CONSCIOUS MATING |  LOVE THINKS  |  PREPARE-ENRICH |  DISC INDRA

Want your relationship to succeed and be happy over the long-term? LOVE is only one ingredient needed.  Here are a few others:

• Good, caring and effective communication and conflict resolution skills.
   
• Knowing yourself (your goals, dreams, vision for your life), and whether your partner can and will support you in them.  Get to know your partner well also, over time and in a variety of circumstances, to see if you can align with his or her goals, dreams, vision, requirements).
   
• Recognizing your patterns - both your positive ones and the ones that could sabotage your relationship.  How can you enhance your positive patterns and shift or minimize your troublesome ones?  Know your mate's patterns and beliefs as well, and determine whether any of these will cause problems later on.  Positive changes and willingness to change are more likely to happen early in a relationship than later on.  If his or her willingness and intention to minimize behaviors that are problematic for you are not there now, they are are less likely to happen later on.
   
• Your relationship requirements - what qualities do you need in your relationship to be happy?  Distinguish these from your needs and wants.
   
• Areas of compatibility.  There are at least 7 types of compatibility; learn what they are, and figure out which are most important to you and which are less so.  Where you are not compatible, or the ways in which are very different (and there will be many!), will these tear away at your love or can they add to your strengths as a couple?
   
• Prioritizing your relationship.  Over time, the more you prioritize your relationship, your sense of US, the more strength and satisfaction you build into the fabric of your relationship.  How can you keep your marriage or relationship prioritized in the face of so many other demands?  Learn how early on in your relationship, and continue to reap the benefits for years to come.
   
• Building Trust in yourself and in your partner.  Learn how to create a culture of trust early on, and how to keep feeding it, so when temptations that will sabotage that trust present themselves (probably when you feel most vulnerable), you can muster the strength and inner wisdom to walk away from anything that will hurt and undermine your relationship.
   
• Clear Choice.  Step into a committed relationship with a clear sense of partnership and alignment with each other, and full assertiveness, without suppressing doubts or succumbing to external pressures.  Get these handled before you move forward into commitment.
   
• Distinguish between chemistry and lust.  Chemistry is the special energy that tells a couple they have the raw materials for success as a couple, and keeps them bonded and moving forward together.  It could include physical and sexual attraction, but is not limited to them.  The intensity of sexual attraction as the primary building block of a relationship will fade rather quickly, and will not provide the needed ingredients to overcome the power struggles and hurts that inevitably appear and reappear in a relationship.
   
• Equality.  You each are likely to bring strengths and challenges, areas of power and assertiveness as well areas of timidity or lack of self-esteem, fears as well as confidence.  Areas in which there are imbalances of power or influence that your current methods of communication are not resolving, might need new tools and skills to ward off reactivity, resentment and sabotage.

Seem like a daunting list?  There are many more ingredients that could be added to the list that encompass sexual satisfaction, alignment on money and parenthood issues, embracing and/or setting boundaries related to other family members or friends, and many others.

We all want love to be easy and to go smoothly.  You already are likely to have many of the raw (or polished) materials for success.  Marriage and relationship education programs and assessments, such as the ones listed here are designed to help you choose your relationship wisely and clearly (or unchoose it and leave with integrity and caring) and create a foundation for lasting success, in this or a future relationship.

Prevent preventable mistakes and hurt, and set yourselves up for success!  It's a lot less costly, emotionally and financially to build success patterns now than try to repair damage and hurt later on!

Call Annette Carpien  at 610-428-2755
       or email annette@greatrelationshipstraining.com with any questions
or to sign up for one of the programs below:

Choose personalized coaching or any these 4 programs / assessments, which can be taken in any order; they complement each other well, or just choose 1 of them.  Scheduling is at your convenience: 75 minute sessions, once per week or 2x per month, or monthly, or half-day sessions.