Tag: resentment

According to the NIH, communication and conflict resolution are directly related to relationship well-being. And for the couples I see in my office, communication is by...

All relationships encounter points where one or both partners become irritated with the other. Ideally, many of these irritations are accepted as just part of the marriage deal. Just because your husband or wife does something that bothers you does not mean you need to bring it to his or her attention.

Tolerating differences in behavior or in a spouse's personality quirks are aspects of marriage that require patience and tolerance.

Most of us have experienced some level of resentment at one point or another in our lives. Many of us may feel resentment often, maybe even constantly. Resentment can spiral out of control, fester in our lives and begin to take over our thoughts, actions and even our wellbeing. Resentment can overwhelm our innate sense of joy and ease.

How do we overcome these feelings and regain contentment and peace of mind? Here are 10 steps to help control the downward spiral of resentment.

What you say in a fight can sometimes pack a punch. Never underestimate the power of your words and actions when arguing with your spouse. If you do, you run the risk of hurt, resentment, and unhappiness building in your marriage. In fact, the potential outcome could be an affair or divorce. So it’s extremely important to know what you shouldn’t do in a fight.

When we’re angry and/or hurt, our instinctual response often includes blaming, shaming, and the need to be right, trying desperately to get our partner to hear us.

It’s not easy to be the parent of a teen…forgiving them for a mistake can be harder than it seems.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, your kid goes and screws up in a way you never even imagined possible. Even though you expected the teenage years to be difficult, you just never imagined this.

While it is completely normal for a teen to make a mistake or two (or many) along the way, I experience more and more parents who are struggling to let go of their teen’s slip-ups, whether big or small.

Sexual desire, when strong, seems indestructible. However, desire is easy to kill. Inhibited desire—as we therapists call it—is the main problem in marital sexual disorders and probably the number one complaint in most marriage counseling sessions.

Sexual desire is quite fragile and many feelings whether relational, emotional or sexual can slowly start to poison it. The core issue is identifying, understanding and addressing these factors. I like to think of these as the poisons a couple needs to understand about one another in order for them to move on.

It’s amazing how fast time flies bye, isn’t it?

So maybe you’ve been married for six months or 60 years, and when you think about your partner (or look at your partner) there just isn’t the physical attraction that used to be there. There isn’t the emotional connection there used to be. We have slid apart, and nothing seems optimistic in regards to having the love we had before.

First, let me share this outrageously important information. As we age, relationship shift, mature, grow, or fade away. However, trying to re-create the intense love that we had when we first met our partner may be an absolute waste of time.