Forgiveness is one of the most powerful, confusing, stressful, and necessary acts you can bring into your relationships. It is a healer helping you deepen emotional connections. But despite all this, forgiveness can also be one of the most challenging things to practice. 

So, let's explore what forgiveness is, how to practice it, and how to move forward when you've been hurt.

Here is one of my favorite stories. I’ve been telling this one for years. I call it 

The Allegory of a Diamond

It can happen for many reasons. There comes a time that lots of people have to admit that their relationship is a disaster. We are not talking about those little bumps in the road everyone experiences. We are looking at those devastated relationships that need to be rebuilt. If you are facing the fact that a meaningful relationship in your life is messed up, there are some important things to know.

Fun is a need. Laughter is healthy. It's good for your physical body, mental health, and relationships. Loving yourself and others involves more than commitment or kinship. It involves self-care, and a strong self-care practice is laughter. 

Those vacation days are some of the best of the year, but I recently talked to someone who returned from a trip only to feel terrible for a few days after. That’s actually pretty common. Let's take a look at post-vacation blues and some things you can do to address it. 

Grief is our comeback story in the journey of love. Moving through grief is healing, but there can be some unexpected twists and turns. You can’t count on grief following a script, and the cliches don’t help. Sometimes we must put aside our assumptions and preconceived notions to deal with odd realities. Here are some of those strange twists and turns and how to deal with them. 

One of the surprisingly difficult paths on the journey is learning to love your life when you are reasonably successful and content. Life is good. Yet, there is a feeling that something is missing. This is a good thing. It is the desire to move from good to great, from liking your life to loving it. Here are some tricks to getting there. 

For years I have advocated that everyone needs to be in counseling. Just like a doctor, dentist, and mechanic, having a counselor is a necessity of modern life. As you might expect, I’ve received some push back on this. Here are a few of the apprehensions I have heard over the years and my way of addressing each one. If you are leery of counseling, hear me out.

Everyone can benefit from seeing a therapist, counselor, social worker, psychologist, or life coach. Yet, it can be a little intimidating for some people if they have never worked with a counselor or consultant before. So to help you in the process, here are answers to a few common questions. 

You may have heard the saying; love conquers all. This holds a lot of truth if it is a healthy relationship. The sad reality is that some do not live in healthy relationships. Some relationships become dysfunctional, toxic, or abusive. Developing healthy relationships takes love but also knowledge. It is important to know how to avoid toxicity. Loving, healthy relationships are what everyone needs. That means avoiding toxic relationships. Here are some ways to do that.