In most life situations, we’re rarely presented with clear-cut choices — obviously good or bad, right or wrong. When a choice is undoubtedly good or bad, it ironically makes your decision really easy. In relationships, we get a little guidance from something called...
Conversation: The Foundation For A Thriving Relationship
For many people, having a healthy attitude about life means that you regularly take stock of your goals and whether or not you’re making progress in achieving them. In your personal life that might involve having a regular exercise routine. You commit to a few days at...
A Crystal Ball For Your Relationship
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a crystal ball that unerringly predicted the future. It might be especially valuable when you first begin dating someone. Is this the one, oh crystal ball, who will joyfully be my lifetime partner? Well, it’s not a crystal ball, but a...
Is This Just The Calm Before The Storm?
Sometimes there comes a period in a long-term relationship where everything seems fine and there’s genuine peace in the household. But as they used to say in the movies, it’s quiet out there… too quiet. Is this just the calm before the storm? Or, on the contrary,...
Questions To Light Up Your Relationship
Getting to know another person can be tricky business. That’s especially true with young people who are just beginning to date. However, as many a person in a long-term relationship will attest, it can also be a challenge even in a mature relationship. One of the keys...
First-Date Questions You Won’t Regret
Meeting someone for a first date can be simultaneously thrilling and nerve-wracking. Even if you're acquainted with someone through work or a club, or maybe you’ve made a connection through a dating service, meeting in person for coffee or a drink with the explicit...
How To Use Conflicts To Deepen Your Relationship
One of the joys of being in a long-term romantic relationship is the process of slowly getting to know each better week by week, year by year. Ideally, deepening levels of intimacy are the result. An interesting corollary to the process is that as you get to know your...
An Incomparable Combination: Education, Experience and Advanced Training
When an individual, couple or family reaches out for professional counseling, they are trusting the counselor to apply both training and experience to help them improve interpersonal relationships and resolve life crisis situations. For years, Patricia McTague-Loft’s...
Cultivating Emotional Intimacy
Anyone in a long-term romantic relationship has undoubtedly experienced some emotional ups and downs. We’re not just talking about the inevitable ups and downs of the relationship itself. Rather, we’re talking about events and circumstances involving others beyond the...
Recognizing Signs Of A Deteriorating Relationship
People who have dated a variety of romantic partners probably recognize that relationships develop in a fairly predictable pattern. Typically, you meet someone whom you’re attracted to and start to get to know them, through informal or formal dating. If things are...