Sam Malone Show Marriage Talk With Sam Malone And Honor The Vow's Robert Cossick

While one can arguably say, “Bacon makes everything better” it doesn’t mean eating bacon is good for your health. For example, studies have shown that five hours after eating a pork chop, red blood cells clump together decreasing the flow efficiency of those cells throughout the body. Complaining is similar to bacon, it may feel good when doing it but long term, complaining has negative effects on the brain and body as a whole.

We periodically look at marriage from a business perspective, not to make marriage impersonal but to learn how good business practices or assessments can help improve your marriage. In business an action or transaction is assessed by the value it brings to or takes away from the business. A transaction that adds value is accretive. Applying this principle to your marriage, you would assess whether a certain action strengthens or weakens your marriage.

If your spouse has bad breath, feet, etc. or an annoying habit such as chewing with their mouth open, clearing their throat, etc. should you let them know? If yes, how should you let them know? How to break the bad news about their bad breath...

When people talk about Proverbs 31 they always talk about this incredible woman. Just how incredible is she? For starters she’s a wife, a mother, a successful businesswoman and a philanthropist. That’s pretty amazing. However, it is rarely ever noted that the Proverb starts and ends with a statement about the husband. If you only focus on the wife’s accomplishments, you will miss two very important points about how to have a thriving marriage.

Sarcasm is the use of remarks to mock, criticize or convey dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, many spouses have bought into the lie that sarcasm is a motivator. It’s okay to get annoyed, but when the annoyance is elevated to disgust, sarcasm typically takes over.

Abraham Lincoln, aka “Honest Abe” believed in integrity and worked hard to protect his reputation as an honest politician. Along with President Lincoln, we believe honesty is always the best policy. But, just how ‘honest’ should you be with your wife when it comes to sensitive topics such as weight, clothing, or if she asks you if you think someone she's pointed out is pretty?

Spouses need to quit pretending to be someone they are not just to meet their spouse’s expectations of who they ‘should’ be or ‘want’ them to be. If they’re introverted they will never be extroverted; if they’re more comfortable in casual clothes and restaurants, they’re not suddenly going to start desiring fancy restaurants and formal attire. However, it’s okay to ask them to occasional accommodate your interests, just don’t withhold your love or resent them if they don’t permanently change because they probably can’t, even if they tried.

Does this scenario sound familiar: husband or wife does something stupid or hurtful so their spouse does something similar to even the score. For example, husband buys an expensive gadget he really doesn’t need and they can’t afford, so the wife goes shopping and spends a similar amount of money. Unfortunately, these are common responses that do absolutely nothing but destroy a marriage.

In her book, “I do and I don’t” Jeanine Basinger quotes famed producer, Sam Briskin on his view of marriage in movies: “Why make a picture where a man and woman are married? The main thing about pictures is love or sex. Here you’ve got a man and woman married at the start — who’s interested in that?”

In a coaching session, the question was asked of the wife, “Why do you want to stay married to your husband?” To the Coach’s surprise, the wife offered only general reasons and struggled to provide qualities that were specific to her husband. After a bit of coaching, the wife identified a couple of things only her husband, by his unique emotional and physical makeup, could bring to the marriage.

Life tends to get more complicated as we get older. Work becomes more demanding, chores pile up, kids drain the life out of us, and aging parents require more of our attention. It’s no wonder that by the end of the day, spouses find it almost impossible to drum up enough energy to have a meaningful discussion that goes beyond just recounting the day's events. Unfortunately when this happens, mindless activities or ‘dead air’ time, often replaces active involvement in each other’s lives.

Unfortunately, many couples venture into marriage with several preconceived ideas and expectations that may not be so accurate. These misconceived ideas and expectations can confuse spouses and in some cases, destroy a marriage.

In the heat of an argument things are often said that cut deep to our core. Even if an apologize follows, the one offended will often say or at least think, “They wouldn’t have said it unless they really felt that way, so there must be some truth to their words.” Words like these cause deep emotional wounds that couples often never get past. How to heal and get past deep emotional wounds?

In the movie Caddyshack Chevy Chase’s character is coaching young Danny on how to hit a golfball. His advice, “be the ball, Danny.” I’m not sure how much help that advice will provide for your golf game, but in marriage a slight variation of the advice can be a game changer. “Be your spouse, Danny.” In other words, be ‘for’ your spouse what you need ‘from’ your spouse.

Like it or not, when restoring a marriage it will almost always be driven by ‘her’ timeline. Guys are great at departmentalizing so, once they fix something they are ready to move on. Gals, not so much. Even if the problem gets fixed, it will take her some time to trust that the fix is permanent

Oh, the wonderful nuances of marriage, or any relationship for that matter. Spouses tend to talk in code because they really just want to be understood without having to explain every little detail. The coded comments, whether intentional or not, are really just a test to see how much you know, or are expected to know about your spouse. Here are a few ‘tests’ you may face and what you should know about each.

People generally want to be accepted and valued by others, so they tend to brag a little and embellish stories a bit to impress those around them. When a spouse does that with their wife or husband it could be an indication of a more serious issue, that of feeling undervalued. Ways to Reaffirm Your Love and Appreciation for Your Spouse…

Mom’s and Dad’s will have an eternal impact on their kids. Whether the impact is positive, negative or a little of both depends on what mom and dad say and do with and in front of their kids. A thriving home is not only the result of a solid marriage but also one where there is a healthy relationship with the kids.

In today’s day and age the dating scene has drastically changed with the advancement of social media and on-line dating sites. Regardless of how you approach developing a relationship, there are some basic steps to follow in order to form a solid foundation.

One of the top issues cited by divorced couples and spouses in troubled marriages is money. Not the money itself but how couples handle or mishandle it. In 2018 the average household had just under $7,000 in credit card debt with an average interest rate of 16.46%, which equates to $96 a month in interest payments. When so many are living paycheck to paycheck, it should be no surprise to read in the Bible in Proverbs 22 verse 7: The borrower will be a slave to the lender.