Showing posts with label save marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label save marriage. Show all posts

Monday, September 21, 2009

The Best Way To Save Marriage Embrace Conflict

In a lot of states, all a husband or wife has to do to end the relationship is state to the court that there are “irreconcilable differences” and the court will grant the divorce. But, in any marriage, there should be irreconcilable differences. The best way to save marriage is to embrace the conflict that's inherent in a close partnership between two people.
We frequently think of divorcing couples as the ones who screamed at one another always. But if these couples could communicate their needs through elevated voices, they're actually doing better than the couple that avoids all conflict at the cost of expressing their needs and beliefs.
It's these silent couples who need to save marriage through embracing conflict.
While no one is suggesting that emotional and verbal abuse is a good thing for a relationship, couples who do not acknowledge that there are problems and differences are actually more likely to break up according to Dr. John Gottman, a researcher who runs the Love Lab.
So, if you would like to save a marriage, you need to learn how to communicate and express your differences. Here are some tips for communication in marriage:
· Allow enough time for proper communication. If you're not spending enough time together to air your differences and share your strengths, you'll find your relationship is in trouble. Work on building couple’s time back into your life. For example, make a point of eating dinner together numerous times a week or going out on a date very week.
· Really listen when your partner speaks. It's amazing how much we tune out our partners. He or she might be telling you what you need to know. But, if you're not listening, it's all in vain.
· Determine why your partner is annoyed. When your husband or wife is being especially grouchy, determine what is really going on. Occasionally, it might be that you have done something that's annoyed them. Other times, it might be that something completely unrelated has happened. But you will not know unless you ask.
· Get inside his or her world. As couples start to drift apart, they begin to live in separate worlds. When you make an attempt to get inside his or her world, you might just save the marriage.
· Stop judging. Express what needs you have and listen to your spouse’s needs. But, do not be quick to judge or criticize.
· Be honest. One of the biggest problems for people who do not like conflict is that they can not be honest about what they want and need. When you begin to express honest opinions about things, you'll start to save marriage.
Marriage is hard work. But, if it's worth it to you to save marriage, you'll do the work. That means more communication, and yes, more conflict.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

What Can Save Marriage When Everything Seems Hopeless

What can save marriage when everything seems hopeless?

Marriage is considered a sacred institution by most of the world’s religions. It's the foundation of the family, which, in turn, is the foundation for society. So, there's a lot of emphasis on saving a marriage.

But that does not mean that marriages today do not run into trouble. The changing roles of men and women, financial pressures, and difficulties with kids all make it difficult to make marriages work.

So who do you turn to?

Maybe the best place to look is the institution that values marriage more than any other – the church.

While a clinical psychologist or licensed family therapist will take an individualistic approach to marriage counseling, a pastor will concentrate on making the marriage work in a holistic sense. Over all, this has a better chance of actually saving the marriage.

Why is a pastoral counselor better than a secular therapist?

A secular therapist’s education focuses almost completely on treating individual psycho pathologies. Even “Marriage and Family” designated counselors might have only one class or elective dealing specifically with couple’s therapy. Do you think this approach can save marriage?

A pastoral counselor, on the other hand, will be educated in how to bring couples closer together. With the exception of abuse in the relationship, they have the fundamental belief that once the vows are taken, the marriage is forever.

Some pastoral counselors have formal education in counseling. Increasingly seminaries are offering pastoral counseling degrees. But even ministers without a formal degree take classes and seminars in the subject.

If you do not have a church home, you may have some trouble finding a pastor to help you. And, you do not have 6 months to establish membership in a church before approaching the pastor.

In this case, you are able to call various churches and ask them if they have any upcoming couples retreats where you can save marriage through these weekend seminars. Once you've established a relationship with a skilled pastor in these settings, you might be able to do follow up counselor with the same person.

A good couple’s retreat will help you deal with a lot of different types of issues. There will be group sessions and couple’s sessions. You'll also have time to work on questions individually.

Communication is a big issue at these conferences. If you are able to work on your communications issues, you'll find that the other pieces of the relationship fall into place.

Sex, finances, and child raising are also addressed. The goal is to get you back on track in every aspect of your relationship. You do not have to be on the same page going in, but the hope is that you'll be when you leave.

Marriage is tough. Occasionally it seems like the relationship can't endure. But, there are so many reasons to see if you can not make it work. In this case, consider seeing if a pastor can save marriage.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Thinking Of Divorce Save Marriage With A Marriage Counselor

Are you thinking of divorce? Save marriage by seeing a marriage counselor. There are a lot of therapists who say they do marriage counseling, but how do you know which ones are truly good? This article will give you a checklist of things to look for in a family therapist.

Firstly, you want to see what their credentials are. There are 3 basic classes of counselors.

The first is the Ph.D. or Psy.D. level counselor. These people attended graduate school for a minimum of five years and wrote a dissertation. Additionally, they performed a minimum of 3000 hours of therapy under the supervision of an experienced psychologist. In order to legally call yourself a “clinical psychologist” the individual must have a doctoral level degree. Ph.D.’s are frequently more academic in nature and tend to do scholarly and forensic work along with therapy.

Then there's the M.S.W. This means Master of Social Work. Social Workers are trained to apply social theory to specific situations. They could work in institutions or with individuals.

