My sweet Izzy (my second oldest dog) doesn't seem to have much longer on this earth. She's the kind of dog that stares into your soul with the biggest smile and a constant tail wag, looking cute no matter what she does. She's also the kind of dog to literally ...

After an affair, and during affair recovery, we follow three steps in counseling: atonement, attunement, and re-attachment. During attunement, couples have decided that they can move forward with forgiveness, ready to stop blaming the partner that was involved in infidelity.  Step 3:  Attunement Many trust building behaviors occur in this ...

Holidays Can Work with an Interfaith Couple The holidays are a wonderful time of celebration, giving, and spending time with family. However, for some they're also a time of great stress; especially when you don’t see eye-to-eye with your and you practice a different set of beliefs all together. Being ...

I recently posted “Part 1” exploring why you should practice gratitude every day, every moment - not just on Thanksgiving. Here are some signs you need to make gratitude a habit -  You can more easily recall the things your partner has done that upset you than the things your ...

Affairs don’t always have to mean the end of a relationship. In fact, there is research that indicates that sometimes couples come back stronger after recovering through the affair. According to lead researchers John and Julie Gottman, there are three phases to affair recovery. The three phases are: Atonement, Attunement, ...

Now that the holidays are in full swing, everyone is definitely feeling a little more festive, merrier, and happier. Let’s be honest, it’s a LOT easier to show gratitude and appreciation during this time of year, right? (It’s OK – a lot of people feel the same way!) What I ...

It is amazing how a couple can go from a loving, respectful, deep connection with their partner to living like two strangers in the same house.  Is this what has happened in your relationship? Do you want to have a deeper connection with your partner? Read the tips below to ...

Typical Email Exchange: “How’s your day going love?”  “It’s going, you?”  “Same, I miss you.”  “Miss you too, what are dinner plans?”  The above is pretty much a copy/paste from regular interactions with my spouse. Nothing negative, and it helps me feel connected, but I know that I sometimes miss ...

If you stop for a moment and take a good look at the relationship you have with your partner, are you connecting on a deep and intimate level?  Or do you find that over time, you’ve grown apart?   This happens often in long term relationships.  Marriage, careers, kids, activities, laundry, ...

Shirley Glass and Jean Coppock Staeheli, in their book Not “Just Friends”: Rebuilding Trust and Recovering Your Sanity After Infidelity, reference how affairs occur to relationships that seem apparently solid by illustrating relationship “walls and windows”. If we can think of a marriage as a House of windows and walls ...