I’ve seen countless couples over the years stuck in the fantastical notion that love can conquer all problems in a relationship. In other words, this is the basic misperception that one can proceed with a relationship, or continuously sustain a successful relationship, through love alone. A feeling that most of us will find quite dominant in the first months of …
Couples typically don’t structure their lives around a regular planning meeting, one where they deal with all the accrued issues around the decisions and logistics they are responsible for in their daily lives. However, this type of meeting is imperative to have on a regular basis – ideally weekly – particularly for long-term relationships. The frequency and duration of these …
Being able to apologize effectively is an essential skill for both partners in any relationship. Unfortunately, in my line of work, I don’t see a lot of good apologies happening. It’s one of the topics I coach people most on, because there are a lot of bad habits that couples tend to fall into regarding attempted apologies. This can lead …
Your partner is inevitably going to let you down. You will be irritated by your partner for different reasons throughout your life, and you may find it is increasingly so at certain times, such as during the holidays or when you have a child together. This is part and parcel of being part of a functional relationship. Nobody sees the …
As we grow up, we automatically take up specific notions about what it looks like to raise a child. We get these ideas from our own childhood, from our experiences with our parents and caregivers. There’s no intellectual, one-size-fits-all solution for how to parent a child, and even if there was one, we wouldn’t likely agree with it. We have …
A lot of people have a very difficult time expressing and bringing up the impacts of another person’s behaviors. It’s hard to know what’s a fair thing to ask for from your partner. Therefore, I want to provide you with a bit of a road map for how to deal with compulsive behaviors that are having a negative effect on …
Giving your partner feedback about certain behaviors can be a difficult conversation to navigate. It’s hard to bring up negative things about another person without them becoming defensive and shutting down, especially when that person is the other half of your primary relationship. The problem primarily stems from an inability to see feedback from our partner as anything other than …
It’s a very common issue that two people in a relationship don’t have the same spiritual practices, beliefs, and ideologies. I often see couples struggling with the challenges that come with this, and the various expectations we place on ourselves and each other as a result. With this in mind, I want to attempt to offer some context for what …
I recently listened to an episode of the Tim Ferris Show called “Ramit Sethi — How to Play Offense with Money, Plan Bucket Lists, Build a Rich Life with Your Partner, and Take a Powerful $100 Challenge”. I want to expand on this conversation and spend a little bit of time talking about how couples can communicate about finances in …
We all have habits, a sort of autopilot or default behavior, that we fall into during arguments if we’re not careful. These can cause the situation to escalate, because it often leads to disconnection and a feeling of resentment from one or both parties. We see our partner retreating into a habitual pattern, and we feel like they are no …
