Stronger Marriage Connection

We sit down with Dr. Lee Baucom to unpack the “pause button marriage,” why most couples misdiagnose communication issues, and how small, steady habits and a team mindset rebuild connection. One partner can start the change with curiosity, empowerment, and self-management.

• defining the pause button marriage and its slow costs
• shifting from me and you to a true we
• why connection, not communication, is the core issue
• unpausing with small, repeatable habits of connection
• using invitational pacing instead of chasing
• curiosity as the path to empathy and safety
• self-management to reduce reactivity and blame
• hope’s three parts: where, how, and willingness
• practical tools to rebuild trust and teamwork
• resources, including the Unpause app and site

Happy Hacks: 101 Science-Backed Ways to Boost Happiness, Reduce Stress, and Build a More Meaningful Life.

Available now starting at 99¢ on Amazon and Dave's Book Store

Written by Dr. Dave Schramm, this practical and uplifting new book offers simple, research-based strategies to help you build greater happiness, strengthen resilience, reduce

The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Marriage Commission.

Visit our site for FREE relationship resources and regular giveaways: 

Strongermarriage.org  

Podcast.stongermarriage.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrongerMarriageLife

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strongermarriagelife

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongermarriagelife/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongermarriage/

Facebook Marriage Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/770019130329579

Dr. Dave Schramm: 

http://drdaveschramm.com

http://drdavespeaks.com

Dr. Liz Hale: 

http://www.drlizhale.com/ 

We sit down with researcher Wendy Wang to unpack how AI companionship, porn, and endless scrolling are reshaping dating, marriage, and mental health. We share data-backed risks and simple house rules that protect attention, intimacy, and commitment.

• one in four young adults saying AI could replace romance
• how frictionless AI partners create unrealistic expectations
• links between screen time, lower satisfaction, and fewer date nights
• scams targeting loneliness with AI-crafted personas
• class and education divides in openness to AI partners
• why online choice overload delays commitment
• practical phone-free zones and bedroom boundaries
• drawing an emotional line: no AI for comfort or venting
• replacing 50-50 scorekeeping with patience and generosity
• building rituals that strengthen connection and reduce technoference

Happy Hacks: 101 Science-Backed Ways to Boost Happiness, Reduce Stress, and Build a More Meaningful Life.

Available now starting at 99¢ on Amazon and Dave's Book Store

Written by Dr. Dave Schramm, this practical and uplifting new book offers simple, research-based strategies to help you build greater happiness, strengthen resilience, reduce

The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Marriage Commission.

Visit our site for FREE relationship resources and regular giveaways: 

Strongermarriage.org  

Podcast.stongermarriage.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrongerMarriageLife

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strongermarriagelife

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongermarriagelife/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongermarriage/

Facebook Marriage Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/770019130329579

Dr. Dave Schramm: 

http://drdaveschramm.com

http://drdavespeaks.com

Dr. Liz Hale: 

http://www.drlizhale.com/ 

We unpack how codependency hides inside “helping,” why rescuing backfires, and how to build self-compassion, boundaries, and interdependence. Therapist Peyton Holt shares concrete tools for couples and parents to trade control for empathy and create safer, stronger bonds.

• clear definition of codependency and why it’s common
• five core symptoms from Pia Mellody’s framework
• the fix-it cycle and why relief reinforces rescuing
• parenting patterns, enabling, and natural consequences
• shame spirals, taking feedback personally, eggshell walking
• self-compassion as the foundation of change
• rebuilding inside-out self-esteem and saying no
• partner playbook for support and shared language
• “the story I’m telling myself” for de-escalation
• treatment timelines, workshops, and group support

Happy Hacks: 101 Science-Backed Ways to Boost Happiness, Reduce Stress, and Build a More Meaningful Life.

Available now starting at 99¢ on Amazon and Dave's Book Store

Written by Dr. Dave Schramm, this practical and uplifting new book offers simple, research-based strategies to help you build greater happiness, strengthen resilience, reduce

The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Marriage Commission.

