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Lee H. Baucom, Ph.D.

One Question That Can Destroy Any Marriage
 150 150 Lee H. Baucom, Ph.D.
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There is one question that can ruin any marriage. . . .There are some questions that can help a marriage.  There are many thoughts that can improve your relationship.

But there is one question that will suck the life right out of a marriage.  And it is a question you don’t even need to ask another person, in order to do the damage.

In fact, another person won’t make a difference for this question.  It is a question lurking within you.

Oh, and did I mention that another question, similar to this question — but very different in direction — can help restore a relationship?

Change the question, change the frame.  Get stuck on the question, get stuck in a downward spiral.  It’s up to you. . . once you know the question.

Which one are you asking?

(Need some help with your marriage?  Grab my Save The Marriage System RIGHT HERE.)

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Rejection or Protection? Perception. . .
 150 150 Lee H. Baucom, Ph.D.
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You are working on your marriage.  You reach out toward your spouse. . . only to feel rejected.

After that stops you in your tracks.  You start doubting yourself, your efforts, your plan. . . .

STOP.

What if your spouse was not really intending to reject you?

What if something else was going on?

What if I told you that almost always (I would say “always,” but then someone would work hard to prove me wrong), it is not really an attempt to reject.

It is really an attempt to protect.

Not “protect you.”  But “protect themselves.”

What?  You say, “They don’t need to protect themselves!”

But that doesn’t mean they don’t feel the need to protect themselves.

Perceptions.

They really get us in trouble.  You feel it as rejection.  It was meant for protection.  The problem is, your perception could throw you off, cause you to pull up, abandon your plan, and wallow in pain.

Or you could understand it from your spouse’s perception. . . .

Listen to the podcast below.

RELATED RESOURCES
Why Connection Matters
Connection and Perception
Dealing With Pushback
System to Save Your Marriage

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How Limiting Beliefs Limit Your Marriage
 150 150 Lee H. Baucom, Ph.D.
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Are limiting beliefs limiting your marriage? Yep. Listen to the podcast to learn more.It almost seems redundant, doesn’t it?  If you have limited beliefs, they could limit something — say, for example, your marriage.

I say IF you have limited beliefs.

Full disclosure:  We ALL have limited beliefs that are limiting us.  We ALL have blind spots, assumptions, even untrue beliefs.  We just don’t notice them.  And we pay a price for that.

Especially since we usually fail to notice or address these limiting beliefs.

Do you think your limiting beliefs MIGHT be limiting your life and your marriage?

I’m betting that is the case, since it is true for all of us.

Here’s the good news:  you can change your limiting beliefs.  Once you know what they are.  And decide to change them

Listen below for this week’s podcast.

(Here is the resource that has a whole section on changing limiting beliefs — I wrote it.  FIND IT RIGHT HERE.)

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“I Won’t If My Spouse Won’t” — And You Are Stuck
 150 150 Lee H. Baucom, Ph.D.
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"I won't if my spouse won't" and other ways to be stuck.A few days ago, that was what he said on the phone, “I won’t work on my marriage if my spouse won’t.” Now note:  he had contacted me — I help people save their marriage.

“Huh?” I uttered.

“Look,” he said, “if you think I am going to start working on my marriage by myself, that ain’t gonna happen.  Why don’t you convince my spouse to work on the marriage?”

“First,” I replied, “I am not in the market of trying to get someone to do something, neither you nor your wife.  Second, if you are always waiting for your spouse to do something before you do, you are probably very stuck.  Could I suggest something?”

“Probably not, but go ahead and try,” he said.

“Okay,” I pushed on, “what if you were to start working on things?  What if you were to just start moving in the direction of your marriage, seeing if you could improve the connection?  Is it possible that you could START the process, and your spouse could JOIN the process?”

“Maybe….”

Good enough for me.

You see, this is one of those stuck points of marriage.  If one spouse is refusing to do something until the other does something — and the spouse is doing the same thing — the marriage is frozen in place.  Stuck.

Someone has to shift.  Someone has to blink.  Someone has to be willing to change something in order for something to change.

Let’s talk about this stuck point — and how to get beyond it — in this week’s podcast (below).

(I mention a resource in the podcast.  FIND IT RIGHT HERE.)

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When Do You Need Coaching?
 150 150 Lee H. Baucom, Ph.D.
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3 times coaching can be helpful to save your marriage.If you follow me much, you know I am not a huge supporter of marital therapy.  On the other hand, Relationship Coaching can be a powerful tool in your efforts to save your marriage.

Many people use my Save The Marriage System and need no further help.

But then there are those times. . . .

Perhaps you are in the midst of one of those times.

Let’s talk about the differences between therapy and coaching.

And then, let me tell you about the 3 times where coaching can be helpful.

(Here is the link to learn more about 3C’s Coaching through Save The Marriage)

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“Can My Marriage Heal?”
 150 150 Lee H. Baucom, Ph.D.
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Can my marriage be better, healed, and saved?“I want to save my marriage,” she told me, “but can it actually be worth it?  If I do the work, and we don’t get divorced, will our marriage ever be good?”

