The Empowered Wife Podcast: Marriage Help with Laura Doyle

When there's no passion in your marriage, it's a huge disappointment because that's a big part of the allure of marriage. You vowed to love in sickness and in health partly because you felt so irresistible when he made bedroom eyes or swept you into his arms and told you how beautiful you are. But when that stopped, it made you wonder if you were not attractive anymore, which feels terrible! Or ma...

I first taught the Six Intimacy Skills™ to women in my living room. When there were too many of us to fit in the room, I started offering workshops at hotel meeting rooms, community centers, conference centers, churches, and a mosque a few times, across the U.S. Women often traveled a long way just to be at these in-person events. I taught lots of workshops, but there were always more women who wa...

Physical abuse is one of the scariest things you can experience. If you're not safe with your own husband, then when are you ever safe? Everyone who knows you and loves you may get scared too and say you have to get out of that relationship. Then it seems pretty hopeless and even foolish to try to fix a marriage after there's been hitting, kicking, shaking or choking. That's what I thought too. Bu...

Last week my guest Suzette mentioned she had come across my blog on what your husband really wants for Valentine's Day and experimented with those suggestions and they worked! I asked her to go into detail about what it said, and neither of us could remember. Since it's the week before Valentine's Day, I got inspired to share this here again because it is probably not what you think. Your husband...

When I first interviewed happily married women on their secrets, they said these crazy things that made no sense to me. But I was desperate enough to try what they said, and that's when I got my miracle. My husband showed up like the man who had wooed me, the one I'd fallen in love with. And he's been showing up that same way ever since. So their crazy ideas were actually the things that worked to...

Brian is not a student but rather the husband of a podcast guest and Laura Doyle certified relationship coach. He generously agreed to be part of our Man Panel series, and today I'm going to get his perspective on the changes in his family as a result of his wife using the Connection Framework and the Six Intimacy Skills™. You'll hear the male perspective on what makes a man attracted to his wife...

Dwight is not a student but rather the husband of a podcast guest and coach trainee. He generously agreed to be part of our Man Panel series, and today I'm going to get his perspective on the changes in his family as a result of his wife using the Connection Framework and the Six Intimacy Skills™. You'll hear the male perspective on what makes a man attracted to his wife and want to be her hero. D...

My guest, Samuel, is not a student but rather the husband of a podcast guest and coach trainee. He generously agreed to be part of our Man Panel series, and today I'm going to get his perspective on the changes in his family as a result of his wife using the Connection Framework and the Six Intimacy Skills™. You'll hear the male perspective on what makes a man attracted to his wife and want to be...

If you've been listening to the podcast for a while, then you have heard a thing or two about The Six Intimacy Skills™. Well, I have a confession. When I first heard about the Skills, I thought they sounded stupid. I remember thinking, "I am NOT going to do THAAAAT!" I thought they were old-fashioned and just plain yucky. I thought if I apologized for being disrespectful, that would be a step back...

When your kids leave home to spread their wings, it's exciting! And bittersweet. It's exactly what you raised them to do but also a letdown because you won't get to see them as much and they no longer need you as much—which is great but can leave you feeling empty. If co-parenting was a big part of the glue that kept your marriage together, then the new quiet in the house can feel sad, especially...

As you already know if you or your husband has chronic pain, it can put a big strain on a marriage! When one of you is always hurting, it's an ever present challenge to emotional and physical intimacy. Just like when you're sick, it's very hard to be at your best when you're going "ouch ouch ouch" all day. It can also interfere with receiving or giving physical affection, which is frustrating and...

If you've ever been separated, I don't need to tell you what a stressful, heartbreaking experience it is. It's also awkward and embarrassing to have to explain to everybody what's going on. You don't want their pity or for the kids to get scared or start asking really hard questions. You just want to fix what's broken and get back on track already. On today's episode of The Empowered Wife Podcast,...

