Relationships Let's Talk About It!

Relationships have their own cycles and phases, somewhat like the seasons in nature. Some of those seasons can be romantic, playful, connecting, family focused, deep understanding. Other seasons can be one of disconnection, grief, lack of understanding. And since we are part of nature our relationships can coincide with the seasons of nature. Each of the four seasons can bring out different energies and ways of being with each other.

In this episode my wife, Yvonne Rainbow and I explore some of the different seasons in our 26 year relationship and how we navigated towards acceptance, understanding and growth. We also talk about how we learned to be more in sync with the actual four seasons of nature as it pertains to our relationship.

Yvonne Rainbow Teplitsky, is the founder of Artsy Goddess Studio, where she actively carries out her role in helping others and the planet heal. Yvonne is passionate about art, as seen in the upcycled clothing she creates from second-hand materials, as well as the visual arts she creates, such as murals, paintings, and tapestries. Yvonne also helps women transform through voice empowering workshops and helps couples through workshops and retreats that she co-facilitates with me.

"It is possible to change those seasons around if we feel stuck in a season that's not going anywhere, we got to breakthrough" - Yvonne Rainbow Teplitsky

Related Content:

Foundational Trust In Long-Term Relationships

Intentions: Setting The Tone In Your Relationships

Maintaining Connection Through Conflict

The #1 Relationship Booster

The Importance of Apologies

Connect with Yvonne Rainbow Teplitsky:

Artsy Goddess Studio Website

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

Check out our Guided Audio Practices, Meditations and Workshops at Relationships! Let's Learn About It.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

"Our life is a story", yet some of our individual stories that we tell ourselves also limit us which can therefore reinforce our core limiting beliefs of ourselves as well as others in our lives. These stories may have originated in childhood or conditioned by society and have stayed with us throughout our lives. Some of the stories we tell ourselves do serve us, yet there are those that hold us back. We need to ask ourselves, "Are these stories true?" "Is this still my reality?" and if so "Do I dare to change them?".

In this episode, I have a conversation with my friend Gregg Levoy and we dive into this topic. Gregg is a frequent seminar leader who holds workshops in the faith-based, human-potential, educational, governmental, and business industries. He is a Passionate Living Expert who has penned bestselling books such as Vital Signs: The Nature and Nurture of Passion as well as Callings: Finding and Following An Authentic Life which has been named as one of the Top 20 Career Publications by the Workforce Information Group. He regularly shares his insights and expertise as a frequent contributor to Psychology Today.

"We need to challenge the stories that hold us back" - Gregg Levoy

Related Content:

Revealing is Healing: Embracing Vulnerability

New Love...Taking Risks To Be Real

The Loss of Touch

What is a Generous Conversation

Connect with Gregg Levoy:

• Gregg Levoy website
• Gregg Levoy on Facebook

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

Check out our Guided Audio Practices, Meditations and Workshops at Relationships! Let's Learn About It.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Life is becoming busier and busier. The further society progresses, the more it seems that we have more to juggle: work, family, friends, education, health, finances, Netflix series, mortgages. Between these and many other modern-day distractions, it's difficult for many of us to put effort into our relationships - and easy to say, "I don't have time!" I get it. But we have to understand that cultivating and nurturing our relationships isn't solely about time. It's also about keeping boundaries, protecting what's truly important, and consciously giving your attention to you, your partner, and your relationship.

In this episode, I discuss the importance of making your relationship a priority and how to do it in spite of the world's busyness. I discuss our tendency to prioritize our relationships in the beginning and lose our focus over time. I reveal the many reasons it's difficult for us to prioritize our relationship and explain how we can stay deeply connected with our partner - even when doing individual things. I share the exercise questions I use to assess whether I'm giving my wife the quality attention she deserves. I also underscore the role of self-care and self-development in maintaining and prioritizing relationships and highlight what it means to have a shared experience with your partner.

