Relating

Problems in our relationships often create our most serious distress and most confusing challenges.  We all want more harmonious relationships, but we may feel it’s not possible to achieve that.  Not true!  There are things we can do for ourselves to improve the situation, even if the other party does not change.

  • Consider the relationship issue in a new light
  • Expand your understanding of what motivates the behaviors
  • Empower yourself with new options and choices

 


Relationships Articles

  • Letter From The Heart

    Letter From The Heart

    Dear Dad,
    When we are children, we see a world where we make ongoing decisions about the nature of reality.  We can make some very strong decisions that can affect the rest of our lives.  And it could take many years of effort after we “grow up” to undo some of those decisions …

  • Journey to the Center of a Wound

    Journey to the Center of a Wound

    I have someone in my life, a family member, with whom I have had a long and difficult relationship. It has gotten so that it doesn’t take much, when we have an encounter, for me to get all stirred up and start spinning into negative thoughts about this person. I would get off the phone with her or come home from seeing her and complain to my husband about the upsetting things she did this time! Once that negativity got rolling, it could go on for awhile, and was difficult to get past. I grew to hate these times, hate this person for being the way she was and hate myself for feeling the way I did…

  • Crabby Granny

    Crabby Granny

    I feel like my life has been hijacked.  Seven months ago, due to unsavory circumstances, my husband and I allowed our daughter and her twin babies to come live with us. This is not what we wanted – for ourselves, for our daughter, for our grandsons. It’s a complicated situation, with layers and layers of issues … 

  • I’m The One in Charge, Right?

    I’m The One in Charge, Right?

    Have you ever said or thought: “There’s a part of me that wants to do this and there’s another part of me that doesn’t.”? This is a more frequent thought than I’d like to admit to . . .

  • Confessions Of A Reformed Bully

    Confessions Of A Reformed Bully

    With all the attention focused on the issue of bullying in recent times, I feel compelled to come clean. You see, I was a bully. My time as a bully was short-lived and early in my life, but I still have some vivid memories. I am moved to reflect on lessons learned and, hopefully, wisdom gained.

  • Being Open To A New Way Of Thinking About My Family

    Being Open To A New Way Of Thinking About My Family

    Some of my family members and I jokingly refer to the negative family traits as our family values. But they are not so funny and I personally would like to see them stopped and not handed down to future generations …

  • How to Survive, and Thrive, in a Marriage Where You Hate Your Spouse

    How to Survive, and Thrive, in a Marriage Where You Hate Your Spouse

    So. . . what if your happily-ever-after isn’t? Your marriage, or civil union, or cohabitation smacks more of poisoned apples than magic, life-giving kisses. But you can’t, or choose not to, leave the castle. Your current version of the fairy tale is that your white-picket-fence fantasy has become a chain link reality that you don’t much like.

  • Why Do People Abuse The Ones They Love?  (Part 2)

    Why Do People Abuse The Ones They Love?  (Part 2)

    Author: Michael Strelcheck “Recognizing The Emotions Of Being Abused” The aftermath of an incident of …

  • Why Do People Abuse The Ones They Love?  (Part 1)

    Why Do People Abuse The Ones They Love?  (Part 1)

    It’s a difficult thing to understand why a person would hurt or abuse the ones they love. I know from experience, being physically disciplined as a young child, that being victimized by a loved one (my father) is an emotionally traumatic experience. Although I felt that my father loved me, I couldn’t understand what I saw (and felt) in his angry behaviors …

  • New True You

    New True You

    Author: Mary Summerbell Every year, as part of our earnest self-improvement efforts, many of us …