
Marriage & Relationships
I want to work with couples before they divorce because I know the pain of watching two parents’ inner children at war while the real children in the family suffer the consequences.
So many separations are for the better, but not until two whole adults are participating in a mutually beneficial split will the family’s fracture not cause collateral damage in the children.
I know first hand that growing into a whole adult, which stops enabling your partner to also stay stuck in inner child, can often create an even better intimate relationship than the one you’re currently experiencing together.
My marriage became the vessel through which I reclaimed the real me.
This work ultimately saved my marriage by turning it into a balanced partnership between two adults.
What’s your Soul Truth in marriage?
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Resources for Conscious Marriage & Relationships
Marriage Counseling Won’t Work. Here’s What to Do Instead.
Angry? Where Are Your Boundaries?
Is Your Missing Intention For Your Relationship Sabotaging It?
Is Your Ego Where Your Boundaries Should Be?
Conscious Relationships When He’s Not Conscious
How To Be More Attractive To Your Child (Or Spouse!) Than A Video Game
The Authentic Wife (my book)
The Authentic Life (my comprehensive course)
Welcome!!
It’s 8:30AM on October 1st, 1993. Three Chase Manhattan Bank employees have just been taken hostage by two men in Brooklyn, New York. One employee manages to trip an alarm, alerting the police. The block shuts down as first responders and news reporters fill the streets. Eager to resolve the standoff, F.B.I. agents are mobilized to begin negotiations with the bank robbers. Panicked that their getaway driver had a change of heart and left them, they repeatedly demand a car from the agents, who aren’t willing to acquiesce. (Hevesi, 1993)
So, how did it end? Did the negotiators give in to the bank robbers’ demands? Were the hostages harmed? We will find out later, but first, let’s discover what this tense moment in U.S. history has in common with something that affects the happiness of over 60 million Americans: marriage.
Just like the bank robbery, most marriages endure emotionally charged conflict. Two people with contrasting upbringings, wants, and needs shape their behavior to get those needs met, and often hold children hostage in the process. There is plenty to fight about in a marriage as two people not only tend to their relationship, but also try to form a partnership to meet the demands of their children, home, and careers (Zill, 2020).
Yet despite the high costs, literally and figuratively, of divorce, 42-45% of married couples still call it quits, usually around year seven or eight (Irvin, 2019). People may believe that they deserve to be happy, that life’s too short to be in an unhappy marriage, that they can just find someone better, that they don’t love their spouse anymore, that their spouse is the problem, that marriage shouldn’t be this hard, or that there’s no way to fix it.
The 68% of couples who stay married after considering divorce and are happy five years later (Benson & McKay, 2017) have discovered that no one outside of ourselves controls our happiness, and that life’s too short to think they do (Tolle, 2018). They realize that their intention to make the marriage work, makes it work (Berman, 2017). They come to the realization that we only like people who reflect back the best of us, and we only dislike people when they reflect the parts of ourselves that we don’t like (Jung, 1988). Finally, they come to understand that their marriage is hard because they haven’t learned how to meet their own needs and truly understand others, and that they’re co-creating the dynamic they’re in which will follow them even if they do move on to a new partner (Tsabary, 2016).
According to Pro Tour Golf College, their PGA-hopeful students spend an average of six hours practicing the game each day during the week, plus an additional amount of practice and play beyond that. To become a professional golfer, they must deliberately try different swings with different clubs and learn how to adjust for rapidly changing weather and course conditions (Montague, 2012). To become a champion, athletes in every sport dedicate vast amounts of time to practice and perfect their game.
By its very nature, marriage allows us to constantly experience emotional interpersonal conflict that triggers the parts of us that need to heal, change, or grow. Because each person is constantly evolving, or we hope they are, there is no shortage of opportunities to feel uncomfortable and seek the right tools to navigate out of that discomfort and into a more desirable state. When it comes to personal growth, marriage offers up the practice shots we need to become champions.
Research suggests that staying in a non-abusive marriage advances our personal growth because it requires us to increase our emotional intelligence, mend and care for our mental health, and improve our empathy and communication skills.