Finally, there's the M.S. or M.A. in Counseling. Frequently called a “Marriage and Family Therapist,” these people can only work with individuals or small groups in counseling situations. They tend to have two year degrees and may not have written a dissertation. They have 1500 hours of therapy under supervision.

If you're using your insurance to cover your marriage counseling, your insurance company will in all likelihood direct you to an MSW or a Marriage and Family Therapist because they're less expensive.

Second, you have to determine what the price will be. Clinical psychologists tend to be the costliest while Marriage and Family Therapists are the least expensive. Remember you're trying to stop divorce. Save marriage by finding the best fit not the most (or least) expensive professional.

Consider the per session cost as well as the overall cost for the expected length of treatment.

Frequently, therapists working in groups or non profit institutions will have a sliding scale fee based on a couple’s income. If you qualify, this may make counseling affordable when it otherwise may not be.

Third, you need to look at the policies the therapist has. Some of these policies include:

· What happens if you miss or cancel a session?
· Can you take a pre-planned vacation without having to pay for the session?
· Will the therapist accept calls outside of the normal session? Do they accept calls at home or just at the office?
· Is there an alternative person you can call in an emergency?

A family counselor should help you put your family back together so that you do not have split up. Saving your marriage should be their ultimate goal. If you do not feel that you're in synch with your counselor, move on and find somebody who can keep you from divorce and save marriage.

Friday, June 19, 2009

4 Tips To Help Save Marriage

There are 4 good tips to help save marriage. None of them are terribly hard to do, and they are all very inexpensive. They are simple common sense. Yet a lot of people will not try them, not even to save marriage.

The first tip is to just stop arguing. Every time your partner says something that you want to get grumpy with or correct, just learn to let it go. By doing this you are doing yourself and all of us a favor. When one person can learn to let things start rolling off her back, the other one will follow suit.

To help save marriage, you're in all probability going to have to be the one to learn to let things go. You never know, your partner may be working on the same skills simultaneously. But no matter how bad both people want to save the marriage, generally only one person is working on trying to keep the peace.

If your spouse thinks that shirt is dark-blue when it is actually an odd green, just think in your head “it is green!” but let it go. It comes down to deciding that you want help save marriage and that is more important than always being right about everything, or making sure your partner does not make a mistake.

The next thing is to begin dating again. Even if you are not really dating and going out together, you have to approach your relationship as though it is new and you have just began dating. This Is not always easy, particularly if you have been in a relationship for a long time, but it is essential.

We all have a different perspective on our partners when the relationship is fresh. Everything is fresh and more exciting. After a long time that freshness wears thin and we begin to get bored. Some call it routine and familiarity, but most people call it boring and predictable.

If you want to help save marriage, then make certain it Is not as boring and predictable as it's been. Surprise your partner with a special date night (and make certain you are able to reschedule, just in case they can not go).

The third step is to love your partner in the way he or she wants to be loved. We all have things that make us happiest. A few like to be told that they are loved perpetually .Others find small gestures like you offering your gloves to them on a cold day to be the greatest things ever.

Some may think that changing the oil on the car for them is a supreme act of love, while others just want to be told “I love you” so they can feel cared for. The point is, your hours of loving your spouse will be twice as effective if you do the things that you know make them happy.

In conclusion, be physically affectionate. Love and marriage aren’t all about sex, but it is still of import. If you want to help save marriage, you will hug and kiss you spouse a lot of times throughout the day for no reason at all.

Friday, April 10, 2009

How You Can Save Marriage By Creating Intimacy

When your marriage hits rocky waters you must firmly believe that you can save marriage in order to save the marriage. If you do not believe that as reality, then there's nothing you do that will make a blind bit of difference. So right now, believe that it's possible for you to save the marriage.

A common missing ingredient for marriages distressed is a lack of intimacy. For a marriage to be happy there must be a level of intimacy that goes beyond the physical and wholeheartedly embraces the emotional. Ask yourself this, “does my marriage suffer from a lack of intimacy?”

Are you open and transparent with your spouse? Do you share and include or do you exclude and keep your emotions and emotional needs locked away and try and deal with things on your own? If you exclude your spouse emotionally, then your marriage lacks intimacy and it is time to inject some and get on the road to save marriage.

Make sure that you're making every attempt to share your problems and worries with your spouse. Too often people find themselves worried and preoccupied with a situation. Instead of sharing this situation with their spouse, they decide to try and deal with it on their own. This is a big mistake because it excludes your spouse when you should be including them.

Remember, spouses can very easily sense when something is wrong and if you exclude them, they quickly begin to feel shut out and redundant and that's when hurt can quickly find its way into a marriage.

Another way to inject intimacy into your marriage so that you can save marriage is to make time for your marriage. In this day and age when a thousand and one things can encroach on your time, not making time for your marriage is a surefire way for a marriage to hit trouble. It's no fun discovering that when you were busy carving out a career or focusing your time on attending to the kids, that your marriage just shriveled up and died.

Make sure that if you want to save marriage that you're actively making time for your spouse and your marriage. Once in a while take an impromptu afternoon off and have some fun with your spouse. When your spouse realizes that you value them to the extent of changing your schedule to include them, you will begin to see an improved difference in your marriage.

Creating and fostering intimacy in your marriage so that you can save marriage will take time and is an ongoing process. Don't ever make the mistake of allowing your marriage to be left set on auto-pilot. A healthy and intimate marriage is one that is attended to regularly, only then will it thrive.