Haven’t there been times you wish that you’d attended marriage counseling? Not because you’re headed for divorce or going through a particularly difficult period either. When you have healthy and constructive conversation through relationship counseling, you can optimize a relationship! It’s not easy to recognize the subtle nuances of impending conflict, let alone possess the know-how to manage conflict effectively. This article is a start at providing couples with the signs and awareness to begin talking about things differently! Through coaching or therapy, understand your partner and your self, so you can grow your intimacy.
The Ten Signs:
1. A lack of desire, less interest in sex, hardly any libido? Why not learn ways to make your sex life fun, intimate, and higher on your list?
2. Angry outbursts. Is one of you “trigger-happy” with anger? Learn how to re-integrate your self, if need be, and come back together as a couple after angry exchanges.
3. Two ships “passing in the night”? When there’s too much disconnection, find out why, and see if there are deeper questions underneath this indifference to one another.
4. Super-quick anger over small things. Do you fight the same fight over and over? Discover how to get through possible power struggles or undigested issues from the past that can flare up in explosive anger.
5. Do their texts hurt? How satisfying is it to receive your partner’s texts? Counseling can assist you in clear communication, with more direct approaches than texting when angry or disappointed.
6. How do you make big decisions? Couples counseling may be called for if you’re having trouble with questions about getting married, moving, or having children, for example.
7. Do you have big fights about money? Relationship counseling can help you understand your differences with money, and give you tools to work through these issues with more balance.
8. Drifting apart? Parallel lives with few shared activities drags your relationship down. Discover ways to bring more aliveness back in to being together.
9. Trust issues? How much does your partner seek emotional support outside the relationship with a member of the opposite sex? (Or with same sex people in homosexual relationships.) While friends of either sex are important, relationship counseling can offer information, support, and solutions if you’re curious if trust issues are happening.
10. Deaths, births, mother-in-law moving in? How flexible is your relationship with major events? You can reach out to a couples therapist to assist with these overwhelming transitions, to understand your feelings, and make a workable plan for coping.
Why not consider a “refresher” counseling session, even if you don’t see a majority of these signs in your relationship? You can improve your communication, and deepen your intimacy, while addressing areas in your relationship that need to be resolved.