Download the FREE Adored Wife Roadmap now and start transforming your relationship today! Click here: lauradoyle.org/roadmap Here's what you'll get: 6 SIMPLE steps to bring back playfulness, passion, and connection to your marriage. The 3 COMMON mistakes wives make when trying to fix things (and how to avoid them!). A clear, actionable plan to create the joyful, loving marriage you deserve. Don't...

When your husband is there but not there, it's lonely. It's also stressful and exhausting. When you're reaching out trying to get reassurance and he doesn't respond, it only reinforces how disconnected you are, which hurts. A lot. If this goes on for a long time, you feel a wave of hopelessness that it will never get better because that's just who he is. Then you feel disappointed that you didn't...

When my marriage was full of drama, it was incredibly taxing. I felt so overwhelmed and consumed by our problems. It was painful and exhausting to fight all the time and to feel so hopeless that it would ever get better. It robbed me of energy for other relationships, work, and having fun. What I know now is that anything that's sucking out a lot of energy and focus pulls you away from your true c...

When you fell in love with your husband, he made you feel beautiful, sexy and special. So it can be crushing to find out that he's looking at other women online. It can make you feel undesirable, disappointed and less-than, not to mention lowering your opinion of him. Why would he sink so low to sneak around and look at sleazy strangers? Is this really who you married? Naturally you just want him...

If he doesn't want you anymore, it does hurt—really bad. Whether his actions are speaking louder than words and he's too busy to spend time with you or he's saying he doesn't want you or making plans to leave or has already left, it can give you the excruciating impression that you're unlovable. And there's no lonelier feeling than that. Well-meaning friends can make it even worse by telling you t...

When things were out of balance in my marriage, I was seething with resentment about my husband not doing enough chores or making enough money, which left me having to make up for him in both areas. I also had to control the finances since we were always so close to the edge and I knew he wouldn't be able to handle it. It was very stressful and lonely to be stuck carrying these heavy burdens, but...

Everybody has doubts about their relationship from time to time. It's painful when you feel like your values don't match, or your husband is engaging in behavior that you never would have condoned, or his parenting is not at all what you see your children needing to thrive. What if such doubts make you question your own judgment about having said "I do"? It's an exhausting and scary place to be. W...

A student named Gigi told me she wanted intimacy in her marriage but didn't really know what it looked like. "I've been married for over 20 years," she confessed, "and I feel like I just don't even know what intimacy is." I knew what she meant because I was similarly baffled early in my marriage. Was intimacy purely physical–just another way to say "sex"? What did emotional intimacy look like? Wha...

When your marriage is in trouble, you know it because you're worried. And you're scared something bad will happen to your family, like getting broken beyond repair. But how do you know whether your relationship is really in trouble or just going through a phase that everybody goes through? On today's episode of The Empowered Wife Podcast, we're talking about three signs your marriage is in trouble...

When you first say the words "I do," the idea that your marriage will last forever feels like a given. Of course it will! That's why you're committing for life in front of God and everybody! You met the right person, who miraculously felt all melty with you just like you did with him. Your marriage will definitely last forever and ever–the end. But then life kicks in, there's a misunderstanding, a...

If you're anything like me, you love feeling desired. When the physical passion is missing or rare in your relationship, it makes you feel undesirable, which is an awful feeling. You wonder if the extra pounds or wrinkles are turning him off or if there's something wrong with him. Either way, it's lonely, painful and confusing. But it doesn't have to stay that way. On today's episode of The Empowe...

If you're asking yourself what cheating is, that means you're already between a rock and a hard place trying to figure out what to do. Like, what if he's sending inappropriate flirty messages to his ex from high school but you know he hasn't seen her in person? Or he's texting a female colleague all the time and won't show you his phone but says nothing is going on? What if you overhear him saying...

Everybody knows there are some things you can't just forgive in marriage. Like abuse–physical, emotional or verbal. It's terrible. Two is being cheated on. Whether he's going to prostitutes or has another woman, it makes you feel like a doormat and a fool. It's awful. And three is being with an addict who abuses drugs or alcohol. That's so unpredictable you never know what might happen, which is a...