Used this way, marital conflict provides the thousands of hours of practice we need to win at the game of life. This personal growth allows us to have better relationships with everyone, including families of origin, coworkers, our children, teachers, strangers, business associates, political leaders, our clients, and beyond. It even helps with other relationships, like those we have with food or money. It helps us negotiate better wages, become better leaders, make a greater impact, show up more authentically, and use our gifts (Ciarrochi, Forgas, & Mayer, 2006). Moreover, without barriers caused by unresolved mental and emotional health problems, we can fully utilize our unique capacities to create change and serve others. We can use marriage to give us the tools we need to have a better life. Let’s discuss three of those tools.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
All human behavior is a best attempt to get a need met (Glasser, 2001) and all of our decisions to choose that behavior are driven by our emotions (Damasio, 1996). When we observe another human’s behavior or listen to them speak, often our first emotional reaction points us to our own childhood wounding (McLaren, 2013).
Because we were typically denied the ability to experience and regulate our emotions in a healthy way as children raised with an authoritarian parenting style, adults not only have repressed emotions trapped in their bodies (Patel & Patel, 2019), but they also lack the ability to control the emotions they do have so they can be present to the emotional needs of the other person with empathy. Instead, we feel defensive and project our emotions in return onto them (McLaren, 2013).
Emotions, or energy in motion, are the fantastic guidance system that keeps us alive. Each emotion has a purpose when it comes from the present moment. For example, panic guides us to fight, flee, or freeze in a life or death situation (DeBecker, 2000). Anger alerts us to the need to hold a boundary. Hate indicates total boundary devastation. Sadness appears when we must let something go. And grief surfaces when we’ve lost something we can never get back (McLaren, 2010).
Knowledge of each emotion is critical when we want to interact with others. We must know what we are feeling, and also be able to accurately sense what the other person is feeling. Without the ability to distinguish our feelings from those of others, we can experience “emotional contagion,” where we take on and feel the emotions of others (McLaren, 2013). While potentially helpful, as it gives us the ability to calm someone down if we can be calm ourselves, it can be dangerous if we match another person’s anger or fear with our own (Berman, 2017).
So, the first step, when we find ourselves in conflict, is to regulate the emotion we are experiencing in reaction to theirs and, if it doesn’t match the present moment, either stop to deconstruct the original source of the repressed emotion and allow it to leave our body, or make a note to examine it later at the first opportunity. This somatic experiencing of our own stored emotions not only improves our mental and emotional health, but our physical health as well (Patel & Patel, 2019).
MENTAL HEALTH
When deconstructing the origin of repressed negative emotions (often called “triggers”), we begin to become aware of any dysfunctional patterns from our childhood that may be repeating in our adult lives (Tsabary, 2016). For example, if we felt abandoned by a parent, do we find ourselves in a relationship where we feel abandoned by a partner? Do we notice that this has a consistent reoccurrence over our dating journey? Did our own parents end up in constant conflict and divorce when we were a similar age to our current children?
We will uncover the adverse childhood experiences that led us to develop maladaptive coping responses to the uncomfortable emotions we experienced as infants or children. Through this, we find the origin of our addictions and self-esteem issues, our rigidity or lack of boundaries, dominating or codependent behaviors, and more (Judith, 2006). We may even realize that attachment was disrupted right from infancy, setting the stress response hormone, cortisol’s, threshold for life (Freedman, 2017).
By exploring our judgments of others, we uncover our subconscious conditioned belief systems and projections of our rejected parts of ourselves onto others (Jung, 1988). For example, we may carry a belief that we are unlovable if we make a mistake, from a time when a parent shamed us as a child for making an innocent blunder. This kind of belief would trigger the emotion of inherited shame and cause us to be very defensive to any criticism as adults. Or, we may judge our partner for leaving a cabinet door open because we rejected the part of ourselves that was forgetful as a child, after a parent criticized and shamed us for that behavior. Because those subconscious belief systems are like our operating system running our lives, we rarely stop to question them to determine if they are true (Berman, 2017).
To deconstruct this childhood wounding, adults can use therapy, coaching, counseling, somatic experiencing, self-coaching, or meditation. Meditation is especially helpful as it can stop the “fight or flight” stress response by activating our vagus nerve and the “rest and digest” response. Meditation allows us to shift out of fear or high beta brainwaves and into calm, alpha brainwaves (Church & Dispenza, 2019), and it helps us create new neural pathways and drop old limiting beliefs that no longer serve us, so we can take control of the thoughts and emotions driving our behavior (Lipton, 2016).
