When watching pornography interferes with a relationship, it’s an unhealthy problem, not a pastime.

Obsessing about one marital issue avoids facing bigger problems in the marriage.

Starting a fresh friendship from an old relationship, requires a fresh approach instead of old fears.

When a friend has shown no interest in a relationship, focus on preserving the friendship, not the fantasy.

Stormy relationships require weather-proofing strategies, or a break to re-assess.

When interrogations and monitoring enter into the relationship, you can expect controls to come next.

When someone talks openly about having affairs, he/she has to know there are consequences ahead.

Re-committing to a marriage won’t work, if done with grim resignation and secret yearnings elsewhere.

When online dating leads to a relationship, shopping sites is a deal-breaker.

When the custodial parent poisons the child’s attitude towards a step-parent, remember who’s really at fault.

When a lover is “stolen” away, he/she was ready to be taken.

In-law issues need a couple’s agreement, and direct communication.

The grieving period requires support, understanding and positive messages.

When the lines of a relationship are blurred, neither side is sure of the other.

When a break-up highlights your need to make changes, do so, whether or not you get back together.

Love needs to start with like, which means knowing more than superficial details.

For adults with hyper-critical parents, independence is a logical response.

You can’t win the confidence of someone whom you disrespect.

When an affair is going nowhere, examine its purpose on both sides.

Confronting a spending addiction is crucial for your own emotional health.

When adult children regularly expect your help, back off and insist they look for their own solutions.

A closed book is hard to enjoy, especially if that’s the personality someone brings to a relationship.


A family split over inheritance becomes the negative legacy of all who made it happen.

When a workplace friendship intrudes on your marriage, consider whether it’s a need or a threat.  


If you can’t clean up your own mess, stay out of others’ private space.

When a partner handles stress by mis-handling you, he/she needs help…or you need someone else.

Love is thicker than friendship, so beware of critiquing a friend’s choice of partner.

Taking a step back is sometimes the only way to give a relationship a fresh chance.

Sometimes relationships end up serving different purposes than either party intended.

Relationship talk is meant to be open and honest, not complicated babble.

Only stay together for the children’s sake, if staying together won’t do them more harm.

Overcoming addiction is a lifetime job with huge benefits.

Constant fighting is either a cop-out from open communication, or a bad choice.

Choosing between two women who’re close friends or family, requires diplomacy, sensitivity, and good luck.

Guiding a teenager toward responsibility sometimes calls for ignoring the small stuff.

In many relationships, constancy is an essential bond.

Having someone you care about in your life is usually better than being alone with your pride.

When the economic realities change, so must some of your expectations.

Two strangers “clicking” in a bar = just an introduction.

A standoff in a relationship achieves nothing, and can lose everything.

Sexual experimenting, if secret, is bound to have repercussions in a marriage.

The biological clock ticks loudest for those who listen.

Pregnancy is a physical/emotional state that a woman best shares with her partner through open communication.

Being treated as a secret is a poor start for any future together.

Beware the rush to commitment from someone just getting out of one.

Don’t waste energy over choices that are necessary and obvious.

Be certain you’ve found the right new partner who’ll understand your need to be part of your children’s lives.

If every relationship winds up the same negative way, look hard at your own contribution.

When the gossip you’re told is deeply hurtful, question the motive of its source.

When a partner refuses to discuss the future, it’s time to re-examine the present.