Free Relationship Advice Online

“Dr. Fiore,” my 42 year old married patient (Mary) began, “once again my family expects me to host Christmas dinner and I am simply too exhausted; what should I do?” “Why not tell them how you feel?” I asked. “Because I don’t want to hurt their feelings – I always feel guilty if I don’t [...]

If you believe problems and disillusionment are inevitable, you’re right. Curiously, it is not the problems that create so much distress. Your relationship satisfaction will actually depend on: How you think about your difficulties How you manage your feelings Where you focus your attention How you act and communicate under stress If you can change [...]

What have you struggled to forgive in your marriage? Do you wish you could forgive and move on, but you don’t know how? When two people live together in an intimate relationship, there are always going to be things that happen to cause hurt feelings and anger. These things may range from minor incidents involving [...]

Webster’s New World Dictionary definition of the word forgive is “to give up resentment against or the desire to punish; stop being angry with; pardon.” Most spouses, at some time or another, struggle with the issue of forgiveness as incidents happen in the marriage. There are very legitimate reasons for feeling hurt and wronged, such [...]

Being assertive is good. It allows you to get your point across in a way that is better remembered by the other party because of the intensity of the emotion that is associated with it. However, assertiveness can also be a pitfall when overdone. While it can seal deals, it also has the power to [...]

In the last few decades, partners have spent countless hours trying to “work out problems.” Yet over and over again they often come up against a major roadblock: they just don’t see things the same way. No matter how long they talk and how hard they try, neither ends up feeling really heard and understood. [...]

It’s not unusual for a spouse whose partner has had an affair to have a “get even” or “retaliation affair.” The feelings of betrayal and the emotional pain are so devastating that the spouse may want to hurt the partner like he (or she) has been hurt. In some cases, the affair is planned out [...]

What if I told you there was a secret to you being happy, attractive, popular, successful, understanding, in control, loving, and satisfied? What if I told you that you could get all these benefits plus more by learning a single skill? It sounds almost too good to be true. The skill that will give you [...]

The worse thing in the world is to feel controlled and manipulated. Each waking day, our minds are challenged by forces that try to identify and dictates to us what we need to do. Whether we know it or not, the forces of manipulation and control are always at work even before we get out [...]

When we are clear and focused within ourselves, boundaries automatically emerge and begin to move into place. In other words, boundaries are to some extent established subconsciously, as a result of mature self-love. Another dimension of boundaries requires our consciously focused attention and effort. We will look at these two levels in terms of our [...]