Jul 28
Love0

How to Protect Yourself and Your Relationships With Family Boundaries

By In-laws & Family, Marriage No Comments

Our families of origin have an immense impact on who we become as adults, and on our relationships. Whether friendships or romantic relationships, family imprints onto our personalities and our behavior patterns. If we aren’t able to recognize those influences and set boundaries, then our relationships could suffer. While it’s a good idea to set boundaries regarding what behaviors you will and won’t accept from family members, you also need boundaries to protect yourself from the unspoken behavior patterns you picked up from childhood. Let’s look at a few ways your family can influence you, and what to do about…

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Jul 21
Love0

How to Embrace Your Complete Self Before You Marry

By Marriage, Relationships, Self Reflection 3 Comments

“If I could just find the right person to marry, then my life would be complete.” Does that sound familiar to you? Our society sells the idea that a marriage relationship can not only complete you as a person; it can fix your entire life. It’s a fallacy that runs deep and is woven into the fabric of our culture. By chasing the idea of wholeness through relationships, we neglect to establish a whole relationship with ourselves first. And the problem is, when we don’t learn to embrace our complete selves, we spend our lives chasing wholeness through our relationships…

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Jul 14
Love0

Emotional Safety in Marriage: Why Does it Matter?

By Intimacy, Marriage No Comments

Emotional safety is a critical component of any fulfilling marriage. In order for spouses to be able to be truly vulnerable, open, and honest with one another, emotional safety must exist in the relationship. If a couple does not deliberately make emotional safety a part of their relationship, it will become difficult to overcome obstacles and grow closer to one another over time. In short, emotional safety allows us to fully be ourselves, and it’s required if we want to experience all the blessings marriage has to offer. There are several factors that are needed in an emotionally safe marriage,…

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Jul 07
Love0

3 Things You Need to Know About the First Year of Marriage

By Engagement, Marriage One Comment

Are you prepared for your first year of marriage? Living in the thick of it right now? The first year of marriage is often described as a difficult time in a couple’s life, and for many, that’s true. The good news is, there are some things you and your partner can do to pave the way toward a happy first year of marriage (and beyond). Here are three things you need to know about your first year of marriage. 1. Cultivating friendship and sacrificial love should be at the top of your priority list. Building a lasting and fulfilling marriage…

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Jun 30
Love0

Help! Our Parents Don’t Approve of Our Engagement

By Engagement, In-laws & Family 4 Comments

Failing to get our parents’ approval of the person we love and plan to marry is one of the most painful circumstances couples face. Parents sometimes disapprove of engagement for a number of reasons, and each situation is entirely unique to the couple and their family dynamics. Regardless of the circumstances or the parents’ reasoning, this scenario is always difficult to navigate. If you’re an engaged couple facing criticism or disapproval from either or both sets of parents, there are a few things you can do to gain clarity during this season. Let’s take a look. 1. Give them time….

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Jun 23
Love0

Why Every Couple Should Take Time to Rest

By Intimacy, Self Reflection One Comment

Rest is essential for us to thrive. This is true for our bodies, minds, and relationships. If you and your spouse aren’t making the time to rest together, it’s something we strongly recommend. When you take the time to rest with your spouse, you’re able to focus on where you are during this season of life, and the person you chose to spend your life with. Life is busy. Despite that fact, rest is a requirement for health and wellbeing. Let’s look at a few reasons why. Staying in constant motion numbs us. Continual motion goes hand-in-hand with the idea…

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Jun 16
Love0

5 Reasons to Enjoy More Meals With Your Spouse

By Marriage, Time No Comments

When it comes to nurturing a happy, healthy, lifelong marriage, spending time with one another must be a non-negotiable priority. In the absence of dedicated time, marriages suffer and families drift apart. One way to encourage more togetherness between spouses and among families is to enjoy more meals with one another. Meal time equals together time. And in a time-starved world, it’s crucial to take hold of every opportunity to spend that valuable time together. While it’s all too easy for the busyness of life to take over, there are many reasons why dedicating more time to meals is a…

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Jun 09
Love0

How to Grow Together In Your Marriage

By Marriage One Comment

Growth is something we all experience as we go through the seasons of our lives. It’s not unusual to hear married couples talk about how they have changed and evolved as individuals over the years. Allowing ourselves to grow and change as people, in turn, can enrich our marriages. Healthy growth generally involves becoming more mature adults with greater wisdom and life experience. Our growth helps us to step confidently into each phase of life, with valuable lessons we’ve learned in the past. Growing throughout our lives also gives us the chance to impart those lessons to younger generations, including…

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Jun 02
Love0

The Intimacy Goals Every Married Couple Should Set

By Intimacy One Comment

A breakdown in intimacy is one of the most difficult challenges therapists, coaches, and clergy face when working with couples. Intimacy embodies the feeling that two spouses know one another more deeply and completely than anyone else. When there is an intimacy deficit in the relationship, the ripple effect impacts communication and raises the couple’s chances of conflict. In order for intimacy to exist, there are two major goals couples must meet consistently over time. When you counsel engaged and married couples, you’ll want to keep these goals in mind. Want to know more? Read on. Communication Skills Good communication…

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May 26
Love0

Why Personality Makes Every Marriage Unique

By Marriage, Relationships One Comment

In marriage as in life, our personalities come through in our behaviors. By observing how someone behaves, we can get a fairly accurate idea of what their personality is like. Our behaviors are particularly revealing in marriage, when we spend a lot of time together, one-on-one. What’s interesting, though, is that spouses don’t always accurately perceive one another’s personalities, despite the amount of time they spend with each other. Much of our personality plays itself out internally, in ways our spouse will never see. That’s why relationship assessments such as SYMBIS are so incredibly useful in counseling couples. SYMBIS results…

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