The Balanced Life, Huntsville Alabama

At my bridal shower many years ago, those in attendance were asked to write down one bit of advice for me on an index card for me to have. 

Lily enters the house after school, darts upstairs, and slams her bedroom door before you can even get “how was your day” remotely out of your mouth. Ever since she turned 15, it’s like you two are worlds apart.

The holiday season often brings us closer to family and friends. However, for every great interaction we have, we all have that one relative, acquaintance, or co-worker that drive us up the wall, but we can't quite put our finger on why they make us feel this way.

Let’s face it; we all anticipate some sense of normalcy sooner rather than later.  However, what does normalcy look like for you? 

I work with many couples and individuals who experience high levels of anger caused someone in their lives or they themselves are angry.Anger is an emotion, although some would say it is a secondary emotion because underneath the anger is something else, something deeper.

We’ve all heard the dismal statistics about divorce: somewhere in the 40-50% range is the likelihood that a first marriage will end in divorce. It goes up for subsequent remarriages.  There seems to be more of a casual attitude about marriage with divorce not being as stigmatizing as it has been in the past. However, research shows that stable, happy marriages increase emotional and physical well-being, including extending the lifespan.  

I’ll never forget my husband and I’s first year of marriage. After the wedding and honeymoon, I was so ecstatic about beginning our new life together, but I had not put much thought into what that might look like on a daily basis. 

Conflict occurs in every relationship. It is a completely normal part of being in a relationship. How we handle conflict in our romantic relationships can make or break it. Listed below are seven ways to successfully navigate conflict with your partner.  

Parents, are you ready?  Ready for what, you may wonder.  Most parents in Alabama and in the south in general are preparing to get their children ready to go back to school. 

It’s been a little less than a month since the Parkland, Florida school shooting, and the damaging psychological effects can last a lifetime for those directly and indirectly involved.

How often have you had a thought in your head that can’t seem to come out right in conversations with others? Most of us either convey things a little too harshly than we intended or the ideas of our mind never seem to leave our brains leaving us feeling regret for the things we did not say.  In many facets of our lives, we are faced with social settings in which interjecting our opinion is necessary to our emotional well-being.  Unfortunately, often times, those opinions get lost in translation and are not perceived well by those we wish to disclose them to. 

I’ve heard time and again that “today’s generation” is on technology and electronic devices too much these days.  Whether it’s Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Stream Video Gaming, etc., young people of today get the blame.  However, research shows that people of all ages share, read, and post on social media venues frequently.  And if you walk the streets of any U.S. city all the way to downtown Hong Kong, you’ll find many people staring at their phones and not apologizing for it. 

Perhaps you’re familiar with the concept of validation, however, often when we think we are validating someone we are actually invalidating them (and might not even know it). Did you know that there are two rules for validating emotions and six levels and it’s not as easy as it might seem at first glance.