Tag Archives: relationship

Respecting Each Other’s Quirks

One of the pleasures of being in a marriage is that you always have someone in your corner who knows you well and can love and support you unconditionally despite your little personality quirks. Being able to respect the harmless quirks can bring you closer together and make for less conflict in your marriage. I’ll give you a couple of good examples. Although I don’t always like to do it, I am famous for multitasking. I really have to be, since I work at home, and I am the main caregiver for our three children. I often have several things … Continue reading →

How to Find a Marriage Counselor

When your marriage is a bit rocky, you’ll want to seek out a good marriage counselor. But, you may not know where to turn. You don’t want to make your marriage worse by following the advice of a bad counselor. So, other than picking a marriage counselor randomly out of a phone book, what do you do? Here is some advice. Know Where to Look While the phone book is certainly an option, there are better ways. The first is through word of mouth from someone whose opinion you trust. However, you may be reluctant to share the fact that … Continue reading →

The Top Reason Why Men Cheat

What is the number one reason that men cheat on their wives? Do you think you know the answer. Well, you might actually be surprised by the real answer. When asked this question: why do men cheat, most people will answer that it is because of sexual dissatisfaction. But according to research, this isn’t the real answer at all. M. Gary Neuman, the author of the book, The Truth About Cheating and a marriage and family therapist, says that his research has shown that the number one reason that men cheat is because they feel that their wives don’t appreciate … Continue reading →

Date Night Ideas

It is important for married couples to get away by themselves on a regular basis. Lives often get in the way of marriages, from the responsibilities of jobs and kids, to individual interests. Couples starting out usually have a good number of date nights, but the ones that need it the most may just be the couples who have been together for a while. I know it isn’t always easy to get time alone, but planning something, even if it is a quick movie while the kids are in bed, is always a good idea. Here are some date night … Continue reading →

Clutter and Conflict

While there are those few couples that have the same clutter style, most of the time, spouses have their own tolerances and annoyances when it comes to clutter and cleaning. Here is how to prevent the clutter from driving you both apart. Are you someone who could live in the middle of a chaos of clutter while your spouse has to have everything neat as a pin? Or do you both hate clutter but don’t have any motivation to change it? Perhaps you are both obsessive over making sure that there isn’t a single piece of paper out of place. … Continue reading →

How Temptation Changes After Marriage

People, men especially, assume that once they are in a marriage, all temptation miraculously goes away. Of course this isn’t true. The temptation changes, lessens in certain areas of course, but may still be there, depending on the individual. Whatever your moral compass, you must have been set with some sort of temptation previous to marriage, whether it was cheating on a girlfriend or boyfriend, or creating an emotional bond that might not have been appropriate. Once married though, temptation can get more complicated. For example, is hugging ever a temptation? You might not ordinarily think so, but perhaps your … Continue reading →

When Your Spouse Wants a Divorce

What do you do when your spouse wants to get a divorce but you do not? In many no fault states, you may not be able to prevent it. Furthermore, trying to live in a marriage when the other person believes that he or she is single cannot be the happiest of situations, so what can you do? While it may be difficult when your spouse comes to you and says, “I want a divorce,” try to remain calm. Sometimes the statement is made in the heat of the moment of an argument with no real intention behind it. Obviously … Continue reading →

Taking on Challenges Together is Good for Marriage

For a while there in the business world, everyone made a big deal out of team building by developing challenges that forced people to work together and solve problems. And surveys have shown that taking on a challenge with someone else leads to bonding between people in a group. We can apply this same thinking in marriage. Trying new challenges together can be good for marriage, especially if you come into the challenge with a sense of being in the situation together. Challenges can strengthen your marriage in two ways. You can try something new together, such as ballroom dancing, … Continue reading →

Surviving Parenthood

If you follow all of the marriage experts and the relationship surveys, you would be terrified. All of this “good” advice tells us that having kids is a sure way to put your marriage in jeopardy and become unsatisfied as a couple. In fact, some of the conclusions that are released tell you that you might as well prepare for divorce when you are preparing the nursery. But I have news for some of the people behind these reports. parenthood can actually strengthen your marriage for all of the right reasons. Having children does change your relationship. It has to. … Continue reading →

Avoid Nitpicking for a Happier Marriage

Some people raise nitpicking to an art form. For these individuals, they expect the best, or at least things done the way that they think they should be done, and will settle for no less. But even with couples that are easy going, some nitpicking can sneak in. We are all capable of it, but if you want to have a happy marriage, you should avoid the nitpicking at all costs. Nickpicking nearly drove me insane in a previous relationship with a man who was otherwise very loving, attentive, intelligent and who could make me laugh. He tended to criticize … Continue reading →