"Every relationship requires effort. The happiest ones are given plenty of attention." - Pripo Teplitsky

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• Why it's difficult to prioritize our relationships
• The importance of prioritizing ourselves and bringing a healthy sense of self into the relationship
• Maintaining your connection with your partner in micro-moments
• Cultivating a relationship in the mundane life
• The value of checking-in with your partner and why it's different from asking for permission
• Nurturing a relationship through kindness, generosity, and respect
• How our partner or family sometimes doesn't get the best of us
• Keeping boundaries to maintain and protect relationships
• The myth of spontaneity and why relationships need time & effort
• How to make time for your relationship when you're busy
• What an authentic shared experience is and how to have one with your partner
• Focus, attention, and reserving a mental space for your partner
• Exercise questions to assess the quality of attention you give in your relationship

Related Content:

• Micro-Moments in Relationships

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

Check out our Guided Audio Practices and Meditations at Relationships! Let's Learn About It.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

David LaMotte is an award-winning musician, speaker, and author. I've known David and have been a huge fan of his music for about 20 years, watching his concerts in Asheville and Black Mountain many times over the years. But it was through his book, Worldchanging 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness, that I got to know his work in peacebuilding. David is someone who has spent many years of his life cultivating peace, both within himself and in his community. In 2008, he suspended his career in music to accept a Rotary World Fellowship and study International Relations, Peace, and Conflict Resolution at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. He has spoken and facilitated conversations about race, privilege, and positive change, and his talk for TEDxAsheville discusses how music can teach us how to understand peace and conflict. He is the Co-Founder and President of PEG Partners, a non-profit for literacy, critical thought, and artistic expression in Guatemala, and was named "Madison World Changer" for his work in the country.

Today, David is writing his next book, tentatively titled "Harmony: What Music Can Teach Us About Peacemaking in a Troubled Time."

David joins me today to dive deep into what peacemaking is. We discuss the importance of building inner peace so we can portray it outward in our homes and communities. We explain the etymology of pacifism and highlight why it's not just about being passive. We describe the role of hope in activism, the usefulness of vulnerability as a means of change, and the impact of creativity in interrupting hate and prejudice. We also underscore the power of names and words as well as contemplate the wisdom of the civil rights movement and activists such as John Lewis and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"The work of peacebuilding is about approaching conflict in constructive ways." - David LaMotte

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• Rethinking peacemaking and how David's first understanding of peace and harmony has evolved
• Why it's important to distinguish kindness from niceness
• How peace requires stepping towards conflict, not away from it
• Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable and how conflict leads to deeper understanding in a relationship
• How couples can work on conflict resolution
• The two facets of sensitivity and using sensitivity to move towards somebody
• Choosing vulnerability as a means of change and a look at the model of the civil rights movement
• Non-violence, its misconceptions, and why pacifism isn't about being passive
• The activism of love and our cultural narrative about what hope means
• The relationship between inner peace, outer peace, and activism
• Why the only way to know what integrity is to be out of it
• The name of peace and why I changed my name
• How David cultivates peace in his family
• An exercise in conflict mediation
• Creative interruption and the Coup Clutz Clown counter-rally
• David's principles for recognizing social privilege
• Accepting the possibility of human transformation

Related Content:

• The Secret to Love is Just Kindness

Resources Mentioned:

• Music Can Help Us Understand Peace and Conflict | David LaMotte on TEDxAsheville

Connect with David LaMotte:

• Let's Be Neighbors
• David LaMotte Website
• David LaMotte on LinkedIn
• David LaMotte on Facebook
• David LaMotte on Twitter
• Book: Worldchanging 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness
• Book: White Flour
• Book: S. Bathtub

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

Check out our Guided Audio Practices and Meditations at Relationships! Let's Learn About It.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Corey Costanzo is the Co-Owner of Asheville's Still Point Wellness Spa, a licensed addiction counselor, trauma specialist, master didgeridoo player, colleague, and good friend. One of the greatest joys in his life involves relating with others. So, it's not surprising that he remembers one sentence I said over a year ago in one of our conversations: that the number one predictor of a relationship's success is allowing influence. But sometimes, opening up to our partners' thoughts and ideas can be challenging, especially if we're still working on our tendencies to withdraw and our need to be right.

How do you accept your partner's influence with gentleness - without feeling disempowered or defensive?

In this episode, Corey and I share some examples of opening up to influence in our relationships with our partners, in our work as therapists, and in our friendship with each other. We emphasize the importance of embracing your partner's influence and thoughts with grace, humility, and a good heart. We share how men are normally socially conditioned to seek "winning" and reject the notion of opening up to influence from their partners. We also share statistical data that provides insight into the effects of sharing power in a relationship and underscore how embracing influence can make our relationships more magical.

