Dear Betty, Can I trust my intuition about my romantic partner? Trusting your intuition in a romantic relationship is absolutely exhilarating. Love and romance are already such incredible emotions, but when you add the element of trusting your gut, it takes the experience to a whole new level. Your intuition is like a guiding compass [read more]
Question: Can I trust my girlfriend after I caught her sexting with an old lover?
Dear Betty, Can I trust my girlfriend after I caught her sexting with an old lover? Discovering that your girlfriend has been sexting with an old lover can be a devastating blow to the trust in your relationship. Trust is the foundation of any healthy relationship, and when it is shattered by infidelity and betrayal, [read more]
Jealousy – Don’t Get Bitten by the Green-eyed Monster
“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey’d monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on.” – William Shakespeare, Othello Jacob travels a lot for work. Jacob can’t bear thinking about his wife, Darlene, sitting in a restaurant alone while he’s away, or even taking her car to their local garage. Why? [read more]
Part One of a Great Relationship – Emotional Intimacy
The key to any successful relationship is genuine attachment. Obviously you have a different relationship with a housemate or friend than you do with your lover. No matter how close a friend a housemate is, the attachment of a lover is bound to be deeper. It is based on full understanding which leads to a [read more]
Honestly? Telling Lies Hurts (Everybody)
People lie constantly. Especially if you include in your tally the most common lie of all: “I’m fine.” As much of a social lubricant as this lie is, it represents an essential fact. People don’t want to reveal… too much. We learn to lie in childhood. Saying “sorry” when we are not, saying what others [read more]
How do I know that I’m being lied to?
Lying is believing or knowing one thing while intending to communicate another. As painful as it is to be lied to, a certain amount of empathy is important when dealing with liars who typically are acting out of fear or low self-esteem. Often, fear and low self-image are also responsible for the very actions about [read more]
Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence PART 2 – How to Improve Self-Confidence
Last week I talked to you about self-esteem, a fundamental internal navigational system that, when it is working well, allows you to love and accept yourself (Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence PART I – How to Improve Self-esteem). Healthy self-esteem is often present in self-confident people, but not always. You can be confident in certain arenas – [read more]
Developing Self-Trust
“If you can’t trust me, who can you trust?” When I was growing up, that’s what our sketchy neighbor Mr. Dillard used to say all the time. Even as a kid I remember thinking, “I bet he doesn’t even trust himself.” I know I didn’t. A friend of mine made a really bad decision recently. [read more]