Feeling tempted to stray from your partner? You could learn a lot about self-control from Frog and Toad. Read more…

This is actually one of the handiest pieces of relationship advice I’ve ever come across—and it works at the earliest dating stages. Read more…

A staggering number of dating disasters can be traced to unconscious (automatic) choices. Self-awareness is crucial when it comes to changing bad attraction patterns, and very few forces push us to the edge of romantic disaster quite as quickly as reflexive, mindless decision making—except, of course, stubborn, conscious decision making.

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We’ve always attributed special powers to touch. Our cultural imagination is teeming with images of catastrophic or transformational contact, both sacred and profane. God reaches out to touch Adam and offers the spark of life. Midas touches the world and all becomes still. A mother holds her child’s hand for the very first time and her entire world—everything around her—changes all at once. Read more…

As promised, here’s a selection of some of my favorite post-kid intimacy enhancers. Ultimately, I learned all of them from my work with couples over the years, but each one of them is also heavily informed by my personal experience.

I could probably launch a whole blog devoted to this topic,  but in the mean time, here’s something to kick things off. Read more…

The headline you’ll never see.

The news for couples with kids is generally pretty bleak. We’re inundated by messages that children can be the death of a good relationship. That’s bad enough. But what’s even more troubling is that the reasons cited often ring true. Read more…

Living together can kick off a rich, new phase in your relationship.  It can also spell the end of things if you’re not careful. Read more…

No posts or e-mails for the next two weeks. Vacation! Enjoy the 4th.

(Even more impressive than starting in the 700’s is breaking the 10,000 mark)

OK, so this one does require a few words, but not many. For some reason, the last few posts generated curiosity about how to preserve harmony when you just want to say no. It’s true—being able to say no is an important relationship skill, in and of itself, so here are some quick thoughts. Read more…

You’re probably already acquainted with “I” statements and assertiveness skills, but did you know there’s a research-proven way to improve your relationship, even at the earliest, dating stage, without any conversation at all? In fact, sometimes it works without anyone having to utter a single word (hint: it’s not hypnosis or subliminal suggestion). Read more…