Finally, as we release stored emotions and use neuroplasticity to form new, supportive beliefs, we are able to use the awareness of our present-moment emotions to guide us toward the choices and behaviors that are in our best interest. When we no longer base our decisions on past trauma, we can align our lives to what is best for us in the here and now.
EMPATHY AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS
With our new abilities to regulate our emotions, use emotional contagion to our advantage, and sense the emotions of others, we can now improve our ability to resolve conflict with others. Because we are each driven by our emotions first, in order to have a logical conversation about a problem, we must first help each other to get through our emotions in any argument or heated conversation (Voss & Raz, 2017).
From meditation, we have the ability to control the stream of thoughts that typically would be defensively listening, our ego on the alert to protect our identity no matter the cost (Tolle, 2018). Instead, now we can use active listening skills to not only hear, but to understand the ideas and emotions someone is trying to convey to us (Voss & Raz, 2017).
By mirroring their words, we can tease out their thoughts and ideas and help the other person hear and comprehend their own concerns. Then, through the use of labeling, we can share what we sense the other person is feeling so that we can move them through their emotions—or move their emotions through them!
Finally, with emotions released and the other party able to access their prefrontal cortex and think logically about a situation, we can use carefully chosen open-ended questions to help them think critically, consider other points of view, and make a decision that is mutually beneficial for both parties (Voss & Raz, 2017).
CONCLUSION
Less than 12 hours after the two bank robbers took their hostages, all five people involved walked out of Chase Manhattan Bank without injury, thanks in part to the patient efforts of F.B.I. hostage negotiator, Chris Voss.
Mr. Voss used all of the above tools we just discussed to engage the men in conversation, which he outlines in his book, Never Split the Difference. First, he regulated his own fear about the potential casualties if he wasn’t successful. He assumed what he calls the “late night radio DJ” tone of voice to help calm the men as he spoke to them. Next, he used active listening to understand the emotional drivers motivating their behavior and make them feel deeply understood. Finally, after teasing out their emotions and getting them to think critically about their choices and the future, they both eventually gave up and walked out to the waiting NYPD.
Their demands, beyond a hero sandwich for lunch, were never met.
Choosing to stay in a non-abusive marriage has far reaching benefits including advancing our personal growth because it requires us to increase our emotional intelligence, mend and care for our mental health, and improve our empathy and communication skills. From our children’s mental and emotional health to the economic advantages of partnership, we’ve always known that fixing a marriage is the ideal choice. But the consequences for our life (and our world) reach further than just saving 50% of our money and belongings and salvaging the relationship we have with our kids.
The personal growth opportunity that the daily conflict of an interpersonal relationship like marriage affords us is priceless. Not only do we maintain the love and support of someone we once knew as our biggest fan, we are provided the mirror with which we can identify the areas where we need emotional, mental, and spiritual growth. This growth, in turn, affects every area of our professional and personal lives. We are able to live more authentically, assertively stand up for what we need, and collaborate with others to expand our success and our impact. Without repressed emotions driving our behavior, we can respond to others by seeking to collaborate rather than reacting defensively. With the right communication skills, negotiation in every relationship improves, leading to problem solving without war or violence.
It turns out our happiness is not hiding from us in some future relationship that doesn’t even exist. It’s available to us here and now, and it’s our choice to create it.
References
Benson, H., & McKay, S. (2017, February). Couples on the brink. Retrieved August 21, 2020, from https://marriagefoundation.org.uk/research/couples-on-the-brink/
Berman, L. (2017). Quantum love: Use your body’s atomic energy to create the relationship you desire. Place of publication not identified: Hay House.
Borch, C. (2019). Predicting divorce. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science.
Chappell, S., Cooper, E., & Trippe, G. (2019, June 10). Shadow work for leadership development. Retrieved August 21, 2020, from https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-08-2018-0216
Church, D., & Dispenza, J. (2019). Mind to matter: The astonishing science of how your brain creates material reality. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House.
Ciarrochi, J., Forgas, J. P., & Mayer, J. D. (2006). Emotional intelligence in everyday life. New York: Psychology Press.
Damasio, A. R. (1996). Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason and the human brain. London: Papermac.
DeBecker, G. (2000). The gift of fear. London: Bloomsbury.
Freedman, F. (2017, June). Science-based early years swimming and water safety: Happy and compassionate learning is a right of all babies and young children in the 21st century. Retrieved August 20, 2020, from https://www.puddleducks.com/media/4293/sink-or-swim-report-june-2017.pdf
Glasser, W. (2001). Choice theory: A new psychology of personal freedom. New York: HarperPerennial.
