COUPLES & MARRIAGE PODCASTS

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5 Steps to Benefit Our Relationships and Bodies
As summer is approaching, we shed our winter layers for more skin bearing attire, which for some also means a time to get our bodies “in shape.”  What steps can we take to better our relationship with our bodies and our partners? With social media always commenting about celebrities bodies and talking about the best diets to get the perfect body, it’s no wonder so many people have a negative body image. But we can learn to have a positive healthy relationship with our partners.

Mindfulness in Marriage
Who teaches us how to be in a relationship? There is no class in school that teaches us how to behave or what to do to make a relationship successful. Taking preventative measures can teach couples how to develop a mindful attitude and lifestyle.

Dealing With Change in Your Marriage
Sometimes dealing with change can be very difficult and confusing and can also put much stress on a marriage and both partners individually. If couples aren’t on the same page about how to manage different transformations throughout life, then they could very well argue a lot more which can lead to a build up of tension and resentment.

Is Alcohol Spoiling Your Romance?
Is connecting with your spouse easiest after a couple glasses of wine?  Is it a little more challenging to have fun with and cherish each other during sober times?  Dr. Kevin Metz helps explore the connection between substance use and abuse and relationship troubles, and provides suggestions on what to do about it.

Rekindling Romance During Family Vacation
Sometimes couples find themselves having completely kid-focused vacations in order to meet the “family togetherness” needs, but they don’t get a chance to pay attention to the marriage during the time off from work and away from home. Or maybe a couple might plan a romantic getaway without the kids because they find it difficult to work on romance with the children around. You, in fact, can go on a family vacation and work on rekindling the romance in your marriage at the same time.

Being Mindful in Your Marriage
The idea of mindfulness is to be present to ourselves physically, emotionally, spiritually and literally in the moment. Being mindful involves focusing on your breathing and thoughts rather than projecting yourself into the future with worries and anxiety.  If couples can learn to develop skills for mindfulness, however, their communication, expression and intimacy abilities will flourish.

Fitness and Marriage
At the end of the day, many couples feel too tired to do anything other than eat dinner, maybe watch some television, and go to bed. The problem, however, is that this leaves little time to care for and nurture the relationship which leads to a lack of communication, decreased sexual intimacy, and an overall lack of enjoyment in the marriage.The good news is that there are ways to change the course of the marriage and improve it overall.

How to Argue and Save Your Marriage
The answer is yes. And the secret’s out. There is a right way and a wrong way to argue. Oftentimes when couples fight, it becomes husband versus wife, him against her. The issue with that, however, is that the entire sense of the “team” attitude within the couple gets lost in the mess.

10 Humorous & Helpful Hints for a Happy Marriage
If there was an instruction book for a happy marriage, would you use it? No one makes such a great commitment, like marriage, with the assumption that they will one day end up as anything other than happy. So what is the key to a happy marriage when small squabbles and large debates muddy the waters of your love?

Is Financial Stress Killing Your Marriage?
The current economic climate is taking a toll on many marriages as partners struggle with financial stress. But financial stress isn’t a new problem for marriages; finances has long been the #1 thing cited by couples as a problem-area when they divorce. Dr. Tina Lepage talks about healthy ways to handle financial stress.

Ready to Spice Up Your Sex Life?
Dr. Segalla discusses common challenges in long term marriages to maintaining a healthy and happy sex life. She identifies common patterns in the decline of sex in a marriage and how to shift those patterns for a revitalized and satisfying sex life.

Dealing with Depression
Dr. Segalla discusses the effects of depression on a marriage and how to deal with those effects. She also discusses how to recognize the symptoms of depression and what can be done to treat the depression in the individual and in the marriage.  Dr. Segalla outlines important steps to take in order for couples to remain supportive of one another and for the relationship to stay viable when depression occurs in a marriage.

Keeping May-December Romance In Season
Dr. Segalla discusses the ups and downs of age difference in marriage. Marriages between two people with a significant age difference often bring their own challenges that, when recognized, can be dealt with effectively. She also discusses the benefits of age-difference marriages and how to allow those benefits to strengthen the partnership.

10th Anniversary: Reflections of a Marriage Counselor
In this unscripted interview Dr. Lepage talks about her marriage of 10 years. Does 10 years of marriage seem like a piece of cake, or have you made it through the first 10 years and wonder if you’ll make it for another 10? Dr. Lepage lets you behind the curtain of what a marriage counselor’s relationship is like and shares what she has done to keep her marriage strong for a decade.

Discipline With Love
Dr. Lepage shares the three reasons why almost all children act out, as well as common mistakes couples make in addressing acting out. She also talks about what steps you can take today to better communicate with your kids and each other in order to raise better behaved children in a loving environment.

Don’t Let Your New Job Cost You Your Old Spouse
Changing jobs, or even careers, has become a common occurrence in today’s economic climate and can be one of the most disruptive events in a couple’s relationship. Dr. Lepage discusses what makes these transitions so stressful to a marriage and shares tips on how to keep anxiety about schedules and income from creating tension and distance between you and your spouse.