Visit our site for FREE relationship resources and regular giveaways: 

Strongermarriage.org  

Podcast.stongermarriage.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrongerMarriageLife

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strongermarriagelife

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongermarriagelife/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongermarriage/

Facebook Marriage Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/770019130329579

Dr. Dave Schramm: 

http://drdaveschramm.com

http://drdavespeaks.com

Dr. Liz Hale: 

http://www.drlizhale.com/ 

We welcome Les and Leslie Parrott to unpack how preparation, empathy, and practical tools create stronger marriages, from the origins of SYMBIS to the launch of the four-minute Heart Chart. We explore healthy conflict, invisible rule books, and thought patterns that quietly shape connection.

• SYMBIS origin story and why premarriage prep matters
• moving from traits to state for real-time insight
• the invisible rule book and expectations
• how to fight a good fight without harm
• empathy as the core skill for repair
• toxic thoughts like irrational guilt and entitlement
• Heart Chart’s commitment and connection coordinates
• simple presence habits that boost attunement
• laughter, awareness, and small daily choices

Happy Hacks: 101 Science-Backed Ways to Boost Happiness, Reduce Stress, and Build a More Meaningful Life.

Available now starting at 99¢ on Amazon and Dave's Book Store

Written by Dr. Dave Schramm, this practical and uplifting new book offers simple, research-based strategies to help you build greater happiness, strengthen resilience, reduce

The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Marriage Commission.

Visit our site for FREE relationship resources and regular giveaways: 

Strongermarriage.org  

Podcast.stongermarriage.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrongerMarriageLife

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strongermarriagelife

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongermarriagelife/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongermarriage/

Facebook Marriage Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/770019130329579

Dr. Dave Schramm: 

http://drdaveschramm.com

http://drdavespeaks.com

Dr. Liz Hale: 

http://www.drlizhale.com/ 

We explore how emotional safety fuels connection and why consent, validation, and nervous system awareness transform tough talks. Shane Burkle shares RLT’s “truth with love,” a six-hour intensive model, and a simple exercise couples can use today.

• connection seekers vs safety seekers and the push-pull loop
• what emotional safety looks like in practice
• validating language, curiosity, and accountability
• consent in conversations and setting parameters
• timeouts, check-ins, and nervous system regulation
• RLT’s truth with love and compassionate confrontation
• inner child work that reframes defensiveness
• therapist grounding, client vision, and clear goals
• full respect living and everyday repair
• where to find Shane’s exercise and resources

Happy Hacks: 101 Science-Backed Ways to Boost Happiness, Reduce Stress, and Build a More Meaningful Life.

Available now starting at 99¢ on Amazon and Dave's Book Store

Written by Dr. Dave Schramm, this practical and uplifting new book offers simple, research-based strategies to help you build greater happiness, strengthen resilience, reduce

The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Marriage Commission.

Visit our site for FREE relationship resources and regular giveaways: 

Strongermarriage.org  

Podcast.stongermarriage.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrongerMarriageLife

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strongermarriagelife

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongermarriagelife/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongermarriage/

Facebook Marriage Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/770019130329579

Dr. Dave Schramm: 

http://drdaveschramm.com

http://drdavespeaks.com

Dr. Liz Hale: 

http://www.drlizhale.com/ 

We explore how to design a fair, secure-functioning relationship that protects both partners, repairs fast, and prevents repeated harm. Dr. Stan Tatkin explains why instinct fights intimacy and how governance, PEPPER, and daily presence keep love strong under stress.

• human nature as difficult and self-protective 
• difference between difficult and too difficult 
• clean repair and real apology without excuses 
• attachment biology, pair bonding and threat memory 
• the ick as a distancing threat response 
• limits of labels and misuse on social media 
• why “never again” fails and the value of yielding to reminders 
• PEPPER prevention model and post-mortem revise 
• social contracts, shared leadership and putting the couple first 
• daily micro-connection and ongoing courting 
• stop repetition of injuries with systems and agreements

Happy Hacks: 101 Science-Backed Ways to Boost Happiness, Reduce Stress, and Build a More Meaningful Life.

Available now starting at 99¢ on Amazon and Dave's Book Store

Written by Dr. Dave Schramm, this practical and uplifting new book offers simple, research-based strategies to help you build greater happiness, strengthen resilience, reduce

The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Marriage Commission.

