It’s hard enough to be out in the dating pool, but to add into the mix children and it can become over whelming. Some will tell you that your not dating the child however if this child chooses not to like you then it will add unnecessary stress into the relationship. The statement about not dating the child is only half true, when you are dating a person with kids I hate to tell you but it’s a package deal. If the kids are not happy then I will guarantee that the parent will soon end it with you and move on.

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One of our other experts on the site, Jim Ludwig, recently posted the first installment of an article entitled “Recognize your Listening Blocks to Improve Communication”. It’s a very fine article too: informative, well written, and offers some useful information. And it got me to thinking: not all listening blocks are necessarily a bad thing - like the “fight or flight” reflex is not a bad thing. Sometimes a listening block can be a self-defense or a self-preservation instinct coming to the fore.

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In this article we will continue with our study of listening blocks, for good reason: When listening blocks occur in conversation, it means that we are not hearing the other and are not aware of it. Thus retiring your listening blocks (and learning how to cope with the blocks of others) can be rewarding to all your relationships. The key to this growth is greater awareness, of both your inner process and your interpersonal process with others.

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Ok to all of you soon to be brides and grooms out there, here is some sound advice, stop trying to make it perfect! While there are some out there who take a few years to plan that perfect wedding, the gown is picked, the flowers, the attendants, the food and so on and so forth, each month as it gets closer to that blissful day you do something else to make it run smooth, then all of a sudden a week before the day, all hell breaks loose. The one attendant doesn’t fit into the dress, the best man has the flu, the place burns to the ground. Now I’m not saying that all this happens to everyone but you get the idea, so the future Mrs.

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Every couple encounters struggles in their relationship, yet many people expect the fairy tale happy ending. Most of us don’t have well-developed skills to handle strife. But a sure partnership killer is never letting go of conflicts. It’s a real problem.

If you are experiencing a challenge with your partner right now, it’s normal. Conflict is part of life. Savvy partners realize that holding on to struggle is detrimental to a good relationship. A very wise person once remarked that the key to a happy marriage is a short memory.

So what’s the best course of action to take when your partner triggers you like nobody’s business?

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So your relationship has ended, now what? Are you going to sit for many months and dwell on what the other person has done? Are you going to blame the entire failure on them? Are your friends and family going to be so sick of hearing the entire story over and over again? Or are you going to learn and heal from what has incurred and move forward to a more rewarding future? When something comes to an end it is so easy for a person to automatically push all the blame onto the other person, but the truth is it does take two people to end the relationship, to kill the entire thing beyond repair. When you really think about what has transpired you can actually see that specific steps had lead you to where you are now.

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When I first met “John” at Starbucks he was complaining that after his divorce he was dating but none of them were the right woman. It was clear as day that the women he had been dating all possessed pretty much the same qualities that continued to annoy him and press his buttons.

I pointed this out to my new friend and informed John that the reason he was meeting these women who could for all practical purposes be the same woman was because of his heart’s desires did not match his Love Script. When you change your Love Script, you change your ability to attract the relationships you desire. The same rings true for Health, Adventures, Financial Success, Passion and Romance Scripts…

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It is common for relationship coaches to advise us as to the importance of listening. Indeed, the ability to listen is seen as truly fundamental to all kinds of relationships, and thus many of us attend listening seminars or read related books and articles. I certainly did, long ago when I became aware of my own limitations as a listener.

Fascinated by the subject, I began teaching listening seminars, and quickly discovered a curious problem: The people who most needed the training were the first ones to declare that their listening skills were “just fine”. Bob says he is a great listener but his wife and coworkers say his listening skills are non-existent. I was initially baffled by this strange state of affairs, but with time I began to figure it out.

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This article is the second in a series of Relationship Basics and addresses what it takes to have an extraordinary relationship. Once again, this is great information to know whether you are single or already in a relationship. For those of you currently single, you may have been for quite awhile, or you may be newly single (i.e. on the rebound). For those of you currently in a relationship, you may already have what you consider to be wonderful or you may have anything but. Regardless of which of these categories you fall into, what it takes to have an extraordinary relationship can be summarized in one word… basics.

In this article, we will address “authenticity.”

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Guys & Girls: ever meet one of those people to whom you’re attracted, they’re attracted to you, but they’ve been burned before so now they want “Relationship Insurance”? It has happened to me. It’s never a good idea to go into a relationship blind, hoping for the best, believing in a Pollyanna-ish way that the sheer power of mutual attraction will be able to overcome any and all roadblocks. I’ve made the point in recent articles that healthy, solid, enduring relationships are more likely to happen when some basic things are taken care of up-front so there are no deal-breaking surprises.

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