Posts Tagged ‘relationship’
Listening is the Music of Love
One of the most supremely loving gestures we can give another person is to truly listen to them. Yet for most of us, being genuinely listened to is a rare experience. Why is something so simple so hard to give? We remember those early romance days so clearly. Living in two different cities, we relied…
Read MoreHabit Makers, Habit Breakers
Do your evenings ever disappear into the couch, your phone, and a half-watched Netflix show? We realised ours had—and something important was quietly missing. In this post, we explore how small, intentional rituals can transform ordinary routines into meaningful couple time… without adding another thing to your to-do list. Lately, we’ve slipped into a not-so-good…
Read MoreBlessed be the (Relationally) Poor
Embracing the Call to Love in an age of relational poverty. Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te (Latin: I have loved you, Rev 3:9), reminds us that faith and love for the poor are inextricably linked. He writes, “We have to state, without mincing words, that there is an inseparable bond between our faith…
Read MoreIn marriage, you get what you look for
Success in marriage can be as simple as looking for the right things. When we were dating, everything about the other seemed exciting and wonderful. Each discovery about the other was a delight. There were still the stuff ups and let downs, but we lived in an aura of good will, and such disappointments…
Read MoreBoundaries
The proverb, “Good fences make good neighbours” has a great deal of wisdom. The concept of having clearly defined boundaries helps us to develop healthy relationships. When people know the limits of what they can demand from a relationship, it allows all parties to enjoy it. Hidden agendas evaporate and positive feeling in the relationship…
Read MoreSuccess Breeds Success
You Don’t Need to Fail in Order to Succeed A lot of people think that having a few failed relationships is helpful in preparing them for marriage. Some even go as so far as seeing the first marriage itself as a ‘training ground’ for the grand love that is expected to follow. They…
Read MorePositive Thinking
Capitalise on the Positive Most marriage counselling and education focuses on conflict and incompatibility. It seeks to help couples find constructive ways of dealing with challenges in the relationship. It’s a kind of ‘damage control’ approach that seeks to minimize the impact of negative experiences. One of the strategies for couples that is often…
Read MoreWar and Peace on the Home Front
Every nation remembers the sacrifice of their war veterans with a Memorial Day. Thinking about your marriage: is it more of a battlefield than the safe harbour it is intended to be? Through our work with couples, we often encounter those in embattled relationships. They’ve become trapped in a fractious pattern where almost every interaction…
Read MoreDeep Impact Conversations
“How was your day?” It’s one of the most common questions couples ask each other and either leads to a dead-end response like, “fine” or “busy” (which usually means “I don’t want to talk about it”), or a long-winded description of meetings, frustrations, errands and other ‘busy’ stuff. It’s what we call a ‘data transfer’…
Read MoreExperience is not always the best teacher
Lots of people think that dating (and being sexually intimate) with a number of different people before marriage is an essential part of forming a successful union. But is this kind of ‘experience’ the best way to prepare for marriage? Many people think that having a few failed relationships is helpful in preparing them (or…
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