An intimate love relationship is composed of a friendship, a love affair, and different abilities to repair problems when they arise. Relationships progress through attraction, to affiliation, to romantic infatuation, to intimate bonding, to better or worse in the long run.
The Two Commitments – If you’re in a relationship, check your commitments
If we feel that we want a life partnership with a person, the commitment needs to shift from, “I’ll stay as long as,” to “I’ll do what it takes to make us work.” This is a massive change in commitment!
Explain and listen, don’t make excuses.
Who is your closest relationship right now? Do you get along well all the time? Do you fight occasionally? To those who can’t think of a conflict, come on! You must have fought or been irritated at least once! Remember your last fight or disagreement. As you and he or she struggled, were you listening, explaining, making excuses, or attacking? Probably you were doing several of these.
The Three Foundations of Marriage
Marriage is a garden: a couple’s friendship, love affair, and repair of injuries nurtures the marital garden
Have you ever had a garden? You love it, tend it, water it, and shape it like the work of art it is. When you do, your garden becomes beautiful and fruitful, delivering whatever you desire—beauty, pleasure, rest, nourishment, purpose—a complex living system to love and cherish. People invest more time and money in gardening than any other hobby in America.
Integral psychotherapy is redefining psycho/spiritual/physical healing in the 21st century
Integral theory is a meta-theory that creates a scaffolding within which all other theories are organized. Integral psychotherapy is any therapy that takes into account a global understanding of the Kosmos. Objective/subjective, individual/collective, states of consciousness, lines of development, stages of development, spiritual/temporal, and types of individuals are core dimensions of Integral understanding. Any healing approach that practically utilizes these perspectives as cross-validating, mutually influencing forces is by definition Integral psychotherapy.
Dealing With Conflict Effectively: 6 Ways to Repair Your Relationships
Conflict comes with the territory of any long-term relationship. It’s only natural that when you merge your life with another human being—someone with different tastes, opinions, habits, and worldviews—you will … Read More
Understanding Your Shadow: The Key to A Successful Marriage
Why is it that you’re 35% happier if you live next door to a good friend, but only 8% happier when you live with a spouse? Why do most young … Read More
Sexual Compulsivity Has Many Forms
Sexual compulsives can have wildly different kinds and degrees of obsessions. I’ve helped men and women who were absolutely “Sexually addicted.” They urgently craved self-destructive sex like compulsive philandering, prostitutes, … Read More
No Institution is Immune to Corruption, Including Marriage
Human nature corrupts all institutions. Any institution—bank, company, army, government, family, marriage, you name it—has been, is being, or will be corrupted. The institution of marriage has special significance, because … Read More
Let Her Inspire You to be a Better Man
This blog post is for guys willing to learn to love women better. A couple come sits in my office at 1:00 on a sunny Monday. Alexi is Persian-American Osteopath. … Read More