Harden, B., Morrison, C., & Clyman, R. (2014). Emotion Labeling Among Young Children in Foster Care. Early Education & Development, 25(8), 1180–1197. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2014.907694
Hevesi, D. (1993, October 01). Standoff Ends With Arrests And Freedom For Hostages. Retrieved August 19, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/01/nyregion/standoff-ends-with-arrests-and-freedom-for-hostages.html
Irvin, P. (2019, November 07). 32 Shocking Divorce Statistics. Retrieved August 21, 2020, from https://www.mckinleyirvin.com/family-law-blog/2012/october/32-shocking-divorce-statistics/
Judith, A. (2006). Eastern body, western mind psychology and the chakra system as a path to the self. Kolkata: Alchemy.
Liotti, G. (2017). Conflicts between motivational systems related to attachment trauma: Key to understanding the intra-family relationship between abused children and their abusers. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation : The Official Journal of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation (ISSD), 18(3), 304–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2017.1295392
Lipton, B. H. (2016). The biology of belief: Unleashing the power of consciousness, matter & miracles. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House.
McLaren, K. (2010). The language of emotions: What your feelings are trying to tell you. Boulder, CO: Sounds True.
McLaren, K. (2013). The art of empathy: A complete guide to life’s most essential skill. Boulder: Sounds True.
Montague, L. (2012, December 18). How to Practice Golf: How Much Practice Should You Do to Become a Professional Golfer? Retrieved August 20, 2020, from https://www.protourgolfcollege.com/300-articles/how-to-practice-golf-how-much-practice-should-you-do-to-become-a-professional-golfer
Patel, J., & Patel, P. (2019, February). Consequences of Repression of Emotion: Physical Health, Mental Health and General Well Being. Retrieved August 21, 2020, from https://openaccesspub.org/ijpr/article/999
Soucheray, K. (2019, January 08). How emotional intelligence can save your marriage. Retrieved August 14, 2020, from https://thecatholicspirit.com/commentary/simple-holiness/how-emotional-intelligence-can-save-your-marriage/
Tolle, E. (2018). A new earth: Awakening to your life’s purpose. , UK: Penguin Books.
Tsabary, S. (2016). The awakened family: How to raise empowered, resilient, and conscious children. New York: Penguin.
Voss, C., & Raz, T. (2017). Never split the difference: Negotiating as if your life depended on it. London: Random House Business Books.
Zill, N. (2020, July). What Couples with Children Argue About Most. Retrieved August 21, 2020, from https://ifstudies.org/blog/what-couples-with-children-argue-about-most/
I believe…
Every woman has the power to create the relationships she wants with the people already in her life
You have the power to change your relationship or your life by changing the role you play in it
You can't change a relationship by looking outward for someone to blame
All relationships are here to propel us forward in life--either through contrast (what we don't want) or collaboration
There's a fierce energy in all of us that's unleashed when we're closest to our SOUL truth. Likewise, we feel resistance when we're moving away from it
If you want to lose your way, you should ignore your feelings
Whatever you think you're protecting your child from is only an old wound you haven't faced yet
There's no outside influence more dangerous in a child's life than having a parent too busy to be PRESENT with them
Read more of my blogs on Conscious Marriage and Relationships:
Why Forgiveness Changes Relationships
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Why Does Relationship Conflict Lead to Growth?
Conflict with others is an opportunity for us to grow as a person, grow in self-awareness, and grow our most valuable skills. Before I started doing this work in Conscious Parenting and the work that led to saving my marriage, I used to view conflict just as something...
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Wondering how to get on the same page as your husband around parenting, the mental load, or something else? When I was struggling with my husband, I just knew I was unhappy and he was (or seemed to be) the one to blame. It started to just become a big list of...
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We often talk about emotional regulation or being in control of our emotions, but why does it matter? What do our emotions mean? How do we change them? How do we shift out of a negative emotion or change our frequency? In her book Quantum Love, Dr. Laura Berman...
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Four years ago, when I had a To-Do list that wrapped around the block, a baby on my chest, and toddler arms pulling desperately on my shirt, I was short on ideas of how to fix my situation. The easiest answer was that my husband needed to do more, and so I'd yell at...