Visit our site for FREE relationship resources and regular giveaways: 

Strongermarriage.org  

Podcast.stongermarriage.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrongerMarriageLife

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strongermarriagelife

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongermarriagelife/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongermarriage/

Facebook Marriage Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/770019130329579

Dr. Dave Schramm: 

http://drdaveschramm.com

http://drdavespeaks.com

Dr. Liz Hale: 

http://www.drlizhale.com/ 

We sit down with Susanne Alexander to explore unity as a daily practice and walk through research-based tools that help couples merge hearts and minds. Small habits, virtue-based praise, and playful rituals turn conflict into clarity and make friendship the backbone of marriage.

Susanne M. Alexander is a relationship and marriage educator, coach, author, and publisher with her company Marriage Transformation®, www.marriagetransformation.com. She meets with clients globally via the internet for relationship and marriage preparation and marriage strengthening. Susanne is certified to offer couples assessments and coaching through Prepare-Enrich® and for individuals with the Character Foundations Assessment™. She has completed Level 1 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy. Susanne has written or co-written over 30 books. Her most recent is “Growing Our Unity: 19 Vital Practices for a Thriving Relationship”, coauthored with Grant Peirce. Susanne is co-lead on Accordia Way, a project to assist couples with excellent communication and decision-making skills, https://accordiaway.substack.com/subscribe.

She is passionate about helping individuals and couples make good relationship and marriage choices through knowledge and skill-building and thereby prevent divorces. Susanne has been single, dating, engaged, married, divorced, and widowed. She is a child, stepchild, parent, stepparent, and grandparent. All of this has given Susanne a diversity of experience to share. She is originally from Canada and is married to a wonderful man named Phil Donihe in Tennessee, in the United States. They live on a lake and love to do romantic boat trips together that include nature photography.

• how lived experience shapes Susanne’s approach
• unity as a shared daily language
• 22 virtues that support connection
• Unifier 10 choosing to merge in a distracted world
• micro practices celebrations greetings and check ins
• bids for connection and sunset moments
• a commute tweak that transformed evenings
• rethinking conflict with the bowl method
• appreciation using virtue language to affirm identity
• laughter dates and rediscovering fun
• service balance and community ties
• friendship as the foundation for lasting closeness
• learning in action as a lifelong mindset

Happy Hacks: 101 Science-Backed Ways to Boost Happiness, Reduce Stress, and Build a More Meaningful Life.

Available now starting at 99¢ on Amazon and Dave's Book Store

Written by Dr. Dave Schramm, this practical and uplifting new book offers simple, research-based strategies to help you build greater happiness, strengthen resilience, reduce

The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Marriage Commission.

Visit our site for FREE relationship resources and regular giveaways: 

Strongermarriage.org  

Podcast.stongermarriage.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrongerMarriageLife

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strongermarriagelife

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongermarriagelife/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongermarriage/

Facebook Marriage Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/770019130329579

Dr. Dave Schramm: 

http://drdaveschramm.com

http://drdavespeaks.com

Dr. Liz Hale: 

http://www.drlizhale.com/ 

We explore how sexual intimacy becomes joyful and life-giving when anchored in self-honesty, personal responsibility and spiritual growth. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife shares practical ways to move beyond rigid roles, foster freedom and desire, and build a marriage that can hold two full adults.

• linking sexuality and spirituality as sources of joy
• defining intimacy as being seen and known
• reframing eroticism as life force, not performance
• spotting how roles hide the self and stall desire
• negotiating roles with honesty and responsibility
• understanding desire as freedom plus self-acceptance
• better advice for daughters than duty-based sex
• helping sons regulate desire without shame
• why intimacy feels risky to the ego
• becoming more truly who we are in love
• first steps for the stuck: curiosity over judgment
• resources to grow sexual and emotional intimacy

Jennifer's Website: https://finlayson-fife.com/

Podcast: https://www.finlayson-fife.com/podcasts

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/finlaysonfife/?hl=en

Happy Hacks: 101 Science-Backed Ways to Boost Happiness, Reduce Stress, and Build a More Meaningful Life.

