What do you do if your spouse decides they need to work on themselves… and then they may (or may not) be willing to work on the marriage?  What do you do if your spouse just refuses to work on your marriage?

That is the question of the week, asked by Sam.  He said his wife wants to better herself.  Then, maybe she would address the marriage.

As part of my series, answering your questions, I want to address this one.  Because it might just be YOUR question, too!  (If not, you can SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION HERE.)

Many times, when a marriage is in trouble, a spouse (or maybe you) just won’t address the relationship issues, insisting they (or you) need to work on themselves (or yourself) before looking at the marriage.

The binary question:  “work on me or work on WE?” stands out.  But does it have to be so binary.  Is it really one or the other?  Or is there another way to approach this?

If you try to force a spouse to work on the relationship, that won’t work… and might make things better.  So, what CAN you do?

Listen to this episode of the Save The Marriage Podcast for my response.

RELATED RESOURCES
Don’t Try to Convince
Showing UP in Marriage
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The Importance of Self-Expansion
The Save The Marriage System HERE

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Connection is so important for a marriage.  When connection is cut off, the relationship falters.  When a marriage is disconnected, the marriage is at risk.

But many people think they are connecting… and they are actually crowding.

Crowding, in a struggling marriage, is as toxic as disconnecting.

Does it feel like a tightrope?  Well, it really isn’t.

As long, that is, as you understand the underlying principle:  Connect, Don’t Crowd.

In this episode of the Save The Marriage Podcast, I give you access to one of ten principles I cover in my VIP program (an advanced program for those who have my System, but want to be more effective or need more help).

Resources in the VIP program are generally restricted only to VIP members, but I wanted to make sure you don’t fall into the “crowding trap.”  I see it far too often.

Especially for people who have realized they hit the Pause Button on their marriage… and are trying to reconnect.

Listen in to find how to connect without crowding.  Don’t fall into the trap!

RELATED RESOURCES:
Pause Button Marriage
Connection is the Life Blood
Connection Tools
Save The Marriage System

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Many times, people contact me to tell me that their marriage is… well… continuing to spiral down, in spite of their efforts.

Over the years, I have noted some “turning points,” when things often start turning around.  And I want to share 3 of these turning points with you.

Here is the good news:  all 3 turning points I note are 100% within your control.  Yes, there are other events and actions that can also turn things (or at least, start turning things).  It is not JUST these 3 turning points.  There are others.

But these turning points I chose to highlight are ones you can choose at any time and at any point.

To be clear, just because you make a change, that does not guarantee that things WILL turn around.  (I would be able to retire, if that were the case.)  It’s just that these actions often are the turning points in the effort to save your marriage.

Will making the 3 turns guarantee a saved marriage?  No.  But they may just make a shift.  Playing the odds, doesn’t it make sense to give the 3 turning points a chance for change?

Listen to the podcast episode below for the 3 Turning Points.

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Chasing Won’t Work
Response-Able
Show Up
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Marriage Fail Points Book
Save The Marriage System

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You started working on saving your marriage.  Good for you!

And then, you hit a bump.  You get knocked down.  Maybe you discovered an affair, physical or emotional.  Maybe your spouse is irritable and upset.  Maybe it is anger and resentment, yours or your spouse’s.

And it knocks you down.

Enough that you think it is over.  That you are at the end.

But are you?  Or do you need to get back up?

In most things in life, we think the process is (or should be) smooth.  I fall for that myth all the time.  I think a project is going to be easy and straightforward.  Only to find a complication and difficulty at every turn.

And guess what?  The same is true in your efforts to save your marriage.

We talk about how you might get knocked down… and how to get up again, in this episode of the Save The Marriage Podcast.

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Dealing with Discouragement
You Need A Plan
Not A Wish, A Plan
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Do You Need Coaching?
Coaching Resource Page
Save The Marriage System

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Several listeners asked why a spouse only remembers the negative, or only dwells on the negative.  Why don’t they remember the good times or see the good things?

Over the years, I have noticed this as a recurring and common issue in your efforts to save your marriage.  A spouse’s thoughts just stay on the negative.  Maybe thinking about what is going on now or remembering what happened then.  (Memories are just current thoughts about past events — not accurate representations of the past.)

Since this is such a common phenomenon, I thought it might be good to cover it in a podcast episode.

If your spouse is stuck in the negative (or you find yourself stuck in the negative), let’s look at the reasons it happens… and what you can do about it!