Divorce Decision Tree
Is it time to end your marriage? Here's a simple decision tree to help you find out. That first question is a doozy. Even if you think you want the relationship to work, I encourage you to dig a little bit deeper and see if there's a subconscious intention that...
How to Save a Marriage By Yourself
So, you're an empath married to a guy that treats you like a queen - most of the time. But those times he's angry? You question if you're more like your mother than you thought. You worry that his behavior is going to hurt your kids and that you're being irresponsible...
Marriage is the Sport that Helps You Win at Life
It’s 8:30AM on October 1st, 1993. Three Chase Manhattan Bank employees have just been taken hostage by two men in Brooklyn, New York. One employee manages to trip an alarm, alerting the police. The block shuts down as first responders and news reporters fill the...
Marriage Counseling Won’t Work. Here’s What to Do Instead.
"We went to a counselor, but they always just seem to bring it back to me, or make it about me and what I'm doing." <- This is what I hear from couples who are still really struggling in their relationship. It's sad because they both finally get to that point where...
The Soul Truth Self-Coaching Process by Beth Rowles
Read more about coaching for Parenting or Marriage. Here's a quick intro and how-to on my Soul Truth Self-Coaching Process! Download the workbook here. Transcript: Hey Friends! Welcome! Today I’m going to introduce you to the Soul Truth Self-Coaching Process which is...
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What is a Conscious Parenting Coach?
A Conscious Parenting Coach is someone that has been extensively trained in child development, psychology, mindfulness, and emotional intelligence. As a Conscious Parenting Coach, my focus is the relationship, either between the parent and the child or between both...
Is Your Ego Where Your Boundaries Should Be?
Heart armor used to do the job of my missing boundaries. Maybe you know this armor as your ego. It's that voice inside your head that judges others as good or bad to make you feel safe and good. It's always trying to build us up so we don't feel pain. The more hurts...
Conscious Relationships When He’s Not Conscious
"He's not conscious, what do I do?" <-- Is this question on your mind? What the heck do we do with the relationship when we've done allllll this personal growth work and our husband is just lagging behind in unconscious-ville, all up in his ego? He's not parenting...
Is My Marriage Hurting My Child?
As a conscious parent, you’ll do everything in your power to give your kids the best life possible. This quiz looks at an overview of your marriage and home from your child’s perspective, to see how likely it is that what they are experiencing now is going to affect them in the future.
I blame love.
I blame love. We come into this world full of it, but then are told that in order to experience it from our parents, we better change. If you’re quiet, I’ll love you. If you pick up the mess, I’ll love you. If you lose weight, I’ll love you. If you get me a gift,...
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When I see advice for couples in struggling marriages, it often includes things like "make a deposit in their emotional bank account." Or "focus on the positive." Or "go on a date night." Or "get over yourself and only worry about the WE." Well that's all fine and...
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We are all looking for someone to love us, to recreate the love and nurturing we felt (or wanted to feel) during childhood. We find someone that makes us feel that way for a while and then decide to marry them.The problem is, relationships aren't to make us feel...
When One Parent is Behaving Badly
I have seen this question from parents countless times: My spouse is not a peaceful parent, what do I do??I'm going to generalize here, as I know this is not always the case, but typically out of a child's parents, one (typically male), is unlikely to want...
What a Man Cold is Here to Teach You!
I am so excited to talk about man colds. When I woke up today to one of those funny articles full of pictures of man colds versus mom colds, I had no idea I'd be writing about it later. Now, here I am, and I couldn't even wait to make the image...
But can you HEAR me, now?
We have a friend, I'll call her Susie, who is a very hard person to connect with. This is what it's like to talk to Susie:Me: I'm just feeling so frustrated. We want this house but it's at the high end of our budget. Susie: Oh, how much is...
How do you know when it’s time to leave your marriage?
How do you know when it's time to leave your marriage? Should I get a divorce? Is this marriage over?I see this question all of the time. While we all wait patiently for Dr. Shefali's relationship book, here are some basic thoughts when it comes to...
Your time is NOW.
How much longer must the world wait for the real you? Join us today. Become a Super Soul Model & let’s find your Soul Truth, together!

super soul model:
noun
1. a married role model mom, aligned to her soul truth, inspiring her husband to reconnect to his
2. an individual living her purpose, aligned to the truth of who she is, inspiring her children to do the same
3. an entrepreneur serving her clients with an inspirational business guided by the expertise of her soul
