Relationships

#6: You learned that a truly thoughtful lover would not attempt to arouse you with the subtlety of a chimp trying to dial a rotary phone Read More

"What do I do if I hate my husband's children?" Read More

My recent posts have highlighted two very powerful, yet opposing forces in the human heart: in a traditional metaphor, we each have a wolf of love and a wolf of hate inside us, and it all depends on which one we feed every day. Read More

How to regulate complex jealousy, before it destroys your relationships and drives you crazy. Read More

 Some families set absolute standards for respect, politeness and charm, regardless of a child's internal feelings. Are parents setting the stage for perfect behavior or for passive aggressive rebellion? Read More

I put my best friend to sleep last night. Newton was a pug. He wasn't the prettiest, and certainly not the friendliest of dogs. Most of his teeth had rotted away from a lifetime of mouth breathing. And in his last few months he was paralyzed from the waist down. Read More

In Part I we looked at the transformed social landscape, a place in which the numbers of folks living together had surpassed those who were married. Then I shared the story of Shelley & Jared, two 30- somethings that had decided to live together. Like other couples, Shelley and Jared thought that living together might be a good way to test drive the relationship and besides it was far more economical. We asked readers to guess how it would turn out.To help figure this out, let's look at what research on living together might tell us. Well, most studies done from 1995 forward showed that couples that lived together before marriage had higher divorce rates as compared with couples that didn't. Other findings included poorer mental and physical health, including depression, especially for women. Read More

Months ago the New York Times ran a piece about the Stefanski family, who recently splurged on a boat instead of putting away money for the kids' college funds. The father rationalized the decision by viewing the boat as an investment in their relationships. Read More

During our interviews with married couples on six continents of the world we paid a lot of attention to their tactile interactions. More often than not, they sit on the couch during the interview and hold hands or place some part of their body on their mate's body. It is their way of saying "I love you so much I simply must touch you." So why all of this touching? Read More