Gratitude

Cherishing our marriage partner is a powerful way to increase the happiness and well-being in a marriage. It makes couples more resilient during hard times, and it's a powerful way to increase our own happiness! What does it mean to cherish? To cherish is to actively value a spouse. It means recognizing and appreciating all the many good things they bring into our lives. We cherish when we openly express gratitude, letting them know what they mean to us. But we also cherish as a way of living. Cherishing is a way of viewing the person who has chosen to spend their life with us. To cherish is t...

Monica Packer: I'm so honored to have Jennifer back. If you don't know her, well, hang tight. You're going to have your mind blown so much. This is who Jennifer is.  Dr. Finlayson-Fife: I'm Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife. I am a psychotherapist that works primarily with couples and individuals around relationship and sexuality issues. I also do a lot of teaching, both online courses and also in workshops around the country. I also do a lot of podcasting and public speaking.  Monica Packer: And my version of your intro is that you changed my life and I think you've changed thousands of...

It is with great sadness that I say goodbye to Dr. David Schnarch, an important professional mentor to me over the past 10 years. David died of a sudden heart attack last week. It has been devastating for his family, and so many of us, to lose a wise mentor in our lives.

Being grateful doesn't come naturally to most of us. While all of us have good things in our lives, very few of us receive the good around us. It takes courage to open our hearts and acknowledge what blesses us. Instead, many of us take refuge in entitlement. We pretend we are owed freedom from suffering. We pretend that challenges are aberrations in human experience. The reality is we all struggle and we all suffer. Not equally, of course. Injustice is a reality of life, and a sad one. But pretending we are owed a life free of pain keeps us blind to the goodness and abundance we enjoy. ...