Announcing the Connecting to Us Tele-seminar

I am happy to be announcing the Connecting to Us Tele-seminar that I will be co-leading with Joanie Yanusas, starting on March 19th. I have included program information below. Often we take our most precious asset, our relationship with our partner or spouse, for granted. In our hectic and busy lives it’s easy to forget […]

Embracing Feelings

One of the important lessons that Martha and I learned early in our marriage was that expressing emotions is a natural and normal part of any human relationship. Feelings seem to come and go. It is easy to label some feelings as “good” and other feelings as “bad.” It is true that some feelings, like […]

The Empty Nest – What’s Next?

If your grown kids are leaving home, going off to college, getting married or starting a new job, there is good news. Many couples at this stage are spending more quality time together. Marital satisfaction increases as the quality of your interactions and conversations improve with each other. The empty nest phase of your life […]

The Power of Conversation

Oscar Wilde wrote, “Ultimately, the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation, and conversation must have a common basis…” Over a lifetime, a married couple expresses all kinds of feelings, viewpoints, opinions, judgments, and ideas in conversation with each other. Their conversations can, at times, be creative, productive, and affirming […]

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 […]

What Husbands Want in Marriage

Have you ever wanted to know what husbands really want in their marriages with their wives? Neil Chethik (2006) in his book, Voice Male, presented the results of his interviews with 70 husbands and surveys with another 280 husbands to find out. Most husbands whom he interviewed: Considered their relationships with their wife as most […]

Resolving Conflict Responsibility

In a successful marriage, a couple learns to solve issues and problems effectively and, in so doing, they strengthen their marriage. Along the way, though, it is safe to say that they also periodically experience obstacles to effective conflict resolution. Here are just a few: Blaming your partner is most likely the greatest obstacle for […]

Exploring Ideas about Marriage

We all have different ideas and notions about marriage. We form beliefs and judgments about marriage by what we watch on television and at the movies, by what we read in newspapers and magazines and by witnessing the success or failure of the marriages of our own parents, family members and friends. We form all […]

Finding Time to Talk

Early in our marriage, Martha and I would find ourselves going along just fine and then, all of sudden, we’d be in the middle of an argument about money, housework or home repairs that weren’t getting done. We’d get lost in the argument and attempt to solve the issue then and there and, as a […]

Communicating with Compassion

Marshall Rosenberg (2005) examined the role that language plays in helping people to be compassionate with each other when communicating their needs, wants and requests of each other.  He says that when human beings are communicating from the heart and connecting authentically with each other they are communicating with compassion. He is interested in how […]