"The best way to effectively share power in a relationship is when we can each have a voice and when we can each feel confident about the influence of our voice." - Corey Costanzo

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• Influence and sharing power in relationships
• The number one thing that makes relationships thrive
• How our partner's influence can be an indicator of a behavior we're not conscious of
• The detrimental impacts of rejecting influence
• Statistical data on the relationship between being open to influence and the success of a marriage
• Men's need to "win" and how the need to be right lowers the other person's self-confidence
• The importance of listening to the reflection of a relationship
• How men are socially conditioned to perceive allowing influence as relegating autonomy and power
• How trust and self-awareness can allow us to open up to influence and accept boundaries
• Withdrawing connection, attention, and love as unhealthy responses to influence
• Cultivating balance and allowing influence in physical contact
• Allowing influence in friendships and how nobody changes with criticism

Related Content:

• Receiving Someone's Anger
• The Anger Habit
• Emotional Regulation

Connect with Corey Costanzo:

• Still Point Wellness
• Still Point Wellness on Instagram
• Still Point Wellness on Facebook
• Still Point Wellness on Pinterest
• Corey Costanzo on LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

Check out our Guided Audio Practices and Meditations at Relationships! Let's Learn About It.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Medical decisions and our relationship with experts in the medical field take a prominent role at this stage of the pandemic - and our response to it. Which is why information is crucial, and something Dr. Mark Hoch - Founding Diplomate of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine - is passionate about guiding people through. Mark has been a medical doctor for over 30 years. He received his M.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and completed his residency in Family Medicine at the University of Connecticut. Today, Mark is active in the holistic medical movement in the U.S. and sits as Co-Chair of the Past Presidents Council of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine. But what really makes Mark special is his integrity and diligent work to educate others on health at a time where informed consent is imperative.

In this episode, Mark and I discuss the role of integrity in a relationship between doctors and patients. We describe what informed consent means and underscore its importance amid the global pandemic. We explain how not aligning with integrity can impact our health and wellbeing as well as how fear discourages us from choosing to act with integrity. We also highlight the need to practice integrity and underscore the value of tolerance and standing up for what's right.

"The quality of relationships people attract or find themselves in resonates with integrity." - Dr. Mark Hoch

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• The role of informed consent and integrity in the work of a physician
• What happens when people don't know they are not aligned with their integrity
• How integrity was modeled in Mark's childhood and family
• Making mistakes in life and how they can help us check our alignment with integrity
• The relationship between a person's integrity and their physical health and wellbeing
• "Choice" moments and the aspects of integrity
• The story of a woman who suffered mercury and lead poisoning
• Mark's professional journey in healthcare and the importance of teaching health
• Integrity misalignment on a massive social scale and how fear discourages us from being our authentic selves
• Learning from the dinosaurs and how Western medicine is not based on health
• The lack of integrity in healthcare and medical research
• Flip-flopping integrity and the difference between ignorance and outright lying
• The need to practice integrity and the healthy way to learn from life

Resources Mentioned:

• The Emergency Authorized mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine: Is It a Good Idea for Our Children?
• A Note on EAVs: Emergency Authorized Vaccines for COVID-19

Connect with Mark Hoch:

• Mark Hoch Website
• Mark Hoch on Instagram
• Mark Hoch on Facebook
• Mark Hoch on YouTube

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

Check out our Guided Audio Practices and Meditations at Relationships! Let's Learn About It.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, contact us. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

We all have our own histories, challenges, and traumas that we bring with us into every relationship. When we begin new relationships, opening up is an exciting part of the journey of getting to know each other. It's easy to talk for hours, to find intimacy in a new connection with another person. But as we move further into our relationships, delving deeper into ourselves and our struggles can become more complex and can often cause roadblocks with our partners. Evenings spent in conversation turn into silent dinners or awkward fights that seem to be about nothing. Psychotherapist, author, and host of The Dignity of Suffering Podcast, Mitchell Smolkin sees these moments as opportunities for us to rewire the defense mechanisms that our brain has been conditioned to use. If we allow ourselves to be more vulnerable and share our past traumas, we will find greater fulfillment and intimacy in our relationships.

Today Mitchell and I explore what it really means to lean in with your partner and why so many of us find it difficult to do. We discuss our own experiences with intimacy in relationships, including moments of success and moments where we failed to be present or empathetic. We discuss the power of the brain in creating habits and defense mechanisms from past pain or trauma and how we can move forward with more vulnerability despite these challenges. We also touch on the joy of creating a more profound connection in relationships and how unlearning bad habits can lead to greater intimacy and fewer feelings of loneliness.

