Rapid Fire, Marriage Straight Talk: No Sugarcoating, No Protecting Egos, Just Man To Man

I want to discuss a relatively sensitive topic today that causes all kinds of issues in a marriage….Happiness. Why would the topic of happiness be a sensitive issue? Simple, because many couples think it's their spouse's job to make them happy. In the episode, we will discuss whose job it is.

Words are powerful things and unfortunately, once they are out there, there's no taking them back. When it comes to words, several areas need to be addressed such as before they ever come out, what to do when they do come out and how to get beyond what was said. We’ll address all three areas in this episode.

Marriage is hard. A phrase uttered often by couples. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are nine simple guidelines to developing and maintaining a great marriage. And, they all start with the letter A to make it even simpler.

Collateral benefits are unintended or unexpected benefits from actions toward another person. These benefits can be very influential. Because they are unintended, they are typically received as genuine and not fabricated.

I want to ask you a question that I hope you will carefully consider. If you are honest in your answer, this question will provide great insight into the current state of your marriage. And, it will provide you with a view of how you can improve your marriage regardless of how strong or weak its current state.

When you said, “I do” you committed to marrying the whole package, warts and all. Warts, or flaws, are those annoying things that just grate on you after a while, especially after the infatuation fades a bit in your relationship. In this episode we discuss how to deal with warts that won't go away.

Regardless of the state of your marriage, there’s one rule of thumb that always applies, if you want to improve your marriage, you have to be seriously intentional about it.

The best gifts you can give your kids, especially your daughters, is to love their mother. When I say love their mother, I’m not talking about just saying it, I’m talking about living it.

We celebrate all kinds of things. Some celebrations are big and long lasting. Other celebrations are smaller and in a more intimate setting. Regardless of the venue, to celebrate someone is to give him or her praise, and to confirm his or her importance. How well do you score in this important areas of marriage?

Zealous means, ‘one who is eagerly devoted or deeply committed to a person or thing.’ It means to be passionate, excited, and on-fire for. In this episode we explore the question, “What if all of us were zealous for our marriages and our spouses?”

Great marriages typically don’t just happen, they take work. if you want a great marriage or just a greater marriage, you need to lay the groundwork and that groundwork is rooted in feelings.

Where do you start when a couple tells you that this is the last chance? I start with asking, "Do you despise your spouse or the current state of your marriage?" If it's the latter we can fix that and in this episode we start with the failures themselves.

Being out of work can result in excessive pressure on even a strong marriage. But, if your marriage is struggling, it can lead to its total destruction. In this episode we discuss ways to prevent financial stress from ripping your marriage to pieces.

I want to discuss a touchy topic today because too many couples have no idea how to handle this topic and it is one of the top five areas of tension in a marriage. I am talking about in-laws. All too often the in-laws are at the heart of the failure of a marriage.

We come into a marriage with Expectations that were formed from all kinds of sources. For every Expectation there is a corresponding Reality. Sometimes those two parts are very close together meaning…what we expected is pretty close to what is actually happening. Other times, these two parts are miles from each other and we have a huge gap between them. In this episode we discuss how to close the gap.

The first rule when dealing with Threats to a marriage is...protecting egos and pride is a waste of everyone's time. Threats will kill a marriage and just about any attempt to save a marriage, so they have to be eliminated immediately and completely.

When it comes to opportunities…it all comes down to perspective. When an opportunity presents itself, it can have a positive or a negative impact on the marriage depending on how you perceive and react to it. In this episode we discuss how to identify an opportunity and react to it in a way that will improve your marriage. We also discuss what to do when you miss an opportunity.

Strengths are characteristics, personality traits, habits, etc. that are foundational to the success of the marriage. However, many times couples feel powerless in overcoming or stoping weaknesses. The weaknesses we are talking about here are areas where one or both of the spouses are just not strong. In this episode we discuss how to use both to improve your marriage.

Similar techniques to the turnaround of a company can be applied to the turnaround of a marriage as well. The first step is to stabilize the marriage then assess the marriage. The latter is accomplished using the business tool, S.W.O.T analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). In this series we apply each component of this business tool to the turnaround of a marriage.

The Biblical love triangle for a marriage includes: the husband, the wife and God. In this episode we discuss what it means to put God in the center of your marriage and how to actually do that.