By Jonathan Decker, Clinical Director, LMFT Entrepreneurs of necessity take risks in pursuit of financial independence, yet the largest risk is often that running a business can ruin your marriage. The long hours away from the family, the stress one brings home, and the financial strain have driven many couples apart. It’s compounded when spouses are business partners: the lines between marriage a ...[Read More]
How to Grow Your Business While Strengthening Your Marriage
What Husbands Can Learn from the Stripling Warriors
By Jonathan Decker, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Note: This is written from a Latter-day Saint perspective The Book of Mormon (which is revered by Latter-day Saints alongside The Bible) contains one of the strongest depictions of ideal manhood in religious literature. In the story of the two thousand stripling warriors readers gain insight into characteristics that, if developed in moder ...[Read More]
4 Ways to Handle Your Spouse Changing from Jekyll to Hyde
By Jonathan Decker, Clinical Director, LMFT We’ve all experienced it, the “Jekyll-and-Hyde Syndrome,” in which a normally decent partner, friend, or family member turns into an irrational dolt and/or grumpy monster. We feel frustrated when they won’t listen to reason, hurt when they lash out, and confused when they make choices we don’t agree with. In life and in my therapy practice, I’ve fo ...[Read More]
Will Your Marriage Last? This Could Make All the Difference
By Jonathan Decker, Clinical Director, LMFT Terminal illnesses are treated most effectively when they are caught early. Patients who resist a trip to the doctor and put it off often wish that they hadn't. Disease often does the most damage when it's left unchecked over time. This is also true of marital problems and marriage counseling. While many things can certainly be resolved and healed betwee ...[Read More]
Never Treat Your Spouse “Like You Want to be Treated.” Do This Instead.
By Jonathan Decker, Clinical Director, LMFT “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” The Golden Rule has been the standard of behavior in friendships, business partnerships, customer service, and much more. In marriage, however, it can actually lead to problems. Might I suggest an amendment? “Treat your spouse the way he or she wants to be treated.” How to Love Your S ...[Read More]
Amazing Married Sex: Myths and Truths
By Jonathan Decker, Clinical Director, LMFT Have you ever stumbled while speaking in public or fumbled a job interview? Odds are, you were putting too much pressure on yourself to perform. While it's important to be fully engaged and to give our best efforts, the times when we are relaxed and accepting of imperfection are generally the times that we do our best. This is as true for sex as it is fo ...[Read More]
Are You Keeping Your Spouse from Changing?
Want your partner to change? You might accidentally be hurting your cause. Here's what to do differently.
Why the “Bored Couple at the Restaurant” May be the Happiest
By Jonathan Decker, Clinical Director, LMFT There may be no greater argument against lifelong monogamy than the bored couple in the restaurant. “Oh heaven, please don't let us end up like them,” you may have thought as you observe them silently picking at their food, looking at their phones, or vacantly scanning the restaurant for something presumably more interesting than their partne ...[Read More]