Surprisingly, love itself is not a problem in many failing relationships. A lack of respect and good communication skills are to blame. Unfortunately, most of us come from families who suffered poor conversational dynamics. Thus, we never learned how to properly communicate. And that verbal correspondence follows us into our relationships outside of the home.…

There’s nothing better than the rush which accompanies a brand new love affair. Except perhaps the effortless contentment which follows. When we sink into a relaxing love. However, sometimes we allow our relationships to shift from relaxed to lazy. When we should remain conscious of each other. Love needs to be a priority. Just because…

Matters of the heart are messy, right? It’s impossible to move on from most relationships, right? The answer to both of these questions would be yes. Yet, we are the ones who often get in our own way. We rationalize why we stay in unhealthy relationships.  And because of this fact, we remain in them…

As the saying goes…breaking up is hard to do. It’s difficult to describe the excruciating pain of separating one heart from another. But is it possible we can actually make it harder on ourselves? At the very least, it is possible we may extend the heartache longer than necessary. By limping along and rejecting rather…

I recently received an email from someone who had read my column 5 Indicators That Someone You Love Doesn’t Care About You. It got me thinking. Why is it we place so much importance on relationship words rather than relationship actions? I certainly did. Case in point. I remember years ago sitting at lunch with three…

It’s undeniable many of our relationship decisions are rooted in our childhood. And yes, it’s good to learn about why we make the choices we make, what influences shaped us, etc. But sometimes we just need to cut ourselves a break.  We were babies after all. At least the majority of us, when we were making…

I wrote my last column about the day I stopped liking myself. In a nutshell – my relationship broke. And I got lost in someone else. Or as the classic quote goes – “Be careful when trying to fix a broken person you may cut yourself on their shattered pieces.” The bigger the problems got…

There are some really great guys in this world. The problem is we don’t always attract ourselves to them.  And no, this does not mean they are perfect – none of us are. This simply means they are truly good people. The kind of individuals who will have more of the ability to love and…

Do you make New Years Resolutions for your relationship? You should. Consider it akin to the annual physical. If we don’t keep up with our emotional health one year runs into the next and before you know it valuable time has been wasted. The end of a year brings with it an energy which should be…

Of course, there’s the obvious reason we get stressed around the holidays.  There is twice as much to do in the same amount of time normally allotted for work and family and fun. But what really underlies the holiday hype in many relationships? Our issues remain dormant throughout much of the year – somehow we…

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More from Beliefnet and our partners