Every year, the 4th of July is a time for cookouts, fireworks, and fun with friends and family. In celebrating our country’s independence, we may gather around the barbecue or the pool, sharing quality time with our loved ones, but how often do we stop reflect on the larger ideas of independence and freedom? Beyond […]
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The 4th of July Can Light Up Your Marriage
Which One of You is More Likely to Cheat?
Concerns about infidelity plague many couples. People might be suspicious of their spouses, worry that trouble in the marriage might tempt their partner into looking elsewhere for affection, or be susceptible to falling into an affair themselves. Because this very painful potential exists, couples often wonder what conditions might make their partner cheat, or want […]
The Most Important Part of Effective Communication
All great relationships have one thing in common – solid communication. It is the pillar that supports marriages over the long-term, as people grow and change, as outside factors affect the relationship, as the relationship itself changes… The one thing that holds it all together is real, genuine communication. But what, then, does real communication […]
How Happily Married Couples Are Alike
Long-term relationships have a way of shaping our lives. Some parts of this process are obvious – sharing a home with someone has an impact on the things we buy or the kind of environment we live in. Sharing our lives with a spouse can teach us the importance of compromise, help us learn to […]
A Good Budget Can Save Your Marriage
We’ve said it before, but because so many people still struggle, it bears repeating: money is one of the top reasons couples fight. Financial concerns are simply embedded in our culture – as that old line from Cabaret goes, “money makes the world go round.” This simple fact has a tendency of keeping people on […]
Will My Marriage Survive an Empty Nest?
For many couples with teen children, there’s a big change on the horizon. They know it’s coming, but they might not understand how it can affect their marriage. As the kids grow up and leave the house, it might feel like another honeymoon is coming – and in a sense, it is – but if […]
Make Sure They’ll Never Want to Leave You
Many of the elements of a strong, stable marriage can be established and maintained through conscious effort. It’s a matter of putting your relationship at the forefront of your mind, then making decisions and taking actions with your spouse (and the overall quality of your relationship) in mind! That thoughtful approach to marriage, with “practice,” […]
I’m So Bored with My Marriage
It’s perfectly natural for marriages to go through ups and downs over time. There will be periods of excitement and passion, and there will also be periods when the relationship seems to lull – and things settle into a routine that isn’t particularly eventful. While these cycles are normal, if the “down” times start to […]
Are Your Kids Ruining Your Marriage?
Marriage, kids, work, chores, friends, projects, in-laws, hobbies… There’s always something competing for our time and attention – it’s just the way things are for many people across the world. We’ve got all of these people in our lives, all of these other things that depend on us, all of these things that beg for […]
I Think My Spouse is Bipolar
In the world of mental health, amateur diagnosis runs rampant. We often use terms unwittingly to describe emotional ups and downs, even if they are supposed to be reserved for very real mental health issues – and in doing so, we blur the lines between relatively “normal” difficulties and real, diagnosable mental illnesses. On the […]