A human beings we often hurt one another, whether we mean to or not.  It is natural to think of things only from our own viewpoint and not consider how our actions might harm another.  Therefore, we can hurt someone’s feeling by doing something as simple as letting the door slam behind us in that person’s face, without even realizing we have hurt them. Read the rest of this entry »

Although the person whom it may be most important to forgive may be your spouse, your spouse can often times be the hardest person in your life to forgive. The intimate nature of marriage makes spouses vulnerable to each other. A spouse who knows you better than any other person has the most ability to offend you. And, because you share a life together your spouse also has the most opportunity to be a repeat offender. When the person you are supposed to be closest to refuses to see how his or her actions hurt you or if they continue to hurt you in the same manner over and over again it can seem that forgiveness is impossible. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently had a week where my husband was very busy at work and as a result was working late a lot. The problem for me was that, with four kids, when my husbands work load increases, so does mine. With my husband unable to help out as much as he usually would I quickly slipped into “poor me” mode and found myself having thoughts about how terrible it was that I had to take on all these extra burdens. Read the rest of this entry »

With the New Year upon us it is time again to think about making resolutions. Unfortunately more than a few people have given up on New Year’s resolutions after one or more good intentions went awry. You see it takes more than enthusiasm and grand aspirations to keep a New Year’s resolution. Read the rest of this entry »

It seems that in our society it has come to be expected that women will get together and criticize their husbands and boyfriends and men will get together and put down their wives and girlfriends. Everyone has to have a few sarcastic comments to fling at their partner, especially when there is an audience around to laugh at their expense. We tend to tear down the very person we claim to love. I think it has become so common in our society that sometimes people don’t even realize they are doing it. Read the rest of this entry »

When I started my own counselling practice I had to learn the importance of having clearly defined marketing goals before I was able to get my business off the ground. I floundered around for quite some time before hiring Juliet Austin (www.julietaustin.com), a marketing coach for healing professionals. One of the first things Juliet did was help me clearly define what I wanted to achieve. Read the rest of this entry »

Listen. What do you hear? You may hear the hustle and bustle of people around you. Maybe there is some polite conversation going on around you or perhaps your kids are screaming at each other at the top of their lungs and perhaps you’ve learned to block out that noise. Read the rest of this entry »

What have you done for me lately? In this age it has become popular to pose this question to our partner or at least to think to yourself, “What has my husband or wife, boyfriend or girlfriend done for me lately? What does he or she do to make me happy?” After all, relationships are supposed to make us happy, are they not? Read the rest of this entry »

You often hear of people staying in unhappy marriages for the sake of their children Well, recent research suggests that it is not just children who benefit from sticking it out through the tough times. Read the rest of this entry »