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Book:  How To Save Your Marriage in 3 Simple Steps (I have a chapter on changing limiting beliefs)
How’s Your Attitude?
Hope and Stockdale Paradox
Where To Focus
“The Last Straw”
Going Pro
Program: Save The Marriage

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How do you know if it is too late to save your marriage??

That happens to be one of the most common questions I get from people… sometimes even at the beginning of a coaching sessions.  But also by email and on conference calls.

I get it.  We all want to know what the future holds. Do you put forth the effort for a lost cause?  Do you put your heart on the line, if there just isn’t any way to get a positive outcome?

So, people want to know… is there a way to know if it is too late?

Good news:  there is!

Bad news:  it will take some action on your part!

In this episode of the Save The Marriage Podcast, I cover how you can find out if it is too late to save your marriage.  Listen below.

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Why People Get Derailed
Quitting Time?  Resources to Decide
Save The Marriage System

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My approach is the 3C approach to saving your marriage.  The 3C’s are C-onnect, C-hange, and C-reate.  Connect with your spouse.  Change yourself.  Create a new path.

The first two may be more obvious… but still missed by many people.  Relationships are grown by connection, and harmed by a lack of connection.  We grow personally, when we change… and stagnate when we don’t.  But that path to create.  Where to??

I recently got an email that asked just that:  “What is the path I am building?  Where to??”

While I thought I had been clear with that, the email is a reminder that perhaps I had not been so clear.

So, let me be clear.  You are creating a new path… building a path… to WE. This is the deep and profound understanding that you and your spouse are becoming a unit, a team.  A WE.  As in, “We are in this together,” “We are a team,” “We stand together through thick and thin.”

But, since I want to be super-clear about this, I thought I would do a deep-dive in this episode of my podcast.

You can listen below.

RELATED RESOURCES:
The Immutable Laws of Living
Book:  3 Simple Steps to Saving Your Marriage
Save The Marriage System

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It is such a common demand from a spouse during a marital crisis:  “I need space!  You just need to give me space!”

Yet here I am, telling you to connect with your spouse, to rebuild the broken connection that led to the crisis.

Are they opposites?

One listener to the Save The Marriage Podcast was wondering.  Which means that others might be wondering the same thing.

Here is the problem:  When your marriage is in crisis and a spouse asks for space, if you can’t give it, your spouse will demand MORE space.  And if that is not given, your spouse will force even MORE space.  Each step causes deeper disconnection and a deeper crisis.

And yet, you know you need to fix the disconnection in order to heal the crisis.  It just seems that connecting and giving space are opposite ends.  But that is mainly because of the way you are trying to connect.  You can accidentally be crowding, not connecting.

Listen in to discover the truth about “space” and how to connect without crowding.

(And if you have questions you want answered on the podcast, CLICK HERE TO SEND THEM.)

RELATED RESOURCES
What is Space?
Why is Connection Important?
How To Stop Chasing
Taking Responsibility
Save The Marriage System
VIP Program

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In my Save The Marriage System Quick-Start Guide, I show the 8 distinct stages of a marriage crisis. But those are the stages of the crisis.  There are also stages to your awareness of the crisis.

This is the point where you are aware of the crisis, the level of the crisis, and the potential threat of the crisis.  And just to let you know:  you are NOT at stage 1.  That would be Asleep.  This is the point when you are not even aware that things are in trouble.  You are blissfully unaware of — or choosing to not notice — the looming marriage crisis that is already underway.

But then you wake up to find yourself in the midst of a troubled relationship, a hurting marriage!

Your spouse may be further along the process, and your marriage may be further along the progression of the crisis.  That is independent of your own awareness of the crisis.

In this episode of the marriage crisis, I discuss the 4 stages of crisis awareness, and the 1 thing you need to do — along with some thoughts on how to/how NOT to do that very thing.

Listen in below.

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FACT of the Crisis
Can The Marriage Be Saved?
Why It Matters
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Most people don’t come right out and say it, but they have a sneaking suspicion that they are the victim in their marital situation.  They believe they have been done wrong… more wrong than they have done.

Problem is, their spouse is believing the same thing.

Over and over, I watched as people seemed to make a mad race to be the bigger victim, each on their side of my couch, trying desperately to prove they have done all they can.  But their spouse….

It is quite a game.  Not one that either person is enjoying.  Yet both are playing.

In this episode of the Save The Marriage Podcast, I tell you the rules of the game, why we play the game… and how to end the game… unless you really want to win it.  Then, you can use the information to do that… although I don’t know why you would really want to.  That game ends with 3 losers:  You, your spouse, and your marriage.

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NMF Syndrome
How NOT to Save Your Marriage
Being on the Same Team
Save The Marriage System

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