Helping Couples Connect
| By Anne Hancock, Psy.D.
The story you tell yourself is true, but only for you.
We see and hear everything through our own eyes and ears.
Our brain compares what we see and hear to what we expect. Then, our brain creates stories around every interaction we have.
We form an opinion, make judgments and the story we tell ourself becomes our truth. It’s our understanding of the world. Those stories become our belief… about a person, place or situation. It’s how we make sense of things.
| By Anne Hancock, Psy.D.
How do you want to feel in your relationship?
Safe? Warm? Respected? Understood? Cherished?
Whatever it is for YOU…. if you’re trying hard to make things better – you’re not alone.
We’re all pretty good about attending to our children, homes and careers. Yet when it comes to our primary relationship, most of us wing it and hope for the best. STOP!
What YOU want for your relationship is more important today than ever before.
It’s time to dig deep and think about the ONE thing that’s likely to make everything better.
You know what I’m talking about….connection.
It creates the kind of closeness you experience when you have important conversations…. without slipping into that dreaded negative spin.
Connection is a must-have for 21st century relationships and exactly what you’ll experience in our couples workshops.
Continue Reading Hold Me Tight® Workshop for Couples – Charlotte, NC – September 28 & 29
| By Anne Hancock, Psy.D.
Somehow, we got the message that love is mystical and magical. That it appears, then disappears. Motivates us. Confuses us. And, of course, we have no control over it.
Not true!
Over the past 10 years or so we’ve learned a lot about love. Brain science has completely changed our understanding of what’s possible when it comes to shaping a loving relationship.
So much so that our whole culture is shifting and personal expectations are growing. Have you noticed? While we used to settle for good enough, today we want connection.
We want to be cherished, accepted, respected and understood. We want more from our partners and while it doesn’t have to be perfect… we believe we deserve better.
| By Anne Hancock, Psy.D.
To relate:
Relating is for people who want to matter. In intimate partnerships it’s about protecting and supporting each other and is the essential ingredient for a fulfilling relationship.
When it’s missing, we’re disconnected and our relationships feel stuck. The stuck-ness is real. It’s undeniable truth, not just a metaphor. Stuck-ness triggers us and shows up in ways that will spin you around, take you down and drop you off in the middle of nowhere – lonely and confused.
That’s the power of emotional disconnection.
That peaceful, loving state we all strive for vanishes.
| By Anne Hancock, Psy.D.
Creating emotional balance and safety in a topsy-turvy world seems impossible some days.
Intuitively, we know love, attention and connection are are key; everywhere present and scarce at the same time.
So we seek it. Crave it. Demand it.
While the essence of it all might just be about mastering how to give and receive it.
What we believe matters… now more than ever.
| By Anne Hancock, Psy.D.
Just a simple reminder on how well you’re doing.
Those anxious moments you had a year ago are gone.
The problem was either resolved or it faded into the background. Something you live with but no longer think of as urgent.
Today there are other issues – for sure!
And, knowing you can get through every single overwhelming moment makes it easier to see what’s real.
When we give our attention to the important stuff instead of the panic within, we learn to build a cycle of goodness.
| By Anne Hancock, Psy.D.
Can you relate? It happens to all of us.
It’s that moment in your relationship when things are great and suddenly someone gets triggered.
The conversation goes off the rails and your partner makes NO sense.
Communication goes in circles and you both feel frustrated, hurt and confused.
Intuitively you know it’s a negative loop – one that’s almost impossible to stop.
You’ve been here 100 times before and you want to stop it………. but you can’t
You’d love to get your point across. But, what you want MOST is to be heard and understood.
Sometimes you’re left wondering what the heck the argument was even about.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
These negative cycles are UNIVERSAL and every couple has them.
Continue Reading When Conversations Go Off The Rails – Bad Things Happen
| By Anne Hancock, Psy.D.
Yep. I’m that excited.
Most of us value our primary relationship and truly want to make it better – we read books and spend hours scouring the internet wondering how to make that special connection happen.
We carefully and regularly attend to our…
with LOTS of success.
But if you work your tail off and can’t figure out why things aren’t getting better between you and your partner — you are not alone.
(HINT: this is not something we’re taught in school. And people rarely recognize emotional closeness as a skill worth building and cultivating. Turns out, it’s as essential as oxygen!)
Make no mistake – the ability for a couple to have enough closeness and trust to have an important conversation (or any conversation for that matter!) without slipping into a negative spin – is a must-have for 21st century relationships.
And that’s exactly what you’ll learn in our Hold Me Tight® Workshop for Couples.
After 2 days and 7 conversations, you’ll walk away with concrete ways to communicate and pull your partner closer.
Talking, listening and being heard for the first time in a loooooong time is exactly what you’ll experience.
Click here and select the date that works for you……
Continue Reading Registration is open and I’m super excited!
| By Anne Hancock, Psy.D.
I’ve always been amazed at how much easier life can be when you have a supportive partner and a great relationship. At least that’s the way it is for most people and, YES, you can have that in YOUR life!
Recently we’ve had a ton of inquiries about our 1-Day Couples Intensives and we always make it a point to be straight-up and let people know who’s best suited for them.
The Wellness 1-Day Couples Intensive may be a perfect fit for you if:
The 1-Day Couples Intensive covers 4-5 weeks of couples therapy in one day, completes our assessment/discovery phase and primes you for ongoing work with one of our amazing, caring therapists.
Continue Reading Do You Want to Make Life Better and Easier?
| By Anne Hancock, Psy.D.
For as long as I can remember, most people I know fell in love and started creating the wedding. Who and how many to invite? Find the right venue. Live music or DJ? What kind of food and when do we taste the cake? Get these questions answered then swing into action.
The profits around organizing and implementing weddings are huge. It’s an industry that’s not going away. Just a quick Google search reveals there are more than 2.5 million weddings in the US annually valued at well over $50 billion. Yes. Billion.
Today, there’s a new kind of creating going on.
Over time, it’s likely to have more dominance and prestige because you cannot buy or duplicate it: Creating an intimate partnership that works.
How do we create an intimate partnership where we are doing great things AND still accessible, responsive and emotionally engaged with each other?
How do we show up in relationship in ways that serve our partner AND the world?
Happy couples of the future, the ones that want to be close 20 years from now, are asking these questions. If you’re aspiring to a happy 20+ year marriage, consider organizing an intimate partnership.
If you’re planning an average life by working harder, longer hours and making more money to build a bigger house, consider the alternative: gifting your partner and humanity with your brilliance.
