The Power of Co-creating Vision
From 2002 to 2006, Martha and I spent four wonderful years living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, with two of our three children. In the spring of 2006, our expatriate assignment was drawing to a close and it was time for us to return home to the United States. We wanted to live in the Boston […]
Tags: Alignment, Andrew L. Miser, Co-creation, Conversation, Couples coaching, Expatriate assignment, Expatriate couples, Partners in Living courses, Partnership, Partnership marriage, Vision
Putting Us First
At the end of August, Martha and I spent a wonderful and much needed vacation for a week and a half on Squam Lake in Holderness, New Hampshire. We swam, hiked, put together puzzles and read our books. We didn’t think about work or other responsibilities for a minute. We relaxed and replenished ourselves. We […]
Tags: Alignment, Andrew L. Miser, Co-creation, Conversation, Couples coaching, Fun, Intentional marriage, Partners in Living courses, Partnership, Partnership marriage, Top Priority, Vision
The Wisdom of Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash wrote: “To keep your marriage brimming, With love in the loving cup, Whenever you’re wrong, admit it; Whenever you’re right, shut up.” Everyone has a valid point of view. And each person’s point of view has a particular “rightness” to it, given that it is the only point of view a person can […]
Tags: Andrew L. Miser, Co-creation, Compassionate communcation, Couples coaching, Partnership, Partnership marriage, Understanding
Investing in your Marriage
There is a good deal of research that suggests that couples who are successful in marriage benefit greatly. These couples are happier, are healthier, have longer lives, are wealthier and have better sex lives than couples who divorce or individuals who remain single (Waite & Gallagher, 2000). Investing in your marriage is one of the […]
Tags: Andrew L. Miser, Co-creation, Conversation, Couples coaching, Fun, Love, Partnership, Partnership marriage, Play, Top Priority, Vacation, Weekends away
The Head of the Household
My brother-in-law sent me a book on marriage last week called “Make Yours a Happy Marriage” by O.A. Geiseman. It was written in 1946 just two years after my parents were married. Dr. Geiseman was the pastor at a Lutheran Church in Illinois and was a well known speaker at the time in practical religious […]
Tags: Co-creation, Couples coaching, Equality, Head of household, Marital roles, Marriage Trends, Partnership, Partnership marriage, Traditional marriage
Connecting to Us Couples Retreat
I am happy to announce that a colleague of mine, Joanie Yanusas, and I are facilitating a couples retreat on the second weekend in October at a peaceful and beautiful venue in Elmira, New York. Joanie is a certified professional coach and Retreat Leader whom I met at a leadership course several years ago. She […]
Tags: Andrew L. Miser, Co-creation, Connecting to us retreat, Couples coaching, Couples retreat, Fun, Love, Partnership, Partnership marriage, Values, Vision
Keeping Intimacy Alive
As years go by, many couples discover that the intimacy they experienced in the first several years of their marriage doesn’t last forever. Chapman (2004) suggests that the “falling in love” kind of love is not real love at all. He says that “real love” recognizes the need for growth, takes effort and discipline and […]
Tags: Acts of service, Andrew L. Miser, Appreciation, Couples coaching, Gifts, Intimacy, Love, Love language, Partnership, Partnership marriage, Quality time, Touch
The Power of a Promise
“I didn’t marry you because you were perfect. I didn’t even marry you because I loved you. I married you because you gave me a promise. That promise made up for your faults. And the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect people got married and it was the promise that made […]
Tags: Andrew L. Miser, Couples coaching, Marriage vows, Partnership, Partnership marriage, Promise
Radical Conversations that Have Shaped Marriage
In the last two hundred and fifty years, societal conversations in the United States, all considered radical at an earlier time, have transformed the institution of marriage. Briefly, here are a few: Individual choice. The Age of Enlightenment in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries influenced relations between men and women in radical ways. Reason trumped […]
Tags: Andrew L. Miser, Choice, Conversation, Couples coaching, Equality, History of marriage, Love, Partnership, Partnership marriage, Values, Vision
Living a Valued Life
Whitworth, Kimsey-House, & Sandahl (1998) wrote that a valued life is a fulfilling life and living such a life is a “radical act.” When one thinks of the word “radical,” one thinks of going to an extreme, but this is not what is meant in this context. The dictionary definition of radical, as an adjective, […]
Tags: Andrew L. Miser, Co-creation, Conversation, Couples coaching, Partnership, Partnership marriage, Values