Connect2 Marriage Counseling

Tag: Fear

  • Death with Dignity

    Death With Dignity Death with dignity is also known as assisted suicide for those with a terminal illness. I can hardly believe that I am having this conversation with my MIL, the mom of my heart (or mom-in-love, as one of my oldest friends wrote to me). As the pain from cancer throughout her body…

  • It’s Easier to Love Someone When You Make Them Happy

    “It’s Easier to Love Someone When You Make Them Happy.” I saw this quote in a book I’m reading, and it struck a chord in me. It made me think of all of you. It is easier to love someone when you can see, hear, and feel that you are making them happy. Let me…

  • Trying New Behaviors: Fear and Excitement

    Trying new behaviors: Fear and excitement are on the same spectrum. Consider, in an evolutionary context, of hunters making the approach: fear and excitement. Think of current times, for example, preparing for a big presentation that may help you in your career, or trying to figure out what to say to your spouse about an…

  • Premarital and Couples: Do you Fight, Flight, or Freeze?

    When you are triggered or flooded — i.e., upset or overwhelmed — do you fight, take flight, or freeze? These are the biologically wired-in options for humans. This has made us survive as a species. You need this tool; it also gets in your way in your relationship at times. I often see couples where…

  • Premarital and Couples: Here Be Dragons!

    I wrote about the The Four Stages of Competency, that begins with the Unconscious Incompetent, perhaps also known as our unconscious. Jung referred to it as our “shadow” side — the parts of ourselves we don’t know about, and frankly don’t want to face. When I wrote the back cover copy for my Connect2 Personality…

  • Differentiating Grief from Clinical Depression

    The following information is from my book, No U-Turn at Mercy Street: A Memoir and Resource Guide for Grieving Parents. This is applicable regardless of the type of loss you have been through; a death, a divorce, a job loss, etc.   When symptoms of grieving persist as defined by abnormal behavior that threatens your mental…

  • “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein

    I recently read The Art of Racing in the Rain for the second time, and liked it just as much as I did the first time. It is a bitter-sweet story that is very well written. If you can’t relate to cars or driving at all, it may not be the book for you —…

  • Premarital and Couples: “Our Deepest Fear” by Marianne Williamson

    What is your deepest fear? As you read the quote below, please be thinking about yourself, your partner, and your relationship. What does this mean to you? What does it remind you of? How does it apply? How do you hold back? Come forward? Be authentic? “Our Deepest Fear Our deepest fear is not that we…

  • Premarital and Couples: How to Stop an Argument

    How to Stop An Argument Follow these simple steps to stop an argument: 1. Close your mouth (really, it works! But read on . . . ). 2. Make the “T” for time-out signal with your hands. 3. Give your partner the benefit of the doubt (his/her intention is useful, even if the impact on…