Is TV Ruining Your Marriage?
Dr. Hamilton discusses the impact that technology has on relationships and families and how to maintain healthy relationships in the age of technology.

Paying for Marriage Counseling
Sometimes, the hardest part of getting to marriage counseling is taking care of the cost. Not knowing how therapists bill or how much counseling will cost can end up putting more pressure on an already strained relationship. Dr. Lepage discusses what options therapists provide and how to find the therapist that is right for you without spending an arm and a leg on initial sessions with different counselors, as well as how to find out when sliding-scale and pro-bono options are available.

7 Ways to Get More Sex
Dissatisfaction with the amount of sex in a relationship is a common problem in marriages and long term relationships. Dr. Lepage discusses sure-fire techniques to add more sex to your life.

Staying Married for the Kids
Dr. Lepage discusses whether it’s better to stay in a troubled marriage, for the sake of your children, rather than separate from your spouse? She also explains how perceptive children are about the happiness of their parents and how to decide if there is room for actually fixing the marriage and not just putting up with your spouse until the kids are gone.

Sleeping with Your Spouse
Recorded Dr. Lepage shares strategies for problems couples face when sleeping in the same bed and the importance of creating a pleasant and relaxing bedtime experience with your spouse.

Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting
Dr. Hamilton shares strategies for putting an end to destructive fighting and turning conflict into a process that is both constructive and beneficial to the marriage, as well as discussing how much fighting is too much, and whether fighting in front of the kids is always a bad idea.

Getting Your Husband to Do What You Want
Everyone has incidents where a spouse (either husband or wife) is resistant to cooperation or compromise. Dr. Lepage discuss common issues where husbands and wives have disagreements and how to assess and resolve these issues.

Husbands Taking Initiative
Dr. Lepage talks about how wives can express their needs in this area most effectively, and how husbands wanting to take more initiative can do so successfully.

Stay Happily Married… With Children, Part I
Dr. Lepage discusses the stresses and joys parenting brings to a relationship, and how to keep the couples’ connection and intimacy while fulfilling the roles and responsibilities of parenting.

Stay Happily Married… With Children, Part II
Dr. Lepage looks at how differences in parenting styles can affect the couple, and suggests effective strategies for navigating these differences.

COUPLES & MARRIAGE ARTICLES

Premarital Counseling: Why It’s Important and What to Expect

Getting engaged can be one of the happiest moments in your life. You finally found your soulmate and now you are planning on spending the rest of your life together. While you may feel like everything is perfect, it is important to remember that marriage is an enormous commitment that requires effort and attention every day. One excellent tool that can help you prepare for a long-lasting and healthy marriage is premarital counseling. Happier marriages last longer, and research has shown that participating in premarital counseling can help reduce your risk of divorce by up to 30%!

Approaches to Couples Therapy

Do you experience your partner as not listening? Glued to social media? Annoying? What about arguments that start over the smallest things? Or the intimacy that isn’t like it once was? Do you sleep in separate rooms? Are you repeating an argument over and over again with no resolution? You may benefit from couples counseling.

Combatting Marital Boredom
There are four seasons in a relationship and the first is always summer. The beginning of a relationship is usually characterized by excitement and exhilaration. This is the season where couples are enamored with each other and oftentimes inseparable. There is what most people describe as a “spark” — there’s warmth, joy, fun, and spontaneity in the relationship.

But Is It Really Cheating? Breaches of Trust in Today’s Relationships
Social media, websites like OnlyFans and other subscription sites have impacted many couples’ relationships. Some of these sites involve subscribing to specific creators or models, “sugaring” (typically monetarily providing for a younger, attractive person), or camming (watching people perform sexually via webcam).

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?
Maybe you’ve been there, or maybe you’ve heard about it from a friend, or could all too easily imagine it: sitting in the therapist’s office with your partner, one of you desperately wanting to save the marriage and the other person… not. Not committing to the marriage, not committing to the therapy work, but also not asking for a divorce.

How to Successfully Manage the Challenges of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) in Marital Relationships
The divorce rate in marriages with one spouse diagnosed with AD/HD is approximately 85%. This condition brings a special set of challenges to a marriage. Frequent complaints include: “I can’t depend on him/her for anything; she doesn’t listen; he doesn’t follow through on anything; she forgets things.”

Managing Your Budget and Your Marriage
The current economic deficit has placed a significant strain on our wallets, our jobs, but most importantly, our relationships. Divorce rates are an unsettling 51% today, which means half of all marriages are ending in separation. What is even more disturbing is that out of the couples getting divorced, approximately 80% of them attribute their failed marriage to disputes over finances. While these statistics may seem daunting,

7 Ways To Get More Sex
Dissatisfaction with the amount of sex in their relationship is a common problem that comes up in marriages and other long term intimate relationships. It is a commonly seen problem in couple’s therapy, probably because when there are problems in the relationship, amount of sex tends to decline. However, it’s important to point out lack of sex does not always mean there are other problems in the relationship.

