Search Results for: marriage relationship dynamics communication

Marriage Advice: Different Styles of Discipline in Your Marriage

How you discipline your children or how you plan to discipline your children are not likely topics of discussion for two people planning to get married. If you did talk about this prior to getting married and worked out a number of these issues ahead of time, my hat is off to you. My husband and I were together for many years before we were married and our daughter arrived just shortly after our first anniversary. As an infant, discipline wasn’t really an issue – discipline doesn’t really start until your children are older. Discipline Can Make Your Marriage Bumpy … Continue reading →

Marriage Tips: Assume Good Intentions

I love that phrase: assume good intentions. I have loved it for years. I heard it for the first time from my husband in the few months after we first met. You can say that at the time, I was something of a cynic. I suppose I still am, yet because of this one phrase, I’m a great deal more optimistic than I used to be. But let’s think about the phrase: assume good intentions. What does it mean? When you assume good intentions, you don’t automatically presume that someone forgot something because they just didn’t care enough about it … Continue reading →

Marriage – A Meeting of the Minds

The hallmark of a superior intellect is one that recognizes that we need to keep an open dialogue on all issues both those we agree on and those we don’t. I’m such a huge believer in debate and differences of opinion, the largest reason being that when you have the ability to see the other person’s point of view, you are opening up the opportunity to learn something and to learn more than what a limited viewpoint might offer. We Don’t Always Agree My husband and I have different approaches to life. We have different backgrounds. We have different experiences. … Continue reading →

Relationship Dynamics: Enhancing Your Listening Skills

Listening is one of the best skills a couple can develop together and individually in order to enhance their relationship. While communication is highlighted as one of the major areas where relationships breakdown, it’s not just about what you say, but what you hear and because listening is a skill that needs to be cultivated – a good listener can go a long way towards keeping the channels of communication open. It’s important to remember that listening skills have to be developed on an individual, person to person basis – you may not be able to improve your spouse’s listening … Continue reading →

Relationship Dynamics: 5 Tips on Compromise

Married life requires compromise, whether you learn it from the get go or you achieve it after years of butting heads – compromise is something we all eventually have to discover. Compromise without resentment is the ideal, of course and it comes with its own benefits and those benefits are numerous. There are many ways to compromise without resentment and the following 5 tips will help you discover compromise in your own marriage: Always talk, even when you disagree, don’t shut down those lines of communication because that’s where resentment builds Take a step back when you need to, you … Continue reading →

For Those Who Wish Their Husbands Would Spend More Time at Home

A common complaint that can be heard among many wives, especially those who have small children, is that they wish their husbands would spend more time at home. Some of the men are working long hours or multiple jobs. Other men are simply doing hobbies, playing sports, or hanging out with friends. Regardless, their wives want them at home. However, there is much more to wishing your husband were at home than just wanting him at home. What does a wife really mean when she complains that her husband is not home enough or that he does not spend enough … Continue reading →

More Tips for Serious Discussions with Your Mate

In a previous article I began giving some ideas on how to more successfully have a serious discussion with your mate. Communication is a very important part of having a healthy relationship. In addition to making certain that you talk, it is also equally important how you communicate. There are many different ways to talk to your mate. Some ways are much more effective than others. My first suggestion was to not begin the conversation with “we need to talk”. Using this phrase often leads to the assumption that something negative is about to occur. Most men in general are … Continue reading →

The Final Stages

My latest series of articles has approached the various stages that couples go through in a marriage or long standing relationship. How a couple moves through the stages can make the difference in the future of the couple. As you know, the first stage of marriage is often joked about. In many cases we will hear people comment on how a newlywed couple is still “on the honeymoon”. In other words, they have not hit reality. Reality usually hits hard in stage two. Couples no longer feel that their partners are perfect. Things begin to annoy, aggravate, and irritate one … Continue reading →

Do You Travel Well With Your Spouse?

My psychology teacher in high school had a philosophy about traveling and marriage that I’ve never forgotten and now believe he was dead-on about: if you and your spouse travel well together, it’s true love. Your bond is strong, deep, and stable and built to endure. When I first heard this concept I think I was all of 16. Wayne and I were together, but traveling at that juncture consisted of day trips to the mountains, Colorado Springs, or Boulder. Which we did well together, and often, because we both liked to experience new places, sightsee, etc. At that time … Continue reading →

The Triangle of Love

What is the triangle of love? In a marriage, the triangle of love is the foundation that helps a couple weather the better or worse that they swear to in their marriage vows. So what is the triangle of love? It’s comprised from: Compassion Passion Forgiveness Compassion is the emotion that allows us to empathize and sympathize. When we love someone, we feel their pain and we want to make their pain better. Compassion teaches us to listen carefully and not to leap to judgment. Compassion teaches us to see things beyond our own point of view and to truly … Continue reading →