Tag: fights

You're helping your spouse work on a project. It's not going well, there's a deadline, and your sweetheart is getting increasingly frustrated. Finally, they just blow up and say something like, "You’re not helping! You're only making it worse! I should never have asked you to help!"

You're stunned. You promptly blow up in return saying, "Well, if that's how you feel about it, see if I help you again!" and out the door you storm, stomping your feet and slamming the door for good measure.

With the holidays around the corner, and before the stress and panic really hit, make this a time to look at your relationship and take inventory to see what’s working and what isn’t. Begin to nurture your marriage now, in new and more effective ways so that the holidays can be a time of closeness and connection, rather than fighting and resentment.

What are the issues that are bothersome—the ones you’ve shoved under the rug? What are the issues that don’t really work in your marriage, but aren’t that bad? What are the fights that cause pain and frustration that keep on recurring with no resolution?

Everyone knows the economy is acting like an out-of-control roller coaster. Yet, what goes unreported in the news is the fact that a troubled economy often leads to a troubled marriage. After all, money issues are cited as the most common reason couples argue. You and your spouse can easily work through money issues in a way that leads to more love and trust by taking the following five steps.

1. See It As It Is: Nothing good ever comes out of the tendency to deny or distract ourselves from unpleasant facts. To prevent your marriage going the way of our economy, I suggest you take a good look at what's going on between you and your partner in regards to money.

This holiday season needs an emergency infusion of joy and spontaneity to counteract a falling economy, election withdrawal, seasonal affective disorder, a loss of personal empowerment, and stress.

Ideally, your social network consisting of family and friends can generate humor and joy helping to redirect your attention from what you don’t have to what you do have. However, in reality they can be rude, insensitive and as much fun as a stomach virus. When you recall past holiday get-togethers with family and friends, you often realize why you see these people only once a year.