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  RELATIONSHIPS

Social media plays an important role in society. When used correctly in a balanced way it is a phenomena...

Friendships are also dynamic. We have seasons where friendships are particularly strong. We enjoy share...

How do you increase your social circle? In addition to making new friends, consider rekindling former fri...

So how do we truly know what another is feeling? We simply ask. This doesn’t mean a robotic, meaningless...

You don’t avoid the tough conversations. When a relationship is in a bad place, there tends to be a lot ...

A group of teenagers were recently asked the difference between ‘fitting in’ and ‘belonging’. Their profound a...

A 2023 survey asked thousands of parents their concerns for their children. Forty percent of parents ans...

Patience is a quality that is under-utilised in today’s society. Like the typewriter, patience has become a...

Okay, I admit this story is not true, however, it illustrates a not uncommon scenario in relationships. M...

Partings: Happy couples make an effort to learn what is happening in their partner’s day before saying goodbye ...

All of us have blind spots. They may be assumptions, behavioural patterns, biases, reactions. Driving b...

The Open Area is the pane that contains information that is known by ourselves and known by others.
It is ...

Perhaps you’ve heard the vernacular phrase “I’m feeling triggered”. What exactly is a personal trigger? ...

Although research supports the benefits of novelty in relationship, the probability is that one partner is ...

Parents balance a juggling act between protecting their children from situations that are harmful to their we...

The energy generated by our thoughts drives our behaviour and influences our outcomes. For example, you...

I write this article on what would have been my mother’s 90th birthday. Even many years after her depar...

The silent treatment is a shift from regular relationship conversation to minimal or no engagement. It might ...

Have you ever underestimated one man’s will to live?
Have you ever been inspired as to what one heart can give?...

When it comes to relationships, difference can often lead to friction and drive people apart. We may find it ...

Some people regret choices made in their past and live with a sense that it’s too late for them to begin a ...

What is emotional clutter and how is it created? Our life experiences have an impact on us. Circumstance...

Franklin’s ships had been equipped with every luxury: a library of 1,200 books, hand carved backgammon bo...

When it comes to hopes and dreams, we are all diverse. Thankfully, we are not products of a factory produ...

When we give a gift, we generally have two goals. The first is to make the recipient happy and the second ...

According to recent census figures, Australian households are comprised of twenty three percent lone-person...

If you are wondering if you are potentially a people-pleaser, there are particular traits to be on the lookou...

There are various reasons why people withhold information from those in their inner circle. Parents jus...

- The impulse to give up before trying. When we’re faced with a problem that seems beyond our control, ...

Last weekend we attended a family celebration in a park. The weather was perfect and consequently, it wa...

Two woodcutters in a forest competed to see who could produce the most chopped wood in a day. After an hour...

Imagine someone insisting that you wear their prescription glasses. You give feedback that everything you...

It’s easy for parents to set up a win-lose dynamic. Let’s face it, as parents we are generally wiser, bigg...

For some, home and work have changed places. The home environment runs at a frantic pace with rushed morni...

Every successful organisation has a mission statement – its purpose, where it is heading and how to get t...

Habit one is Be Proactive. To quote Covey, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In tha...

Minor paradigm shifts, however, occur when we take the opportunity to hear another’s perspective. Steph...

The dilemma of when and with whom to share personal information is a common experience. We vacillate between shar...

Steve Biddulph, author of many books on parenting and relationships, tells a poignant story that occurred a...

As he grew in reputation and wisdom, he no longer saw himself as the creator of the statue. He said “In every...

Traditionally, learning was seen as something that preceded action. You completed school, college, trainin...

David Brooks in his book The Road to Character laments that today’s culture has departed from “eulogy” v...

Wise words that challenge the belief that life should be easier than it is. Some hold on to hope that advancement...

Anyone who has parented more than one child can confirm that we humans don’t have the same uniformity a...

Learning a new language is difficult! Our son has lived in Germany for five years. He knows the basics of the...

There are fundamental aspects to a sincere apology, the first of which is expressing genuine regret. The...

All across the world, food is an expression of hospitality, affection and even intimacy. Creating someth...

The blue door was the point where the host would banter with the anxious contestant who had no idea what ...

Last week we looked at the importance of staying on track with where you want to head and the person you ...

As a result, they flew a course that took them 43 kilometres east of the intended destination. The black box r...

Written by Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel said the song was inspired by his close friend Sandford Greenberg....

All of us have a wide range of motivations, and these include our ‘shadow motives’. These are motives that sit in ...

nIs it possible for a fragmented and distrusting society to transform itself into hopeful communities? Th...

There wouldn’t be a parent who hasn’t thought that the task they were doing with their child would be so...

I was partnered with a curious camel by the name of Curly. The ride was at a very slow pace, but even so...

Supporting one another’s dreams is a mutual process, with you and your partner each discussing and taking...

Researchers found that optimists treated obstacles as temporary setbacks and typically ascribed them to...

Believe it or not, this scenario is the ONLY piece of knowledge I can recall from two years of studying se...

It’s amazing to think that the presence of a white line which goes virtually unnoticed in our day-to-day driving...

Forget physical attraction, the most commonly identified partner quality espoused by those who have mad...

A non-reflective stance keeps us locked into our own perspective. Non-reflective thinking is very black and...

Disaster Studies is a field of research that emerged after WW2. In the decades since, researchers have conduct...

When bilingual speakers were tested, their perspectives switched based on the language context they were ...

We typically begin our relationships with a level of assumed trust, just as a learner driver takes to the...

