EmPowered Couples with The Freemans

Be honest: have you and/or your partner been nit-picking, critiquing or questioning each other more lately? Being real, we have noticed this in our own relationship over the last couple of weeks and it's something we're bringing awareness to shifting between us.  We noticed that these additional (and mostly unnecessary) remarks to each other were leaving us feeling unaccepted by each other. Not on...

How many of your past arguments and conflicts actually get fully repaired? Do you feel that from every emotional impact, your partner has fully understood you, that they acknowledge the role they played in you feeling that way, and you believe things will be put in place to make the necessary change for it to not happen again?  These are just some of the points that need to happen to fully repair...

Register for the LAST FREE WebClass in 2021 happening October 5th. It will cover strategies for preventing conflict, de-escalating triggers, and repairing after conflict. Save your seats here. There are some misconceptions about resolving conflicts in a relationship. What doesn't actually resolve anything is trying to jump right to a solution, or distracting yourself long enough where the high lev...

Register for the LAST FREE WebClass in 2021 happening October 5th. It will cover strategies for preventing conflict, de-escalating triggers, and repairing after conflict. Save your seats here. You cannot blame your behavior in the "mid-conflict" stage on your partner! Nope, you must take ownership of your patterns if you're going to have any chance of changing them. But that's why we call them pat...

Trust can be broken or weakened by both the big things and the build up of many smaller broken promises. Trust is such a foundational aspect of a relationship that without it, it's harder to have respect, love, and passion for your partner.  In this episode we go deeper into rebuilding trust, whether you are the partner that doesn't trust, or if you realize that you are the one that has contribute...

When men spend time with other men, it boosts their testosterone (super important), and when women spend time with other women, it boosts their estrogen (super important). Biologically and emotionally, you and your partner NEED time with friends outside of the relationship. If you don't, it can have a real impact on your happiness as individuals and how you show up for each other. However, it's no...

Are there any topics left in your relationship that you feel you can't talk about? Perhaps you no longer attempt certain topics or expressing your emotion on certain things because your partner's reaction makes you feel "emotionally unsafe." Being in a truly healthy and empowered relationship means that you should always feel safe to talk about any topic. Of course saying "talk about any topic" re...

Do you want to be a GREAT partner? It can be easy to show up less than our best as the months and years pass, so today's episode is a great reminder that will motivate you to be the best partner you can be! We dive into 3 traits that are underrated and truly make such a difference for your partnership.    Resources For Your Relationship: If you're in or near Arizona, attend The Couples Workshop on...

Are you in one of these 3 places: feel less fulfilled in your marriage, you are thinking that the relationship should end, or you are active in keeping your fulfillment high by preventing anything from lowering it?  Whichever place you find yourself this episode is about exploring the main reasons we see couples struggle that lead to lower levels of satisfaction and fulfillment in their relationsh...

On a importance scale from 1-10, how important is sharing household chores and responsibilities? On the spectrum of things you can be focusing on in your life and relationship, how often are you getting frustrated or do you bicker with your partner over this simple area?  Now any place in your relationship that you have a recurring upset and causes you to be disconnected from your partner, is an i...

When your partner says something that's harder to hear, do you find yourself unconsciously reacting or consciously responding? You see, a solid partnership is where both people are safe to open up about things, even if it's hard to hear sometimes. So if you're committed to being the best partner you can be, then you want to master the difference between reacting and responding.  In this episode, y...

When was the last time you reviewed what you're committed to in your relationship? Was it on your wedding day when exchanging vows? There is a big difference between what you said you were committed to in the past versus what you are committed to now, even right in this moment.  In this motivational episode you will get a love gut punch to be honest about what you are actually committed to, as a r...

"Inner-Work": looking within to see where you can grow and evolve (ie. what needs to be healed from your past, which patterns need to be unlearned, and realizing that you recreate experiences when you didn't get the lesson). Doing this "inner work" is absolutely imperative to cultivate your desired partnership. Most importantly you, and ideally your partner, must be willing to do this inner-work i...

You can eliminate many moments of frustration and feeling like you're on different pages with two simple questions. You will ask one of these questions in the morning to start the day with ease and synergy--and it will be especially helpful if you have kids, busy careers, and lots of moving parts to your schedule. The second question is great for the evening to make sure you're on the same page an...

Of course you 'love' your partner, but what level of love and connection do you feel right now? You might "know that you love them," but right now, you can feel disconnected and experience a mediocre or even low level of love.  You do not want to assume that love will automatically be there in a long-term relationship.  Sure, you can say "I love you" to each other all day long, yet still not FEEL...

We all want to be happy both in our lives and relationships. Yet at a certain point in a relationship it can feel as if your happiness is based more upon your partner. This could be based on their own mood or whether they are "doing the things you want them to do".  Happiness cannot be a pursuit if it leads you to be conditional to any outside circumstances. It needs to be generated from within fi...

The quality of your conversation comes from the quality of your questions! No matter how much you love each other, your conversations can feel routine if you're asking the same ol' questions (especially if you are a 'busy' couple or have been together for years).  Truthfully, it's natural to crave more emotional depth in your relationship, which comes from being able to ask more meaningful questio...

There is one big thing in your life that disconnects you and keeps you from fully enjoying your life and relationship, and that is 'suffering'! Though 'suffering' sounds like a very strong word, this experience happens whenever something is happening that you do not want to be happening. This leads to moments of discouragement and discontentment, and over time will lead to a feeling of "things not...

The most attractive trait in a partner is reliability! So what is reliability really? Well, can your partner count on you to follow through, or do you make promises and then have excuses for why it didn't happen?  The thing is, how reliable you are in your partnership directly impacts how much they can TRUST you. Now you might think we're just speaking about the "big" things...but actually, it's a...

Coming off of last night's webclass on "Communication Mastery", many people were intent to bring more empathy into their relationship. The very next feeling however was "being empathetic is not easy when I don't agree with my partner."  This most likely is the case for you as well. Though being empathetic to our partner's experience is a true expression of love, it isn't easy especially when you h...

Establishing boundaries as a couple can sometimes be a point of tension. It can feel like a battle between wanting to feel security, but also not feeling controlled by the other. The thing is, boundaries are critical to agree upon, so you both feel respected, loved, and also fulfilled. Most couples discuss boundaries as: expressing commands, arguing repeatedly, a resistance to feeling controlled....

We wanted to give you an update on our pregnancy journey and how we're preparing for parenthood...intentionally. For us, it's important to prepare together for a natural birth AND to get our marriage prepared for parenthood. Because we talk to couples all day every day (with many being parents), we get to see the behind the scenes challenges that come up with marriage and parenthood. So we've been...

It can feel frustrating or unsettling when you and your partner disagree on a big decision. For some couples, this can lead to making no decision and staying in a standstill for a while, which is also not ideal for you. F or others, it can lead to tense conversations, full blown arguments, and feeling like you're limited by the other person. But it doesn't have to go that way… Whether it's parenti...

It's a great personal trait to be considerate of your partner (especially of their needs from the last episode). However there is a danger of being overly considerate or overly pleasing in your relationship.  You might not have ever considered this or realized that it was happening to you, but the effect can be very disruptive. It can make you feel unhappy, unfulfilled, and even disengaged from yo...

Of course you know that you and your partner are not exactly the same. Yet, how often do you expect them to fulfill all of your needs? Or even how often you assume that they should just know or desire to meet your needs?  When you get to a place where you have conflicting needs, this can feel as if you have to sacrifice or be discouraged that your needs won't be met. When we asked on IG what some...