve been hurt, especially by a loved one, that pain will take time to heal. The first and most important key to remember is that you can’t force forgiveness. Accept that your spouse has the right to forgive you or not. But is there a way to get your spouse to forgive you? Forgiveness must be earned. Yo...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! If you knew that you’d done something that might hurt your spouse, would you tell them? Maybe you have a porn addiction that they haven't discovered. Perhaps you have a gambling problem, have had an affair, or one of the hundreds of other possibilities. Any one of these could be devastating to your spouse and your relationship. So is there ever a good time t...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! It can be very frustrating when you can’t get your spouse to understand what you feel, saying, or how their actions affect others.  Or maybe you need to talk to them about the fact that what they're doing is causing more harm than good.  Is there something that you think you just must discuss with each other, but your spouse doesn't even want to do that...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! The experiences and traumas from your past can significantly impact your current life and marriage. This week, our Director of Marketing, Gemma sits down with Shel to discuss the tumultuous times that caused her marriage to fall apart and how she’s using Marriage Helper to try and rebuild herself and her marriage. Shel discusses both of their parents’ past use of...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! It can be very frustrating when you can’t get your spouse to understand what you feel, saying, or how their actions affect others.  Or maybe you need to talk to them about the fact that what they're doing is causing more harm than good.  Is there something that you think you just must discuss with each other, but your spouse doesn't even want to do that...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! Reconciling a marriage is a long and challenging process. You may feel at times that you and your spouse are getting along and becoming close again. Yet, other times you might feel them pulling back.  So how do you handle these cycles of emotion or false starts? Today, we look at four steps to avoid false reconciliations when trying to repair your marriage. We lo...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! Divorce can be as painful and confusing for your children as it is for you. If you've realized "my children won't talk to my spouse," there's still hope. Research from all over the world has proven that marital issues, when children are involved, affect them as well. After divorce occurs, 25% of fathers will no longer see their child afte...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! Preparing to have a difficult conversation with your spouse can be nerve-racking and stressful. In most cases, you can already assume that they will react negatively to it. Is there anything you can do to make the situation easier? In this episode of Relationship Radio, we’ll discuss the "two Es" of being prepared, environment, and emotion. Dr. Joe Beam...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! Communication is a vital part of any marriage. But what is communication?  Speaking to each other every day about bills and mundane happenings isn't enough.  So, what do you do when your spouse refuses to communicate with you anymore? Dr. Joe Beam and Kimberly Beam Holmes discuss how to improve your communication skills in this episode of Relationship Radio....

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! What do you do when you're trying to save your marriage only to find out your spouse is in love with someone else? In today's episode of Relationship Radio, Lawrence shares his story of how he found strength to continue standing for his marriage despite his wife still being in limerence. Through introspection, self-improvement, and forgiveness Lawrence...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! Hate is a strong emotion; it’s intense and passionate. But, we can also define love, especially in its initial stage, using the same words. They are bound together through intimacy, passion, and commitment. But what can you do when your spouse hates you? Is there a way to get your marriage back on the love path? In this episode of Relationship Radio, Dr. Joe Beam...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! Hearing that your spouse, who you love deeply, hates you can be devastating. But how did that love turn to hate? Is it possible to save your marriage after that? We believe so at Marriage Helper, and today’s episode of Relationship Radio is geared to help you do so. Understanding how intimacy, passion, and commitment lead to both love and hate can guide you down...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! You’ve decided to end your affair and go back to your spouse. But how do you do it? How honest do you need to be when they ask you details about your affair? Dr. Joe Beam and Kimberly Beam Holmes will give you their five keys to reconciling your marriage from the perspective of the person who cheated. Affairs can cause hurt for both parties involved. Find out how...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! We at Marriage Helper get a lot of questions about marriage, particularly marriages that are having problems. And people know that one thing we do is that we help people get past extramarital affairs. And as a matter of fact, I have a pretty good record of helping people to do that. And so, a lot of the questions that we get are from the spouse that's been c...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! While limerence has three very distinct stages, the lines between them can be somewhat blurred. Stage one creates an infatuation with your new limerent object, while stage two crystallizes the feelings you have for each other. Stage three is called deterioration because the infatuation can start to wear off, and you can finally see the flaws. Stage three of limer...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! While stage one of limerence is about infatuation, stage two is about crystallizing those feelings and knowing that the other person feels the same way you do. The highs and lows continue to an extent, but the feelings turn more toward vilifying their current significant other and pushing them away. Stage two of limerence is when most spouses discover that the af...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! When people talk about falling madly in love, they’re describing what we in the social sciences call limerence. There are three distinct stages of limerence. We’ll be going through them all, but we’re starting with stage one of limerence on this episode of Relationship Radio. Stage one of limerence is an infatuation, a longing for your emotional connection to be...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! You’ve worked hard at trying to save your marriage, but that doesn’t always make it work. So how do you decide if it’s time to file for divorce? Everyone’s tolerance for pain is different, and understanding how much pain you can stand is an important part of deciding on divorce. Using the P.I.E.S. method that we teach at Marriage Helper can guide you to knowing y...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! Can taking your time getting a divorce actually help save your marriage? If your partner is in limerence, the state of being “madly in love” with someone new, waiting out the newness of that relationship could help. There are ways to do this without becoming someone mean or evil in your partner's eyes. The key takeaways, in this case, are to be firm but fair...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! Watch this video if you are going through a divorce and want to save your marriage.  People file for divorce for numerous reasons. They lose compatibility with their partner; there is a lack of intimacy, or they no longer feel liked, loved, or understood by their partner. People don’t leave what they have unless they believe what they’re going is better. This is...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! Our culture over the years has changed dramatically. The number of people willing to participate in an affair continues to grow. More men and women are willing to participate in unfaithfulness because the thought is, "This makes us both happy. And even though I know that you're married to someone else, this was meant to be because it makes us feel good...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! It never feels good to suspect your spouse is cheating on you. Cheating is a form of betrayal to your marriage and your family life. It's such a severe accusation it could disrupt the trust and foundation of your marriage, so it's essential to be 100% sure before you start raising suspicions toward your spouse. If you believe your spouse is cheating on...

Enjoy the episode? Send us a text! Learning that your spouse had an affair is an earth-shattering feeling. It leaves open-ended questions like, "where did we go wrong?" Or "What could I have done differently?" Infidelity happens for numerous reasons, and we all play a part in our marriages. Sometimes cheating happens because of internal traumas, resentment, fading feelings, and...