What determines a successful marriage? Many people want to have healthy relationships yet struggle to know how. Why can most couples quickly tell when their partner is upset with them, but not know how to create the understanding and honesty necessary to resolve conflict? This ability is one crucial factor that builds successful and long-term marriages, so how is it that it's commonly lacking? On the contrary, couples can identify their partner's exact looks, facial expressions, body language, and the myriad ways that they are upset.

In these relationship conflicts, a love seat is not a [...]

A key to healthy relationships is understanding how best to express your love to your partner—loving in a way that resonates with them and fulfills their needs. Dr. Gary Chapman devised a meaningful method to communicate with your partner and show your affection based on their innate preferences. Dubbed the Love Languages, this approach relies on the theory that every individual has a predisposition to and identifies more heavily with one of five ways to spread and receive love.

A relationship is sometimes like a tangled necklace; we have difficulty understanding our partner or their perspective. Although in marriage, we commit to one another for better or for worse, we don't always know how to unravel the tangles we find ourselves in or the conflicts that confront us. Conflict resolution is uncomfortable and we can be all tied up in knots inside and unable to build a bridge between us.

This morning when reaching for a necklace, I found it tangled in my suitcase from a recent trip. Even though I didn't have time to untangle it, I began unraveling the necklace as [...]

Valentine's Day is a perfect opportunity to revel in our love of one another. The celebration itself can create a rekindling of the fires of loving our partner.

You owe it to yourself to flex the muscles required to create lasting happiness. Strengthening your relationship by applying love's keys are just as important as planning your wedding. Your honeymoon doesn’t have to last only for a season!

Have you ever gotten into an argument with your partner, and after you cooled down, you can’t even remember how it was sparked?

Everyone has a unique perspective, so we’re bound to disagree sometimes. However, if disagreements become fights that harm the relationship, our remarks made while upset can fuel future hurt. When it comes to love and marriage, there are a few sacred rules of engagement. If you honor these, you’re halfway to a great relationship. If not, breaking these guidelines will divide you, rewound your partner, and diminish your love.

In a Wall Street Journal article, columnist Elizabeth Bernstein writes about the challenge of marriage between an ardent planner and a partner who prefers to be spontaneous. Perhaps you’ve known people in a marriage like that—or maybe you’re one of them! In my work with couples, I have heard many a planner call their spouse passive-aggressive or the spontaneous one refer to their spouse as a control freak.

Opposites attract. Unfortunately, after the proverbial honeymoon is over, we can begin to indulge a human tendency to judge our spouse for not operating the way we do. The truth is that [...]

“Why does a woman work ten years to change a man, then complain he’s not the man she married?” ~Barbra Streisand

I see it all the time; couples stuck in a rut of marital conflict and stress where small issues become giant hurdles, and their love gets buried. Love sure can be inconvenient, but empathy can dramatically help. Empathy will strengthen your closeness and bond so you feel rich in love, and you’ll be able to handle nearly every challenge that comes your way.

A few weeks ago, I made a quick stop at the grocery store that turned into a lesson in love. While scanning the grocery cooler for a Greek yogurt I like, an older gentleman noticed my futile search. He was stocking the dairy aisle and inquired what I was looking for. He pointed me in the right direction; I had totally missed my favorite brand because of a new packaging design. It’s called change blindness, a cognitive phenomenon where we’re unable to detect small or large visual changes due to familiarity.

Anyway, we struck up a conversation. (My husband learned long ago that there are no [...]

One of the greatest impediments to a healthy relationship and happy marriage is personalizing your partner's behavior and accompanying emotions released in misunderstandings and arguments. When we take offense at our spouse's snarky remarks, arguments often spark. Granted, when angry emotions or childish behavior are wielded our way, it can be difficult to respond with love. Understandably so. When we commit our love to one another, we expect respect, support, and love.