by Rhett Smith | Dec 3, 2015 | Marriage, Podcast, Restoration Therapy
This last week I have spent some time talking to you about the Pain Cycle and Peace Cycle in Terry Hargrave’s Restoration Therapy model. I love the Pain and Peace Cycle because it has transformed my life. It’s transformed me as an individual, as well as my...
by Rhett Smith | May 30, 2014 | Marriage
I think David Schnarch’s work on marriage and the concept of differentiation in relationships is life transforming. The idea of differentiation is not his, nor is it new. But his work Passionate Marriage has transformed my life in many ways, and continues to...
by Rhett Smith | Dec 16, 2013 | Marriage
“A sociologist once observed that the prevalence of intimacy themes in mass media, pop psychology, and ‘alternative lifestyles’ suggests that were driven by hunger for intimate union. It may look like this on the surface, but my clinical work helped...
by Rhett Smith | Apr 22, 2013 | Anxiety
“When we can stand face-to-face with another human being in all of our anxiety, and we don’t have to try to run or hide from it, that is the beginning of a true relational connection.” One of the areas of life that we often tend to experience the...
by Rhett Smith | Aug 16, 2011 | Marriage
[image by The Welsh Poppy] Differentiation is a natural process in committed relationships that involves developing more of a self while growing closer to your partner. Men often sacrifice their relationship to hold onto their sense of self. Women often sacrifice...
by Rhett Smith | Mar 18, 2011 | Marriage
David Schnarch’s Definition of Love
by Rhett Smith | Feb 1, 2011 | Marriage
“What books do you recommend we read in our premarital counseling?” That has been a question I have been getting a lot of recently. Whether it’s a Facebook message from a friend, an @rhetter comment on Twitter, or some email I receive from someone...
by Rhett Smith | Jun 18, 2010 | Marriage
I feel like I do some of my best thinking and reflecting while out on a run. And while I was running yesterday a few stanzas from the Coldplay song, What If? really stuck out to me… What if you should decide That you don’t want me there by your side That...
by Rhett Smith | May 19, 2010 | Marriage
[image by Jesse Millan] In the last year I have blogged on the topics of ambient intimacy/ambient awareness, as well as some of the discussion involving the use of technology in fostering intimacy. I was a big fan of this topic, and a believer in the use of technology...
by Rhett Smith | Apr 12, 2010 | Marriage
[image by Rojer] One of the things that I have come to understand more clearly about marriage affairs, has come from a result of my continual growth as a therapist working with couples, and as a result of some great insight from some mentors and authors. And this is...
by Rhett Smith | Jul 14, 2009 | Marriage
There are lots of good books on marriage, but I want to mention just six of them here that I highly recommend. And in recommending them, let me just give one brief statement of why I like them. As For Me and My House: Crafting Your Marriage to Last by Walter Wangerin...
by Rhett Smith | Jul 11, 2009 | Marriage
[image by nzgabriel] Differentiation is a natural process in committed relationships that involves developing more of a self while growing closer to your partner. Men often sacrifice their relationship to hold onto their sense of self. Women often sacrifice their...
by Rhett Smith | Apr 29, 2009 | Marriage
Well known psychologist David Schnarch has a wonderful book called the Passionate Marriage: Keeping Love and Intimacy Alive in Committed Relationships. When Schnarch speaks about boundaries he speaks about differentiation. What is differentiation? In short, according...