"The ability to come together, two people, and talk about disappointment - for me, that's actually strength." - Mitchell Smolkin

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• The power of getting out of our comfort zones to create an opportunity for intimacy
• What it means to "lean in" with your partner
• The power of meeting your partner where they are
• How the arc of feeling vulnerable and being met with acceptance leads to a deeper connection
• Learning how to live through our past trauma so we can deal with future challenges
• How we can lean into our partner and share more of ourselves
• How intimacy can uncover old wounds and cause us to pull away or shut down
• The humbleness of witnessing someone else's struggles vs. the challenge of being truly vulnerable ourselves
• How our brains have been wire with habitual defenses that build walls within our relationships
• Being an emotionally supportive partner and taking joy in the power of that connection
• How "missed moments" with our partners can cause us to withdraw emotionally

Connect with Mitchell Smolkin:

• Mitchell Smolkin Website
• The Dignity of Suffering Podcast
• Mitchell Smolkin on LinkedIn
• Mitchell Smolkin on Instagram
• Mitchell Smolkin on Facebook
• Mitchell Smolkin on YouTube

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

Check out our Guided Audio Practices and Meditations at Relationships! Let's Learn About It.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, contact us. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

If someone asked you to define your perfect partner, how would you respond? Oftentimes, our knee-jerk response focuses on different characteristics and personality traits like 'I want someone kind, caring, compassionate, supportive, and patient." But, before we begin to describe our ideal intimate partner - we need to look within ourselves and ask: "Am I being the person I want my partner to be?" and "Am I being the partner I want to be?"

The old adage, 'treat others the way you want to be treated' rings true in nearly every relationship and - more often than not - the quest to find the intimate partner you most want lies in doing your own inner work.

In today's episode, I discuss why it's difficult - if not impossible - to find the intimate partner you want the most if you avoid looking within yourself and changing your own behaviors. I discuss how the characteristics and values you seek in an intimate partner are often the same characteristics and values you want in yourself and how reflecting on your life and relationships can help you become the kind of partner you want to be. I discuss why it's crucial to be compassionate with yourself as you shift your behavior and the importance of finding opportunities each day to show up as the kind of partner you want to become. I also explain how taking time to take care of yourself can help you become a better partner and attract the intimate partner you most want to have.

"How you relate to other people is a reflection of who you are in your higher self; how you connect." - Pripo Teplitsky

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• Adopting the characteristics and values you want in your partner
• Envisioning the person you want to be and how you want to be by learning from past mistakes and experiences
• How envisioning yourself on your deathbed and reflecting on your life can help you become the kind of partner you want to be
• How I learned to become more patient with my wife, Rainbow, by focusing on becoming the kind of partner I wanted to be
• Embracing self-care, self-love and being compassionate with yourself for the times when you're not acting like the partner you want to be
• How setting boundaries can help you avoid criticizing your partner or showing disinterest in the challenges they face
• Asking yourself what you are doing to make it more difficult to find the partner you most want
• Why people often try to exert their power when they feel under-valued and how it impacts relationships
• Practicing the values and characteristics you want to have with your family and in your friendships
• How changing your behavior, characteristics, and values can inspire change in your partner

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

Check out our Guided Audio Practices and Meditations at Relationships! Let's Learn About It.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, contact us. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Seeking approval from our peers and loved ones is natural. We want other people to like us whenever we walk in the world. Trish Kruger, a licensed clinical mental health counselor for Blue Ridge Treks, believes that our need for validation and approval from others is part of our history as human beings. But, Trish suggests when we start feeling constricted and heavy in the course of seeking approval, that's how we'll know we've tipped the scale and have done too much, forgetting to honor our authenticity along the way.

In this episode, Trish and I discuss the human need for validation and the point when approval-seeking becomes detrimental for individuals and their relationships. We describe the relationship between self-esteem & seeking approval and the importance of cultivating a strong sense of self. We explain how our relationship with approval is formed in childhood and discuss how minority groups are forced to seek approval to survive. We also underscore how adult attachment styles impact our desire to seek approval and highlight how we can respond with compassion and kindness to the parts of ourselves that need approval and validation from others.

