12 Week Relationships Podcast

Shayne and Natalie from Love is Blind Season 2 are a perfect example of trauma bonding. Not only that, but Pye and Dr. Glen make the argument that they are the worst possible match for one another. It may be hard to believe. After all, trauma bonding is powerful and can be mistaken for love. However, behind Shayne and Natalie's relationship are differences in values and world views that quickly unraveled by the reunion episode and all that remained seemed to be pain, blame, and clear signs that it was perhaps, for the best.

In this episode, Pye and Dr. Glen react to moments from Love is Blind's Season 2 Premiere and reveal common dating mistakes and misperceptions that tend to disguise themselves as true love.

Love is Blind is currently one of the hottest shows on Netflix. It's an exciting dating show where potential partners get engaged without ever seeing each other!

People pleasing is a trauma-based behavior that causes one to tend to someone's needs at the expense of their own. People pleasing also goes beyond simply agreeing with someone or helping out of goodwill. Instead, people pleasers act out of fear of rejected by the other person. Pleasing the needs of others becomes their definition of love. While pleasing others may satisfy the people pleaser's immediate needs, this comes at the cost of confidence, identity, and happiness.

Fortunately, people pleasing behaviors aren't permanent and Pye and Dr. Glen lay out where this behavior stems from in order to begin making effective change, setting boundaries, and putting your own needs first.

Raising children is tough. Add a divorce and a toxic ex-partner and it can become unbelievably complicated. Now the children are raised in two separate homes, each out of the control of the other. How do you provide a healthy childhood with only half the time and a stubborn ex who refuses to listen?

Today, our guest, Amanda Lee of My Mommy the Artist, discusses the challenges of raising children with a toxic ex, how to put aside bitter feelings from the marriage, and the importance of setting the better and healthier example for your children.

➜ Learn more about Amanda's work at My Mommy the Artist: https://www.mymommytheartist.com/
➜ Connect with Amanda: https://www.instagram.com/mymommytheartist/

Actions speak louder than words, especially in the case of relationships. We can see how two people truly feel about each other just by observing their body language. Sometimes these signs are subtle and other times, they speak volumes. As experts, Pye and Dr. Glen have intensely observed the body languages of couples over the years and share some common cues and signs that can indicate whether a relationship is healthy or not.
In this episode, Pye and Dr. Glen discuss common body languages and cues that can reveal whether a relationship is healthy or not. Stay tuned for Part 2!

Trauma bonding can feel like real love and intimacy. This is because when we trauma bond, we're connecting over our wounds and that can provide temporary but deep comfort. However, this doesn't heal our traumas and only satisfies the needs of the wound. A relationship built around trauma bonding can quickly become toxic and co-dependent.

To help you know if trauma is guiding your relationship decisions, Pye and Dr. Glen discuss common signs of unhealed wounds and how to begin healing in order to seek out healthier relationships built around shared Core Values and goals.

We'd like to welcome our very first guest on our show, Amanda Lee, creator of My Mommy the Artist.

Amanda comes from an intense religious background that led her into marriage before she was ready. The marriage quickly unraveled and after over a decade of trauma and deteriorating health, Amanda left her relationship behind. She has since made tremendous progress in recovering and gaining back control of her life.

Today, she shares the trauma from growing up in an intensely religious environment and it shaped the way she parents and approaches relationships today.

My Mommy the Artist is a platform that helps parents raise healthy, creative, and capable children.

➜ Learn more about Amanda's work at My Mommy the Artist: https://www.mymommytheartist.com/
➜ Connect with Amanda: https://www.instagram.com/mymommytheartist/

Time for community questions! Lately, we've had tons of questions coming in from our listeners through our social media pages and we'd like to dedicate some time to answer them!

While we don't offer direct advice on social media, we do enjoy these opportunities to open up discussions with our wonderful community, so please feel free to continue sending us questions! We do deeply respect privacy, so should we share your question in our episodes, all names will remain anonymous.

Like dating advice, there's plenty of bad marriage advice out there. Most of them don't even consider the nuances of each relationship, individual, and situation. Instead, they offer one-size-fits-all solutions that not only miss the target, but can make things worse. Today, Pye and Dr. Glen react to 10 pieces of bad marriage advice and offer alternative approaches and insights for solving common marital problems.

There's a lot of terrible dating advice out there. Many of them sound great and helpful at first but can in fact, damage your relationship instead. To clear the air, Pye and Dr. Glen offer their thoughts on some of the most popular dating tips and how they actually enable toxic behaviors rather than encourage healthy relationships and perspectives on love.