The Best Valentine’s Day Gift to Your RelationshipSince Valentine’s Day is approaching, couples could consider giving each other the “gift” of improving their relationship with time. It is so important for couples to spend time together having fun, which will nurture the relationship.

How to Talk to Your Partner with Different Political Views
Every couple experiences differences in some aspect of their relationship: differences in daily routines, food preferences, personality traits, etc. Most couples find their way to work around or accept these issues, but what about when it comes to politics? This article discusses strategies for effectively communicating with your partner when you disagree on politics.

Sex in Long-Term Marriage and Relationships: Is Your Sex Life on the Rocks?
So you’ve been married for many years, maybe you’ve had children, one or both of you work full-time, life is busy, schedules are hectic…where in the world do you find time for romantic sex? This article discusses sexual intimacy as an important aspect of a healthy and satisfying partnership.

Deepen Your Relationships with 5 Questions
It is a challenge understanding every aspect of one’s own culture and background, let alone someone else’s. Yet it behooves couples to understand how each other’s upbringing has shaped their lifestyle, worldview, and decision-making. This article highlights 5 questions each partner can consider and then share the answers with their partner.

Phone Apps for Couples
Smartphones don’t have to have negative consequences on a relationship. Many app developers have realized the potential to positively impact planning, intimacy and connection. A sampling of the most helpful smartphone apps is provided in this article.

Conflict Skills for Relationships (Or, How To Stay On The Team)
Conflict is part of every intimate relationship. Some issues are perpetual problems but they don’t have to cause so many conflicts. This article address three specific skills that can help you work together and stay on the team.

Financial Health Advice From a Leading Expert
An interview with Haleh Moddasser of Stearns Financial Services Group (offices in Chapel Hill and Greensboro, serving clients across the U.S.). Featured in Forbes magazine several times, Stearns Financial was selected by Goldline Research as one of the Leading Wealth Managers of the U.S. for 2009, 2010, and 2011. Halah (pronounced ‘Holly’) is the Vice President of the Triangle office in Chapel Hill.

How To Tell Your Spouse You Have Had An Affair
Here we outline important things to consider when preparing to tell your spouse you have been unfaithful. We talk about if, when, and how to break this difficult news, and also offer straightforward suggestions on how to avoid doing further damage to your marriage.

Can Anything Positive Come Out Of An Affair?
In this article we describe the impact that an affair can have on a marriage. Along with providing possible reasons such as sexual dissatisfaction at home, emotional disconnection from your spouse and altering life events like having children, we also mention common reactions that spouses may have. Amidst an affair, we describe ways to overcome them in order to save your marriage and demonstrate that the healing process of an affair can be an opportunity to deepen your relationship, improve communication with your spouse, and understand the dynamics of your relationship better.

The Suspicion is Killing Me
Here we discuss how to cope with suspicion of infidelity in your relationship, why it might be that you feel suspicious, that suspicion is not always a harmful feeling, and how to talk to about it with your partner.

Balancing Children and Your Marriage
In this article we look at how having children can negatively impact one’s relationship with their spouse, and offer tips on how to avoid problems within the marriage as a result of family and financial responsibilities. We discuss how taking some time out for one another, creating a routine that the whole family will enjoy, and finding ways to co-parent together can increase marital happiness while raising your children.

Ready to Spice Up Your Sex Life?
Dr. Colette Segalla looks at common challenges in long term marriages to maintaining a healthy and happy sex life. She identifies common patterns in the decline of sex in a marriage and how to shift those patterns for a revitalized and satisfying sex life.

Keeping May-December Romance in Season
Dr. Colette Segalla discusses the ups and downs of age difference in marriage. Marriages between two people with a significant age difference often bring their own challenges that, when recognized, can be dealt with effectively. Colette also discusses the benefits of age-difference marriages and how to allow those benefits to strengthen the partnership.

Dealing with Your Partner’s Depression
In this article we look at the effects of depression on a marriage and how to deal with those effects. We explore how to recognize the symptoms of depression and what can be done to treat the depression in the individual and in the marriage. Lastly, important steps are outlined to take in order for couples to remain supportive of one another and for the relationship to stay viable when depression occurs in a marriage.

Disaster-Proof Your Relationship
All relationships go through rough patches from time to time, especially during periods of stress. Read about signs that indicate that your relationship is on the rocks and tips on how to keep your relationship afloat.

The Keys to Relationship Fulfillment
In this article, we discuss seven principles that can help you feel more fulfilled in your marriage. Learn how to increase your level of satisfaction with your partner through implementing these principles into your marriage.

Your Love Language
We address the five love languages people use to express their feelings to one another. Learn about what love language you use and how to communicate to your partner that you understand how they like to be loved.

Relationship Success: 3 Quick Tips to Improve Your Relationship
Learn three minor things you can do to improve your relationship in a major way.

 

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