Part 1: “The Score Card”  “Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.  “Where there is love there is life.” –  Mahatma Gandhi  This month’s Relationship Essential addresses the fundamental dynamic in all relationships. It’s the reason that 99.9% of clients walk through my door – and why…
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ALL COUPLES ARE INCOMPATIBLE! After the initial infatuation/romance stage wears off (weeks up to 4 years) couples enviably disagree in five key areas: – Money – Sex – Kids – Time – In-laws In my sessions with couples we discuss the 5 essential compatibilities for relationship success and how to negotiate successful compromises. The 5…
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Do you know what makes your partner feel most loved? The Emotional/Love Bank Account In any relationship, even casual and business ones, goodwill is a key ingredient to it’s success.  Goodwill is the extent to which you trust and feel positive about the other person.  If something bad does happen challenges come up, the more…
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Over the years in my practice, I’ve been  noticing that more and couples are experiencing sexual  problems. In fact, I’ve found that even when couples  improve their communication and connection, many of them  still experience sexual dysfunction. I’ve come to  realize that sometimes one (or both) of the partners may  have a sex addiction issue…
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It seems that each time I write another Relationship “Essential” I always think it’s the most important one. I know I said that last time when I talked about the toxic effects of blame. Studies show that one of the most important habits of successful couples is that they know how to react effectively when their partner is upset…
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Article from the Toronto Sun: Thursday, September 22, 2011 Can annoying habits be overcome in a relationship? Rosemary Counter At Marissa’s house, it’s the receipts. “My husband likes to keep the receipts for everything, just in case,” she explains. If that doesn’t sound too annoying, wait for it: “The problem is he doesn’t have a…
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Although this is “# 4” in my series of Relationship Essentials, it really should be NUMBER 1. Studies show that blaming your partner is by far the most damaging, toxic thing that couples do. It’s also one of the major reasons that marriage/couples counselling is ineffective. As long as couples continue to blame each other, the…
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There’s a lot of reasons to get married and stay married. The fact is happily married people are healthier, live longer (on average 4 years), get sick 35% less, make more  money and their children do significantly better in life. Author, Julia Espey,  offers some stunning information about children raised in single parent homes: – 71% of teen aged…
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Don’t wait for Valentines Day to get connected! Stay connected daily. Last month I talked about friendship being the most important key to couples relationship success and how checking in with each other every day is a vital part of nurturing your couple bond. Studies show that successful couples have a habit of at least…
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Greetings for 2011 and welcome to my Relationship Success Essentials newsletter! Let’s get our year and our relationship off to a great start by discussing the most important relationship success factor first. In my seminars, when I ask the audience, “why do you think marriages fail?” The number #1 reason cited by far is “poor communication.”…
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