It is normal to have conflict and struggle in a relationship. When you begin a relationship, you usually spend a while in the honeymoon phase and lose part of yourselves as you enter the intoxicating phase of merging. As your …
Questions for You During the ‘Differences’ Stage of Relationship
This is the phase where we step back from the intense merging of the honeymoon phase, we take off the rose-tinted glasses and ask ourselves if we can live with the reality of the other person. It is easy to …
Questions for the Honeymoon Stage
The honeymoon stage usually lasts up to two years but will vary for every relationship. It is the time when we fall in love, Hollywood style. You are both wearing your rose-tinted glasses, you spend a lot of time together, …
Why are Family Secrets Toxic?
???????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???? ???????????????????????? ???????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ????????????????????????? Keeping secrets in families, especially across generations can be harmful for the family and the holder of the secret.Take the example above. Here the mother and child …
The Five Stages of Relationship
Reminder: it is NORMAL to have conflict in a relationship. Excellent relationship researchers, the Gottman’s, discovered that it was not the number of disputes that determined if a relationship was robust or not, but how the couple resolved the conflict. …
Using the Five Love Languages on Valentine’s Day
We all feel love in different ways. It might be that you could spend hours and hours together, but if you were not touched, you would feel completely unloved. Or it might be that you could be hugged and kissed …
How Can I Let My Partner Know I Love and Value Them?
All relationships need nurturing. I like to think of relationships like plants. If we leave a plant in sandy soil, give it too much sun and not enough water, it will quickly die. No two plants are the same. One …
How to Speak to Someone with Anxiety
???? When faced with someone experiencing high anxiety, rather than giving advice, which can feel invalidating, a better approach is to seek to understand how it is for the person. Let them know you are with them, and they are …
Know Your Partner’s World: Building ‘Love Maps’
This is about knowing your partner’s world. It is difficult to really love someone that you don’t know. You might read this list and think, of course I know these things about my partner. That is great. But know that …
The Secret to Relationship Success: A Strong Friendship
When there is a strong friendship, repairs in the relationship work better. In the Gottman’s book “The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work” (1999), they talk about the importance of repairs. In any relationship, we have to expect to have …