The period after all the wondering, the realizations, the “conversation” is just as important as all the angsty mess that led up to it. In fact it is even more important. What happens next is all about your being okay. And maybe healing your relationship. This blog is the final installment in the four part [read more]
Is Your Partner Cheating? — How to Have that Conversation
Over the past two weeks, we’ve covered the signs of cheating and the reasons some people cheat. Now you are at the point that you are pretty darned sure your partner is having an affair. This is difficult to wrap your brain around. Until people experience it, few can understand how painful it is to [read more]
Sex: What Time is the Right Time?
Sex. It’s awesome. They say it’s on our minds a LOT. In one way or another, whoever you are… you think about sex. And it’s only reasonable that when you are dating someone, or thinking about dating someone, you would be doing some extra wondering about sex. Mainly—when is the right time to “go all [read more]
Write What You Want — Online Dating Profiles and the Relationship Checklist
A colleague recently mentioned his experience with online dating checklists—you know, where you have to convey your dating requirements or “must haves.” We agreed that some of the lists people are making on dating sites are—pardon me—ridiculous. Mostly because they are naïve, careless, or shallow. We’ve seen it all, from blatant stereotypes—such as blanket claims [read more]
Springing into Love—How to Know if You Are Ready for a New Relationship
Many people experience some special feelings in the spring. After the long dark months of winter—especially if you lived in a part of the world that got hit hard with cold, snow, and relentless wind chills—you may experience early spring giddiness. That lightness that enters your body somewhere beneath your ribs and gives you a [read more]
This Isn’t a Competition: How to Stop Keeping Score in Relationships
Mort was a scorekeeper. He kept track of the things, little and big, that he did for his wife, Andrea. He noticed if she did not notice when he did something wonderful, and he was painfully aware if she did or did not do something nice for him. He would adjust his actions towards her [read more]
What’s So Great about a Great Relationship?
Don’t we all want a great relationship? The partnership so “meant to be” that you can almost hear the “click.” The “she gets me, I get her” kind of relationship. The one with trust and comfort and loyalty, warm fuzzy feelings, mutual cheer-leading, sickness-and-health, devotion, presence—all of it. Maybe you have that now, or had [read more]
Hostage or Free? Codependency Revisited
Codependency has gotten some press in recent years. Which is a very good thing because it drags into the light of day a dangerous and fairly common relationship pattern that can hold people hostage for years. If ignored, codependency can do grave damage. I worry that people sometimes hear “codependent” and brush it off— yeah, [read more]