Love vs. Pleasure: When Feelings Become the New Morality in Modern Relationships
We live in a culture where pleasure is often mistaken for love, and emotions have become the loudest authority in modern relationships. In the name of self-fulfillment, we’ve shifted from pursuing what’s morally right to chasing what feels personally right. feelings But what happens when our desires conflict with our values? What if the choices that bring comfort in the moment ultimately cost us peace, connection, and integrity? This cultural shift has created confusion, instability, and what I call cognitive dissonance dysfunction (as coined by psychologist Leon Festinger in 1957,) — a breakdown of inner alignment that plays out in everything from hookup culture to commitment-phobia. Feelings Emotional Validation vs. Moral…
Spend More Time Together as a Family With These Great Ideas
Making sure you spend more time together as a family is one of the best ways of being able to bond better. There are so many great ways of being able to enhance and improve your relationships, and family life is something you need to focus on as much as possible. Try to understand some of the key ideas that are going to help you when it comes to spending more time together, and nurturing the familial bond and connection you have. When you are looking to find great ways of spending more time together as a family, it is important to think about what works for you, as…
What Lane Are You Living In?
I live in the Atlanta area and I am sure that most of you have heard of our traffic nightmares and the different roads here. We have a few highways that we joke about referring to “speed limits” or the lack thereof. I will explain how one of them are and that highway is 400. You have several lanes including the shoulder during rush hour. Rush hour is all day of course and not one span of hours in particular. Anyhow I digress. The far left lane is the “Bat Out Of Hell Super Speeder” lane as I like to call it. I am sure there is a speed limit…
What Is Your Balance In Your Emotional Bank Account?
What Is Your Balance In Your Emotional Bank Account? Sounds like an odd question but if you think about it for a minute, what a great metaphor. Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, uses the metaphor of an ‘Emotional Bank Account’ to measure the amount of trust that accumulates in a relationship.1 We all make deposits and withdrawals to this “account” on an ongoing basis. Deposits get added when you do things that are trustworthy or demonstrate care. Withdraws occur when we act in a manner that has people less willing to risk psychological safety by doing things such as being disrespectful, dismissive or dishonest. …
Signs Of A Healthy Relationship & What ISN’T
What Are the Differences Between Healthy and Unhealthy Love? I found this from one of my Facebook notes 12 years ago and guess what? It still holds true! I instill these into my nieces and nephews, the difference between Healthy & Unhealthy Love and what warning signs to look out for. We have all been guilty of staying in an unhealthy relationship a time or two but if I can teach them young, maybe they won’t make the same mistakes. Healthy vs. Unhealthy Love… Healthy: Your focus on yourself and being happy is your first priority. Unhealthy: You are obsessed with your relationship. Healthy: You maintain your own identity, separate…
Listen With Intent
You hear but do you listen? Stephen Covey Wrote “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” I truly never understood that until I had an interaction with an individual that taught me there is more to conversation than just hearing. Coop and I were at the grocery store and a young man started waving and yelling at me from the end of the aisle. At first I wasn’t sure if he was speaking to me so I let it go. After a few more “Hey’s and Hello’s” and looking around to realize it was me he was talking…