I’ve had this same question many times in my career.  I replied with my same response, “I am not here to simply stop a divorce.  It isn’t worth it to save a marriage, only for it to be a miserable relationship.  Yes, your marriage can heal.  Yes, you can have a marriage you can treasure — both of you can treasure.  But only after you heal.”

Marriages are not like machines — once a part is broken, it’s done.  Marriages are more organic.  More like a human body.  If your body is injured by something, it will heal.  Sure, there may be a scar.  But sometimes, scars are stronger than what was there before.

Not overnight, but your marriage CAN heal, and CAN be a relationship you both will treasure.  It can be warm, loving, respectful, and strong.  It just takes some time and healing.

Learn more on this week’s podcast below.

Ready to start the healing?  GET MY SAVE THE MARRIAGE SYSTEM HERE.

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Time To “Go Pro”. . .
 150 150 Lee H. Baucom, Ph.D.
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Get focused and go pro.No.  I don’t mean you need to call in the professionals.

Have you ever noticed the difference between an amateur/hobbyist and a pro?  An amateur does something when they feel inspired.  Pros do it because its what needs to be done.

I was chatting with someone who is “writing” a book.  The person wants a better view, better resources, more research, and “inspiration.”  That book will never get written.

My friends who are multiple book authors go about it differently.  They do the writing, day in and day out, not waiting for inspiration.  They manufacture the inspiration.  They do what needs to be done — daily.

Or let’s say you think you should probably do something.  Days pass.  It remains undone.  But if it were your job and your boss said, “do it by 3,” I bet it would get done.  Because that’s part of being pro.

Are you taking on saving your marriage like a pro or an amateur?  Do you keep doing what needs to be done?  Or do you wait to be inspired?

Guess which way works.

Listen for more in today’s podcast.

Then, let’s get you the training so you are ready to Go Pro.  CLICK HERE.

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A Swiss Cheese Approach To Marriage Crisis
 150 150 Lee H. Baucom, Ph.D.
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What swiss cheese has to do with your marriage: multiple causation theory.It may be an odd preoccupation, but I pour over the scuba accident reports.  I like to see how the accidents happened, what led to the accident, and how it might have been prevented.

The same approach is taken to studying scuba accidents as is applied to airline accident and medical accidents.  And it should be applied to marriage crises.

There’s a theory of accidents in systems that is called the “Swiss Cheese Theory of Accidents.”  Another description would be “multiple causations in spite of prevention systems.”  Imagine a bunch of slices of swiss cheese.  Usually, a slice with holes in it won’t line the holes up with another slice.  If you stack them together, there are no holes all the way through the stack.

But if the holes line up, something could pass right through.  Something like an accident.

In scuba, aviation, medical, and industrial fields, there are multiple checks and balances in place (slices of cheese) to keep an accident from happening.

Marriages also have these safety zones:  love, priorities, attention, affection, boundaries, communication, etc.  The bigger the hole in each system, the bigger the chance that the holes match up.  And the bigger the chance of a marriage crisis.

To put it simply, there are multiple causations that go into a marriage crisis.  To go a bit deeper, listen to my podcast below.

RELATED RESOURCES
Another Podcast On This Theory
Importance of Connection
Importance of Boundaries
System To Save Your Marriage

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Are You Addicted To Blame?
 150 150 Lee H. Baucom, Ph.D.
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Are you addicted to blame?Are you and your spouse addicted to blame?  Do you find yourself pointing your finger toward your spouse, sure that it is really your spouse’s fault (and is your spouse doing the same thing?)?

Or maybe you are just blaming yourself.  You see this whole mess as YOUR fault.

Blame has one single outcome — STUCK.  It robs you of power (and steals away responsibility).

Blame is highly corrosive to connection.  And it freezes up the process of change.  It freezes out any chance for change.

And it is unnecessary.  (Oh, and don’t fall into the trap of just changing who gets the blame.  Blame your spouse or blame yourself.  Same outcome.)

Let’s break the addiction to blame.

And if you are ready, you can grab my Save The Marriage System HERE.

OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES
Anger and Marriage
Healing YOUR Resentment
Helping YOUR SPOUSE Heal Resentment
The Importance of Connection
The Save The Marriage System

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“What If I CAN’T Save It?” — Your Fears Addressed
 150 150 Lee H. Baucom, Ph.D.
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"What If I can't save my marriage?"Two phone calls the same day.  Both with the same question:  “What if I CAN’T save my marriage?”  One had been working at it for awhile.  The other hadn’t started (and was trying to decide whether to even start).

It’s a common question that gets asked at 3 different times in the process.  Each has a different meaning.  All share a fear.

That fear can keep you from taking action, talk you into giving up, or serve to inform you.

This week, I want to take on the question, “What if I can’t save it?”, because not every marriage can be saved.  (But NONE will be saved without action.)

Don’t let the question trip you up.  Understand what’s behind it.  And learn my answer to the question.

Listen below. . .

(And if you are ready to get started, GRAB MY SAVE THE MARRIAGE SYSTEM HERE.)

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