Happily Ever After is Just the Beginning

Do you struggle with feeling emotions or expressing them? Do you think all emotions are created equal? Do you only want to feel some of them and not others? Emotions aren’t good or bad, they’re just another form of information. So why do most of us have some difficulty with them? Because they can be both confusing and you’ve probably been taught to suppress them.  But knowing how to deal with them...

Falling in love is easy. Making a marriage work long term is a bit more complicated. While each marriage is as unique as the two people in it, there are some common challenges that every couple faces. How you handle them will determine if your marriage hits the skids or becomes the “happily ever after” you want it to be. Marriage blogger Keelie Reason provides insight to help you on your journey....

A good marriage is based on trust. That trust can be disrupted in so many ways, often unintentionally. Once trust is broken, it can be difficult to repair. While not impossible, it is always better not to damage it in the first place. Clinical psychologist and marriage counselor Dr. Randi Gunther is here to talk about some of the most common ways that people break their promises to each other, and...

Trust is a critical component of a healthy marriage. But what does it mean to trust someone? If your trust is violated, does it mean it’s gone forever? These are important questions. It’s also important to understand how your past relationships and experience with trust in them are impacting your marriage today. Author, coach, and counselor Randall Turner reveals what trust is and how you can make...

Marriage seems really scary to a lot of people. Maybe even you. Imagine if you knew that you had the power to make your marriage be however you want it to be. Well, you do! You come equipped with everything you need to live a happy, loving life, including having a great marriage. Rachel Henke, The Fearless Transformation Coach and bestselling author, is here to talk to you about the Superpowers we...

Do you ever feel like you’re in a “push me/pull you” relationship with your partner? Are you afraid your relationship will end so you either hang on to your partner with everything you’ve got or hold them at arm’s length so it won’t hurt so much when it ends? When things aren’t going great, do you question if your partner is “the one”? Psychotherapist Sarah Murphy explains what is going on and how...

Yes, feelings are messy. They can be uncomfortable. But they are necessary for your survival and the health of your relationships. More than likely your feeling love for your partner is why you got married in the first place. You probably have some concern for your and their happiness—also a feeling. But, in order to feel happiness, you have to be willing to feel some of the harder emotions like h...

Dealing with challenging emotions is challenging for many people, but it can be especially difficult for men. It isn’t that they don’t have emotions. It’s just that they often don’t access them as easily as women can. This is a function of both culture and experience. But it has real world consequences for their marriages. It can be easier to let your wife deal with emotions in your relationship b...

 Top things married couples fight about: money and sex. Rarely is it because there is an overabundance of either. And both topics are extremely personal. If one of you is unhappy with how often you are physically intimate, then your relationship has a problem. But how can you talk to your partner about this really important topic? Marriage Counselor Carole Cullen is here to do just that. It’s a sh...

What you don’t know about how relationships work is putting yours at risk. Many partners bail when their marriage hits a completely predictable bump in the road. Maybe it’s a disagreement about chores or the realization that you still find people other than your spouse physically attractive. Maybe it’s the realization that your partner is a flawed human being with characteristics and behaviors you...

Think of your worst day ever. Maybe you lost a loved one. Or a job. Or had a really big fight with your spouse. You didn’t know how you would move on. More than likely, you kept moving forward. It wasn’t easy, but you did it. Maybe the effects are still lingering. If so, you’re not alone. But you can make them less debilitating. Moving through hardship is what Aimmee Kodachian, author of Tears of...

There’s a common belief that women are more interested in the health of their relationships than men are. The problem: it’s not true. Women have been encouraged, sometimes to their detriment, to be in touch with their emotional side. Men—not so much. But most guys want to be good partners and good parents. They’ve just been trying to do it with one hand tied behind their back. Men are half the pop...

Most couples have no idea what they are actually promising on their wedding day. Most see the future as sunny with limited chance of rain. This leaves them unprepared for the inevitable challenges ahead. Some of those challenges are minor. Others not so much.  And what if you’re not just married, but business partners as well? Those challenges become a lot more critical to manage well. Oscar and K...