Available now starting at 99¢ on Amazon and Dave's Book Store

Written by Dr. Dave Schramm, this practical and uplifting new book offers simple, research-based strategies to help you build greater happiness, strengthen resilience, reduce

The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Marriage Commission.

Visit our site for FREE relationship resources and regular giveaways: 

Strongermarriage.org  

Podcast.stongermarriage.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrongerMarriageLife

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strongermarriagelife

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongermarriagelife/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongermarriage/

Facebook Marriage Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/770019130329579

Dr. Dave Schramm: 

http://drdaveschramm.com

http://drdavespeaks.com

Dr. Liz Hale: 

http://www.drlizhale.com/ 

Dr. Dave Schramm and Dr. Liz Hale sit down with Dr. Julia Garcia to explore how hope becomes a daily habit that strengthens love, repairs conflict, and restores self-worth. We map the five habits of hope and show how one small word—maybe—can interrupt despair and create momentum.

• defining hope as practice not positivity
• Julia’s journey from hopelessness to healthy habits
• five habits of hope: reflection, risk, release, receive, repurpose
• the sound of hope and processing feelings
• curiosity and repair during conflict
• noticing where we withhold love
• letting go to make room for connection
• practical steps for singles to position for growth
• modeling hope for kids and students
• resources to find Julia’s book and podcast

Happy Hacks: 101 Science-Backed Ways to Boost Happiness, Reduce Stress, and Build a More Meaningful Life.

Available now starting at 99¢ on Amazon and Dave's Book Store

Written by Dr. Dave Schramm, this practical and uplifting new book offers simple, research-based strategies to help you build greater happiness, strengthen resilience, reduce

The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Marriage Commission.

Visit our site for FREE relationship resources and regular giveaways: 

Strongermarriage.org  

Podcast.stongermarriage.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrongerMarriageLife

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strongermarriagelife

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongermarriagelife/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongermarriage/

Facebook Marriage Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/770019130329579

Dr. Dave Schramm: 

http://drdaveschramm.com

http://drdavespeaks.com

Dr. Liz Hale: 

http://www.drlizhale.com/ 

We talk with therapist and author Marc Cameron about how childhood bonds shape adult love and how anyone can “earn” secure attachment through story, skills, and practice. Practical tools like boundaries that invite connection and the Comfort Circle help couples move from reactivity to responsiveness.

• what avoidant, pleaser, vacillator, and disorganized styles look like in childhood and adulthood
• how a coherent narrative links emotions to needs
• why empathy, validation, and clear language reduce conflict
• boundaries as doors back into connection
• style-specific growth goals and daily practice
• co‑soothing before self‑soothing and nervous system regulation
• the Comfort Circle listener-speaker tool
• research roots from Bowlby, Ainsworth, and Main
• resources from How We Love and Marc’s new book

Marc Cameron's Resources and Links:

Free How We Love Attachment Style Quiz:

https://understandingyourattachmentstyle.com/

How We Love: https://howwelove.com/

Marc's Social Media:

https://m.facebook.com/marc.cameron.mft/

https://www.instagram.com/marc.cameron.mft/

How We Love Social Media:

https://www.facebook.com/howwelovebook?mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfr

https://www.instagram.com/howwelovebook?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

https://www.tiktok.com/@how.we.love.tikto

https://www.youtube.com/@HowWeLove

Happy Hacks: 101 Science-Backed Ways to Boost Happiness, Reduce Stress, and Build a More Meaningful Life.

Available now starting at 99¢ on Amazon and Dave's Book Store

Written by Dr. Dave Schramm, this practical and uplifting new book offers simple, research-based strategies to help you build greater happiness, strengthen resilience, reduce

The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Marriage Commission.

Visit our site for FREE relationship resources and regular giveaways: 

Strongermarriage.org  

Podcast.stongermarriage.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrongerMarriageLife

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@strongermarriagelife

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongermarriagelife/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongermarriage/

Facebook Marriage Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/770019130329579

Dr. Dave Schramm: 

http://drdaveschramm.com

http://drdavespeaks.com

Dr. Liz Hale: 

http://www.drlizhale.com/