What if I told you that the key to making positive changes in your life is self-love and acceptance, not self-loathing?

It may sound counterintuitive, but giving yourself credit for what you HAVE done can be incredibly motivating, especially if you've been beating yourself up over infidelity. In this episode, I guide you through an exercise to reflect on your accomplishments, big and small, over the past year. You'll be amazed at how empowering it feels!

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://www.mariemurphyphd.com/205

Do the holidays have you feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place in your infidelity situation? You're not alone. 

Trying to balance family obligations with an affair partner's desires can seem impossible. But even when you don't like your options, you still have choices. In this episode, I explore real-world scenarios and discuss how to identify your options, make decisions you feel good about, and take responsibility for your own happiness - no matter what your affair partner or spouse does.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://www.mariemurphyphd.com/204

What's more important to you - your money or your freedom?

If you're stuck in a marriage you don't want to be in but are reluctant to leave because you don't want to lose half your wealth, you're not alone. Many of my clients grapple with this dilemma.

In this episode, I dig into what money really means to you and how to weigh that against the freedom to live life on your own terms. I share strategies to get clear on your values and make empowered choices so you can start untangling your thoughts around money, marriage, and living authentically.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://www.mariemurphyphd.com/203

Are you struggling with the idea of breaking up with your affair partner? How do you tell them it's over in a way that doesn't sound like an ultimatum? Is it possible to stay friends afterwards? And what if you work together - how do you navigate that?

This is a uniquely challenging situation that brings up a lot of difficult questions, but I’ve got you covered. In this episode, I provide compassionate, nonjudgmental guidance on how to end an affair relationship as considerately as possible. While it may never be easy, there are ways to make the process clearer for both you and your affair partner.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://www.mariemurphyphd.com/202

High-conflict breakups are always going to be tricky. And when infidelity is involved, feelings can get amplified, leading to some pretty interesting behavior. Some people have a particularly hard time when a relationship comes to an end, feeling sad, hurt, rejected, unloved, abandoned... even worthless.

So, how do you go about extricating yourself from a relationship with someone who is (to put it in the most simplistic terms) behaving very badly? Tune in this week for a conversation about dealing with high-conflict breakups where you’ll learn how to support yourself as this unpleasant situation unfolds.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://www.mariemurphyphd.com/201

Does your marriage or your committed relationship CURRENTLY feel like home to you? Or are you running off of memories of what your relationship once felt like to you? If you are dissatisfied with your committed relationship to the point where you’re seriously considering leaving, but you think you can’t leave because your sense of home is predicated upon you staying, I invite you to listen in this week.

Through my own nostalgia for past experiences of feeling at home, I share how to identify your nostalgia and discover where it’s coming from. You’ll learn how to navigate bewildering thoughts of wanting to leave your marriage, but not wanting to lose the sense of home you have within your marriage.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://mariemurphyphd.com/200

No matter what you've done or are doing in regards to your infidelity situation, you are worthy of acceptance, love, and respect. As you'll hear in this episode, I explore the idea that there ARE people out there who will understand and accept you, even if they know all the details of your infidelity. While it may seem like everyone would judge and shun you, that simply isn't true. I also answer a question from a listener about their specific infidelity situation, which will offer valuable perspective to anybody engaging in something they consider infidelity, or dealing with the aftermath of an affair ending.

Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://mariemurphyphd.com/199

What do you do if your ex-affair partner's spouse wants to talk to you about the affair? Do you owe them an apology or explanation? Is there actually anything you can say to make this person feel any better?

In this episode, I explore the tricky question of what, if anything, you might want to offer the partner of someone you had an affair with. I discuss how to set boundaries that align with your values, share strategies for engaging in difficult conversations, and you’ll learn how to decide exactly what will work best for you if you find yourself in this scenario.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://mariemurphyphd.com/198

Have you ever reconnected with a former flame and found yourself in an affair, wondering if this is your second chance at true love? When people are engaging in affairs with someone they've been involved with in the past, they tend to see these relationships as an incredibly high-stakes situation.

Tune in this week to look at some of the major challenges of engaging in affairs with old lovers, how you might be inadvertently creating unnecessary drama through the way you think about this relationship, and what you can do about it. Even if you aren't having an affair with a long-lost former lover, you'll be able to see this human tendency to overcomplicate relationships of all kinds laid bare, so you can stop self-inflicted torture in your romantic life. 

Get full show notes and more information here: https://mariemurphyphd.com/197

Are you tolerating aspects of your life and relationship situations that you shouldn't? This week, I dive into what happens when we tolerate things we don’t like, and why we so often think we have to put up with them when we don’t. Find out why so many people don’t want to acknowledge that they are tolerating things they dislike in their affair relationships, the problem with disliking something and not being willing to face it, and what you can do if you are in this scenario.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://mariemurphyphd.com/196