People need touch—a hug, a snuggle, and, yes, sex—to be healthy. What should seem straight forward is often quite complicated. Stress, hormone levels, time and more, all play a role in how healthy and intimate your marriage is. Women’s Intimate Health Expert Dr. Carolyn DeLucia reveals what every couple needs to know to create deep intimacy and lasting connection. If you want to increase the intim...

Falling in love seems easy but it’s actually quite a complicated process. So much of what makes someone irresistible is the result of unseen forces picked up over your lifetime. You’re attracted to this person, not that one. You have a type. The same things go right, and wrong, in your relationships. While it may seem that an invisible hand is at work, there is an explanation. Ira Rabois, a long-t...

With apologies to Shakespeare, would a relationship by any other name be as sweet? The truth is that our entire lives are made up of relationships—romances, friendships, family, and work. They have their differences but there are also aspects common to all. The greatest common denominator is you. This conveys both power and opportunity. You hold the secret to success in all your relationships. Emp...

It’s romantic to think that there is one person, one perfect-for-you person, who will bring infinite happiness and lasting love to your life. But is it realistic? A singular match for you out of almost 8 billion people? Also, if one person were able to meet everyone of your emotional and romantic needs, what would happen to you if something happened to them? Often what sounds good in theory has so...

It’s hard to be honest. Scary even. If you’re honest, you will say and do things your partner won’t like. And many people don’t know how to handle this, maybe even you. They’ve never learned how to be honest in a healthy, productive way. But not being honest does great damage to your marriage. It breeds resentment and erodes trust. It can lead to crazy-making behaviors. None of which is good for y...

Nothing thrives on neglect and your marriage is no different. And far too many relationships have fallen prey to the day-to-day grind. Maybe even yours. It can be challenging to keep things steamy when there is laundry to do and kitchens to clean. But, if the health of your marriage is important, there are some simple things you can do to keep the spark alive. Suzannah Galland, an acclaimed Intuit...

There’s a saying that forewarned is forearmed. This is true when it comes to your marriage as well. Knowing what behaviors are harmful is what is going to keep your relationship out of danger. But that means not only knowing what to look for but also knowing how to respond if any of these signs show up. Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Virginia Williamson discloses what she has learned from...

Marriage used to be about societal and financial stability. It also was about continuing the species. Now it’s about love and personal satisfaction. In the olden days, everyone knew their roles, whether they liked them or not. Today, marriage seems to be a free-for-all and, in some viewpoints, in free-fall. But, it doesn’t have to be as difficult and confusing as it seems to make it work. Dr. Stev...

You might remember this famous line from the book and movie Love Story—“Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” You might even want to believe it because apologizing can be really awkward. And, besides, your partner knows you didn’t mean it and that you really love them. NOPE! When you can’t or don’t apologize it often leaves a rift in your relationship. Over time, and with fewer apologies,...

Have you ever heard a couple on the brink of divorce say they never loved each other in the first place? But you were at their wedding and you know that’s not true. Maybe you’ve even found yourself thinking this about your spouse. But that’s memory rewriting itself. This happens because the marriage has been unraveling in predictable ways over the years. But love and your marriage do not have to d...

I’m reminded of the line from Robert Frost’s Mending Wall—Good fences make good neighbors. A lot of people think of boundaries as walls or fences. They aren’t. They are more like permeable membranes where you choose what comes in or stays out. And they are key to healthy relationships because they set the parameters for what is acceptable and what isn’t. Stuart Motola, men’s relationship coach and...

The difference between your expectations and what actually happens is a gap. All relationships have gaps because they involve flawed humans. And the tighter you hold to your expectations—what you think should happen or what you want to happen—and get upset about what actually is happening determines how happy your marriage will be. That’s not to say there aren’t valid areas for improvement, but no...