Linda Graham, MFT and author of Bouncing Back: Rewiring Your Brain for Maximum Resilience and Well-Being, looks at how “unlovability” is wired into the brain and the experience of rejection gets encoded in neural cells around the heart. She offers ways to feel lovable again, as we all should. When we’re not caught in the…
A third reason to leave a narcissistic friendship is because they have hurt you purposefully. Friends can hurt us at times, but they don’t purposely try to hurt us, cut us deep, or tear us down. We all mess up and slip up sometimes, but we never purposely try to hurt our friends. Narcissistic friendships,…
Relationships need time and attention to thrive. A regular check-in, whether it’s daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly, can give you a dedicated space to focus on what your relationship needs. Think of it as a time to pause, reconnect, talk about what’s going well, and discuss anything that may need extra attention. If you tend…
I pulled my phone closer in case I needed to quickly dial 911. My client kept looking over her shoulder as if she’d heard a noise. Her attention was off that day; mine was heightened. I genuinely felt afraid for her. Her husband had stormed out of our marriage coaching session minutes earlier because, yet…
When you got married, you committed to your wife or husband. You said the commitment would last a lifetime and you meant it. But commitment isn’t a decision you make only once. A lasting relationship asks you to make that choice again and again. What Is Commitment? Commitment is more than a promise to stay…
Perhaps the most loved and most misunderstood person in any church is the pastor’s wife. Pastors’ wives often carry expectations they were never formally called or hired to fulfill, and churches can best care for them by seeing them as individual members of the body of Christ rather than as extensions of their husbands’ ministries….
Gottman’s Sound Relationship House As the Gottman Institute celebrates its 30th anniversary, the Sound Relationship House model is still sought after as a roadmap for healthy relationships by therapists and couples alike. No other model offers a structured, transparent, and effective method of couples therapy that has been shown to improve relationships in multiple research…
Glancing through my texts, I came across one from a friend inviting me to lunch. After politely declining, I thought to myself, “I’m a terrible friend. Poor Susan must think I’ve abandoned her.” While I wanted to be there for my friend, I made little effort to do so. The Lord had blessed me with a…
Spirituality plays a vital role in marriage, providing a strong foundation for the relationship and deepening the connection between spouses. One of the fundamental aspects of spirituality in marriage is the shared pursuit of a deeper relationship with God. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, “And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold…
For The Gottman Institute’s 30th anniversary, we’re exploring five relationship myths that just won’t quit, and what the research actually says. After 50 years of relationship research, we know more than ever about what makes love last. Yet some relationship myths refuse to disappear. You’ve probably heard a few of these myths before. Your parents…