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The Main Barrier to Communication in Marriage is Fear of Listening Empatically

By |2016-12-13T05:19:18+00:00February 19th, 2013|Anxiety therapy, Communication Issues, Communication Problems, Intimacy, relationship issues|

At 8:00 pm one Wednesday night forty-three year dance teacher Erica was paying bills online when her forty-five year old partner Damien, a podiatrist, rushed into the room with a stack of papers that he wanted her to see. He was going on about being sued for malpractice, cussing out the patient and the lawyers. She waited till he finished and then told him it was a legal issue and went back to her bill paying. The tsunami of vitriol that Damien threw at her for not listening or caring made her speechless with rage.

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Self-Compassion Makes You the Partner You Want to be Toward Your Loved One

By |2016-12-13T05:19:18+00:00February 13th, 2013|Anger Issues, Anxiety therapy, Intimacy, relationship issues|

After chiding her live- in boyfriend of five years, thirty-three year old boutique owner Nicole was full of self-loathing. She was angry that she had lost her temper with thirty-five year old car service manager Craig who was constantly letting her down. Nicole watched herself berate him for his sloppiness and half-finished chores. She saw Craig cringe and it reminded her of the times when her father laid into her for not doing as he expected. She didn’t want to be anything like her father. She was alarmed and ashamed that she behaved exactly like her dad, and wasn’t able to do anything to stop it.

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How to Get What You Want From Your Valentine

By |2017-09-14T20:26:48+00:00February 9th, 2013|Communication Problems, Intimacy|

Do you have a fantasy about what you want from your valentine? Would you like action in the form of receiving gifts and treats at a fancy restaurant? Or would you prefer a few genuine and sincere words that touch your heart and make you feel special, loved and treasured? Do you care more about spending time with your valentine or is it more important that your loved one spends a lot of money and spoils you rotten?

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Where to Find a Boyfriend When the Current One is No Good?

By |2017-09-13T17:41:18+00:00February 6th, 2013|Anxiety therapy, Dating, Intimacy, relationship issues|

As the six week new beauty product launch project wound down thirty-six year old Gina felt sad that the closeness and unity of the team was about to shatter as they all went their separate ways. She would miss the happy family they had created in order to get the job done, but understood that good things came to an end. What she couldn’t let go of was the fluttering of excitement and hope she felt when she thought about getting to know Brett on a more personal level.

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Is Family Conflict Making a Friend Out of One Loved One and an Enemy of Another?

By |2017-09-13T19:54:54+00:00January 30th, 2013|Anxiety therapy, Communication Problems, Intimacy, relationship issues|

After a heated argument about being late for dinner, thirty-four year Gemma threw insults at her forty year old husband Jordan who told her that she was overreacting. She stormed out of the house when she heard that he had been finishing an online checkers game with a manufacturing client in Russia. Inflamed at being so disrespected and getting no apology to boot, Gemma drove to her mother’s home with a rush of indignant adrenalin propelling her tired body. Her outrage spilled out before her mother Gloria could make sense of the latest problem that Gemma and Jordan cycled though in their stormy three year childless marriage.

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Breaking Up Doesn’t Have To Be so Hard To Do!

By |2016-12-13T05:19:19+00:00January 25th, 2013|Breakups and Separation, Communication Problems, Intimacy, relationship issues|

Do you want to break up with your partner but just can't bring yourself to do it? Are you wracked with guilt every time you think of telling your partner that you want to end the relationship? Do you feel ungrateful and selfish because your partner is an angel and hasn't done anything to deserve being rejected? What you want most of all is for your partner to be the one to walk away so you don't have to be the bad guy. But that doesn't happen, so you start being a little bad here and there hoping your partner will stop loving you and break up the relationship. This cycle of silent and undercover attempts at breaking up can go on for ever and take up a lot of energy. You can get depressed and turn into the exact evil monster that you were trying to avoid, just to set yourself free. Mandy and Chris were both trapped in the same spot.

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Complimenting Your Partner Can Cause Relationship Problems!

By |2017-09-13T18:44:37+00:00January 22nd, 2013|Anxiety therapy, Communication Problems, Intimacy, relationship issues|

Thirty-two year upwardly mobile grocery store manager Danny approached life with eager optimism. His colleagues and workers revered him for acknowledging their good points, but his thirty year old wife Rayna, a successful beautician threw his compliments in the trash as if they were dirty wasted hair clippings from her customers. Danny’s patience was tested to its limits one evening when he came home and found Rayna tearing her hair out with problems printing out flyers for a special offer at her salon.

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Develop Good Communication Skills and Solve Marriage Problems

By |2017-09-11T18:47:25+00:00January 15th, 2013|Anger Issues, Anxiety therapy, Communication Issues, Communication Problems, Intimacy, relationship issues|

Gina a twenty-seven year old recent law school graduate was bubbling about her acceptance as an intern at a prestigious law firm. She jumped into the car when her thirty-two year old boyfriend Jake, vice-principle at an elementary school came to pick her up. She started talking excitedly before she strapped her seat belt on, but was gutted when she was abruptly cut off in mid- sentence. Three sentences in Jake sighed, avoided eye contact and told her he had to concentrate on the traffic.

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Self-help For Couples That Actually Works!

By |2017-09-13T20:47:38+00:00January 12th, 2013|Anxiety therapy, Communication Problems, Couples Counseling, Intimacy, relationship issues|

Have you tried reading self-help books on making your relationship work and found the advice sensible but impractical? Perhaps you have been on couples retreats, gone to couples workshops and taken courses on communicating with your partner, gaining intimacy with your spouse and managing conflict with your loved one - but still not succeeded with any degree of consistency. There is a good reason why self-help materials and experiential workshops fail - and that is because you are being taught the skills that work for couples who can do relationships well naturally. They don't have to work through the same tensions, challenges and fears that you do. So when you come to putting those skills into practice the fears that you carry about losing your loved one, driving them away, being cheated on, not being good enough and so on get in the way of the success. It's not that you lack skills or need to learn new ones. It's the fears and insecurities producing relationship stress that get in your way.

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Expressing Hurt Saves Relationships While Anger Causes Relationship Breakups

By |2017-09-11T17:21:51+00:00January 9th, 2013|Anger Issues, Anxiety therapy, Breakups and Separation, Communication Problems, Intimacy, relationship issues, separation counseling|

Two years into their engagement, twenty-nine year old medical billings specialist Rachel vowed to leave her thirty-two year old fiancé Brian, a banker and property developer – for the millionth time. She was full of anger and bitterness about Brian’s willingness to help his sister manage her financial problems while making excuses about planning their long awaited vacation to Italy. Brian felt torn between Rachel and members of his family. He wanted to share himself with them all, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to do so without alienating one or other of his loved ones. He liked the fact that he was wanted and needed but he hated being put on the spot over and over again to choose between them and live with the discomfort of divided loyalties.

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