"Healthy validation is rooted in love - we need that as communal beings. We're meant to be in our tribe, and being in our tribe helps us feel understood." - Trish Kruger

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• The underlying worry and anxiety in approval-seeking
• Being authentically generous from a place of a healthy sense of self as opposed to seeking approval
• Resentment and other indicators of an unhealthy approval-seeking in relationships
• The difference between a "reflected" sense of self and a "strong" sense of self
• Power differentiation and seeking approval as a matter of survival
• How and when approval-seeking becomes detrimental in a relationship
• Walking on eggshells and how girls and women learn to try not to be "too much"
• Healthy validation and how it's different from approval-seeking
• A tree with shallow roots and what fear is like in a relationship
• Our need for approval during periods of transition
• Why parents need to be cognizant of how they're feeding their children's need for approval
• Seeking love steeped in fear and its prevalence in today's society
• Risking relationships by speaking and living your truth
• The liberating feeling we feel whenever we align ourselves with our integrity and authenticity
• How we engage in reckless behavior when we're not in alignment
• Practicing acceptance and compassion for the part of ourselves that seeks approval
• Self-soothing and self-care in the face of rejection

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: Passionate Marriage: Keeping Love and Intimacy Alive in Committed Relationships by David Schnarch
• Book: Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find - and Keep - Love by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller

Related Content:

• People Pleasing
• The Importance of Rituals for Relationship Transformation
• The Power and Effects of Words

Connect with Trish Kruger:

• Blue Ridge Treks
• Trish Kruger on Facebook
• Email: [email protected]

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, contact us. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk

Every one of us, at some point in our sojourn in this world, encounters a point of decision. Whether it's in our work, businesses, or marriage, life confronts us with the choice of staying our course or leaving. Sometimes the choices scare us, and so we put it off. Shaun Rawls - a highly sought-after keynote speaker and author of "F"-IT-LESS - believes that many of us will put off these critical life decisions so much that life itself eventually makes the decision for us. Through his work and book, Shaun helps other people evaluate and define what's important for them and outline actions so they can work on the things worth staying for.

In this episode, Shaun and I discuss the kind of work you need to do in evaluating whether you should stay or leave a relationship. We explain why some people don't leave their relationships, despite knowing that they want to, and describe the impact of holding on to commitments for the sake of being committed. We share how attuning with the wisdom of your body can help with decision-making and share some tools to help people communicate difficult feelings. We also highlight the importance of shifting the blame from your partner and focusing instead on the inner work that you need to do as well as underscore our need to live in our true alignment.

"Whether you're moving towards staying or going, move towards it together, not as islands where one of you is further away and out." - Shaun Rawls

This week on Relationships! Let's Talk About It:

• Encountering the 'should-I-stay-or-should-I-go' choice points in different aspects of life
• When to quit and when to stick
• "Ride-or-die" versus "asterisk" commitments and some choice points Shaun met in his life
• The relationship between our personality and how we deal with commitment
• How being committed to commitment prevents us from aligning with who we are
• Living in our true alignment and the power of connecting with your body to help evaluate decisions
• How men normally find it difficult to connect with their feelings and inner selves
• A simple tool to help people communicate what they feel
• Why you need to ask whether you like yourself in your relationship
• The importance of thinking about long-term relationships as choices we make daily
• The inner work involved in determining whether you should stay or leave a relationships
• A merger, a marriage, and how Shaun knew he wanted to leave his first marriage
• Shifting the blame from your partner and how I decided that I'll stay in my relationship with my wife, Rainbow
• Using the "F"-IT plan to evaluate your relationship and quality of life
• The work involved in long-term relationships

Resources Mentioned:

• The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins

Connect with Shaun Rawls:

• Shaun Rawls Website
• Shaun Rawls on LinkedIn
• Shaun Rawls on Facebook
• Shaun Rawls on Twitter
• Book: "F"-it-Less: 18 F-Words to Reframe and Repurpose Your Life

Let's Talk About It!

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Relationships! Let's Talk About It - the show to help you forge deeper, more meaningful connections and relationships with those around you. If you enjoyed this week's episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us a rating and review.

You can check out the original songs I have sung in my podcast at Pripo's Podcast Songs.

If you have a relationship question you'd love to have answered, contact us. Your question may be featured on a future episode!

Don't forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook at HeartShare Counseling, join our Relationships! Let's Talk About It Facebook group, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Share your favorite episodes on social media to help others build better, more meaningful relationships.

And if our content has helped you forge deeper connections and more meaningful relationships, be sure to help support the show by visiting our Support the Podcast page!

Theme music "These Streets" provided by Adi the Monk