Physical touch is a crucial component in a healthy relationship. In this article, I offer very practical tools you and your partner can use to strengthen the non-erotic touch in your relationship.
Nobody can predict the future. We enter marriage with the best of intentions to “love and to hold…in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish.” Yet we know, how easy it is to become derailed and find ourselves experiencing pain, hurt and disappointment. So, how do we keep the embers of love burning?
The relationship between parents and children can be a source of joy and delight, and it can also be a source of tension, pain, and conflict. These relationships can become more challenging to navigate as children grow and develop into adulthood.
Have you been feeling the roller coaster effect in your dating or marriage relationship? Perhaps there are periods of closeness where the two of you feel safe and connected. But these times are inevitably followed by someone pulling back, or by hurt and conflict. After a while, the closeness comes back but you know the downward plummet will eventually come again, and you feel stuck riding the relationship roller coaster.
When your face hurts from smiling as you think about your special day and your countdown gets smaller and smaller you start to notice something new come up inside of you… sadness. Wait what?? Sadness?? NO!! Why am I sad?! This “should” be the happiest day of my life? My wedding day! As fear starts to creep into your mind and you notice this new feeling emerge, you wonder: “Is this normal…?”
“I am not even hungry. Why am I still eating?” “I find myself eating past the point of feeling full. I actually eat until I am so full it hurts.” “I often hide the packages of the food I have eaten. I am so embarrassed that someone might see how much I ate.” These statements are from real people who are suffering from binge eating disorder.
You have taken the brave and painful step and sought out help to start addressing the infidelity in your marriage. You are experiencing the realities of this vulnerable work with your spouse, processing full disclosure of the infidelity, the inventory of its impact on you, and the steps needed to restore trust in your marriage. While sorting through the mountain of emotional, physical and spiritual debris of the events, how do you respond to your relatives and friends who want to know “how to help” you?
No one escapes trauma. Childhood is full of injuries that come from adventure, curiosity and unfortunately people. What if those injuries were life altering? Would you want a redo? Perhaps a better question would be: Are you willing to do the hard work that leads towards healing.
This question is for the sports fans out there: have you ever had to settle for listening to the game on the radio rather than getting to watch the action on the big screen? Though watching the game on TV can be exciting, for me, there is something about hearing every moment called out in real time that adds to the level of excitement. It requires a different level of focus, which often highlights details that you might miss otherwise. There is something about naming every movement that requires us to stay in the moment, forcing us to forget about the last play that went wrong or what might happen next. Calling the play-by-play requires a level of presence that can enhance the overall experience, and when applied to marriage, it serves as a game changer in navigating difficult conversations.
Anxiety can surface in many forms such as fear of the future, fear of failure, worry about the well being of your loved ones. But I wanted to laser in on one area of anxiety which surfaces in social situations and is characterized by the fears of being evaluated in a negative or critical manner by others, causing angst and avoidance of social situations.
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Journal of Clinical Psychology Critical Review | Abstract
Journal of Technology in Human ServicesFull Review | Abstract
Journal of Clinical PsychologyFull Review | Abstract
Ongoing Research American Psychological Association Online Counseling