Before you go thinking that we are a super-fit family who make a habit of tackling such adventures, this w...

Being a parent is a tough gig. It begins with a painful process aptly named labour. This is followed by sl...

Dylan’s achievements were recognised on Australia Day when he was announced Australian of the Year. Five years ...

The process of shedding bark purges the tree of any mosses, lichens, fungi and parasites that may introduce di...

One of my recent projects while spending a couple of weeks in-home quarantine, was to search through old ...

Silent Night, written by historian Stanley Weintraub, is an account of one of the most unlikely and touchi...

Has our abundance of information resulted in a greater depth of wisdom? The dictionary defines wisdom as...

I decided in honour of dad that I would follow his ancestor trail further back in history. I didn’t have...

To love someone long-term is to attend a thousand funerals of the people they used to be. The people they a...

The obvious reason I couldn’t communicate with the other driver was that I was in my vehicle, and they were...

Any sphere that involves a healthy desire to achieve is susceptible to high note hunger. It manifests in e...

Returning to the car with an overflowing trolley, we realised our error of judgement regarding the capac...

What does it mean to be known? It’s not about fame or being in the limelight. To be known means that the...

How do you know if the rejection is behind the scenes, influencing choices you make as an adult? Here are some typ...

Acknowledgement, understanding, and acceptance are basic human needs, essential if we are to thrive both...

My husband and I were recently on a break and decided to tackle a jigsaw puzzle. Not being jigsaw expert...

Last week, we looked at our brain’s ability to adapt in response to changes in our thoughts, attitudes and behaviour....

Not so long ago scientists considered the brain to be a fixed, hardwired organ. Brain injuries were thought to ...

The recent twentieth anniversary of the tragic event of 9/11 received much attention last week. I watch...

Happy Father’s Day to all our dads! You are playing a crucial role in the life of your kids, regardless of wh...

Do you have early childhood memories of gathering around a family table? One of my earliest memories is S...

For 65 years, his Duke of Edinburgh Award program inspired millions of young people worldwide to challenge...

Relationships are complex and are frequently not a level playing ground. They can be fraught with power...

An African aid worker reported that attempts to teach local children competitive games hopelessly failed. ...

Pretty soon the high standards you set for yourself begin to slip. The perfect life you had planned for y...

What makes us like this? Sometimes we have misconceptions that self-compassion is selfish. We think that ...

You can’t plan for a life crisis. It arrives without warning, plunging you into confusion and chaos. An unantic...

Draw a circle and in it write the name of the person/people in the centre of the crisis. Draw a larger ...

Her mother died of TB when Annie was eight which left her in the care of her alcoholic father. Two years la...

There has been an ongoing discussion about the ability of the top women compared to top men players. Ex...

A convenience shop was nearby, and two bags of groceries lay scattered over the road, remnants of the mund...

The balance between being too dependent and being too self-sufficient is interdependence. Interdependent ...

In her book “Growing Yourself Up” Jenny Brown explains that it’s in our relationships that we experience t...

Has any of us really reached the peak of maturity? In one situation we might look and feel all grown up but th...

Acceptance is essential to developing safe and growth-producing relationships. We can’t grow unless we ...

Research says that four out of five New Year resolutions fail. The findings are probably no surprise an...

The weather was unbearably hot in stark contrast to the cold and often snowy Christmases spent with frie...

In 2007, the Washington Post conducted an experiment at a Metro station in Washington D.C. An incognito ...

Every secret is a story we don’t know - and we don’t like being left in the dark. Bestselling novels ca...

Bridges are required to span a gap between two separated bodies in order to provide a passage between them. ...

mine and not-mine. It is a line that divides what I am responsible for and can change and what I am not...

We have a joint family crest hanging on our wall representing our families of origin. Two mottos surround the...

Sixty nine per cent of couple conflicts are perpetual issues, cycles of repetitive themes. Perpetual issues...

There are two types of conflict between couples – perpetual and solvable conflicts. What is a solvable co...

We can be influential only if we accept influence. Simply put, it comes down to honouring and respectin...

Gottman discovered that successful couples choose to turn toward each other in everyday moments. Seemingl...

The second principle espoused by the Gottman foundation is Nurturing Your Fondness and Admiration. It may se...

The Gottman institute in the United States has been studying couple relationships for almost four decades...

He finds himself completely out of his depth in the techno environment, surrounded by highly qualified sta...

Did you find yourself impacted by their mood, partially absorbing their emotions? Studies show that if you pu...

Due to the success of the event, they decided to do the same thing on Father’s Day. This time, however, n...

With Father’s Day fast approaching, I thought it appropriate to give our men a say this week. The follow...

This week we are considering how we inoculate our children against the pandemic of affluenza (materialism and co...

We continue on from last week’s discussion about the pandemic of ‘Affluenza’ coined by Oliver James. Described as...

More than a decade ago Oliver James wrote about a virus sweeping the globe with pandemic effects. He termed i...

It’s essential to know what’s in there.
We think of ourselves as individuals born with unique, pre-programm...

My dad was an avid John Wayne fan and consequently my childhood was filled with cowboy movies.

There was...

Those who are familiar with the movie Castaway will recall the moving raft scene when the Tom Hanks charact...

We usually associate the term ‘skilled communicator’ with a public speaker. However, that’s only one facet o...

Last week we considered how our deep need to be heard and understood lies at the heart of communication. T...

During this time, Agatha threw herself into writing. She had begun writing short stories at the age of 18...

When we think about communication skills, we tend to focus our attention on the words we say to one another...