Relationship Advice
Practical advice on saving relationships - articles that draw on over 35 years of couples counselling and offer a way forward
I have just come back from running a Men’s Retreat in the woods in Brandenburg near Berlin. It’s time to reflect, think about what I will take with me and put out the call for the next gathering. So what have I learned from the men who joined me?
While we still have meaningful rituals for other transitions – christening a baby to welcome it into the family, marriage ceremonies to celebrate the change from being single to a couple and funerals at the end of life – the journey from boy to man goes unmarked.
Men’s retreats have emerged as powerful spaces for personal growth and self-discovery. They offer a sanctuary for men to step away from the demands of daily life, reconnect with their inner selves, and explore their emotional and psychological landscapes.
Fathers are traditionally figures of guidance, protection, and affirmation. When these roles are unfulfilled, it can leave scars that shape behaviour and emotional patterns into adulthood.
There’s nothing worse than finding lovemaking is at the bottom of your partner’s list of priorities. It makes you feel undesirable, that your needs are not important and builds a wall between the two of you.
Arguing is extremely healthy in relationships, as long as you do it properly - by becoming good at rows your partnership can survive anything. Understand your fighting style and own up to your own bad arguing habits to transform your fights from negative to positive.
It looks alive and well but for one, or maybe both partners, something has died. Just like zombies in the movies, these marriages can stagger on forever but they are also incredibly vulnerable.
After having children it's easy to be overwhelmed with the serious business of bringing them up, running a house and paying the bills. However, you can still be lovers even when you're parents - here's two simple ideas (and five suggestions on how to put them into practice).
It’s hard to get over an affair, but what if your husband cheated and had a child? Moving on from infidelity is always painful and complicated, but if a child was born from the affair, there’s now a permanent reminder of your partner’s extreme betrayal of trust.
Why do unfaithful men and women keep forgetting details of affairs? If you’re going to cheat on your wife or husband, you’d think you’d remember important details – so why does this happen, and how to move on?
