So you’ve met someone online or at the birthday party of a mutual friend. Great! You’ve spent a significant amount of time with them, and you both decide you’re ready to commit to a serious relationship. Sounds fantastic except for one “minor” glitch: he/she lives 3000 miles away. What can you do to make your [...]
Now that you’re in a happy, healthy relationship, there are some Facebook rules that need following to ensure it stays that way. 10 things to never do on Facebook if you are in a relationship: 1. Hide things from your spouse or significant other. If you don’t want your partner seeing who you’re chatting with [...]
Not all men are marriage-minded. Is yours? Here are seven signs your boyfriend will not be popping the question anytime soon: 1. No introductions. He has not introduced you to his family members and you have been dating for over a year. 2. No planning. He does not include you in his future plans (such [...]
How to deal with a person who’s reluctant to address issues… Jenna had finally found the man of her dreams. Well, almost. Her boyfriend, Chad, was a creative director for a New York ad agency. With a great sense of humor to match his sense of adventure, Chad was wonderful to be around…except when his [...]
It would be nice if life’s most important lessons came wrapped in a neat package and delivered to your front door. Unfortunately, many of the most essential lessons about life and love come the hard way—through disappointments, setbacks, and failures. Beginning in 1986, Dr. Terri Orbuch tracked the lives of 373 married couples and found [...]
Surveys designed to reveal the top sources of stress in troubled marriages consistently identify one thing that rises above the rest. You might expect some issue related to sex, infidelity, in-laws, or child rearing. But you’d be wrong. The consistent “winner” is money — conflict over earning it, prioritizing its relative importance in life, judging [...]
Hurtful words in a relationship are like a drop of red dye in a glass of water; it turns the whole glass pink. What starts out as a slip of tongue, a small slight from one person to another, sets a process in motion that slowly (or quickly) permeates a relationship and begins to define [...]
While the dating rulebook certainly isn’t law — Don’t wait three days to call her, just do it — there are certain dating principals to follow if you want to set your new relationship up for success. Here are ten important dating commandments: Dating commandment #1: It all starts with you. It’s the same advice your [...]
Just about anyone who has felt the rush of falling in love would agree that the experience is like being strapped into an amusement park thrill ride — a swirling blend of conflicting emotions. Excitement and anticipation compete with a little trepidation at being in the grip of forces beyond one’s control. But for many people, ordinary [...]
In my counseling practice, couples are often surprised to learn they can communicate and solve problems effectively without fighting; but sometimes you may find it’s not so easy to give up your struggles. You may have trouble letting go of the fighting habit because of two factors: social expectations (expectations the people around you have [...]
