My mother was meeting Mike for the first time, after hearing about him for many years. Mike Schwass: national speaker, published author, coach, therapist, namesake for the high school Blackhawks MVP award...and quadriplegic.

All emotion is only half the truth, an illusion; a complete lie. Life is balanced, we distort it by projecting out opinion onto it. We interpret it with our ego and spin it left or right and therefore emotionalise it. By emotionalising things, we can make it safe. And from a love aspect, then we see where we are – out of integrity – and could bring our ego back to balance, if we chose to.

For just a few moments a day, stop the rush and contemplate the following questions? Is my mindset supporting a loving relationship? How do I really feel? Am I coming from anger or frustration, and therefore so determined to “make it” the way I want it, that I can’t appreciate it the way that it is?

It is about time we stopped blaming out our spouses for everything that goes wrong in our lives. What a tendency we have to assign guilt to other people! Everyone makes mistakes, including us, or should I say, especially us.

The real problem with bad relationships is not that we have them because, unfortunately, most people do. The real problem of bad relationships is the amount of time we remain in the relationship when we knew long ago that we should have left and the continuing amount of time we allow ourselves to be emotionally in prison for something that was not worthwhile to begin with. This is not isolated to just women or just men. If it is isolated to any specific group, it is human beings. We all deal with the same things, although at the time we feel like we are the only person in the world to feel the type of pain and emptiness that we feel. There are endless number of tips and techniques that people offer in dealing getting over relationships and I am sure there is a time and a place for them all. There is no one thing that will make it any easier, so I would say understanding that is the first step. Although there is not one quick and easy fix, there are things that I think work better than others.

Couples therapy is a way to address problems between a couple that are significant enough to cause problems in a relationship. Problems can be internal and external resulting in emotional and physical illnesses. Experiences in life like marriage, childbirth, job changes, relocating, etc can put a strain on a couples? relationship. When there is pressure and strain, it may be hard for a couple to communicate and try to solve the problems at hand. This is when couples therapy comes in handy. It can be the means to make sense out of a serious situation before it has damaging effects.

Don’t you feel special when somebody remembers you? A call from an old friend or tap from the back from your favorite cousin. The feeling of delight spurs in the air, right? What more if you receive a greeting card, wouldn’t you be ecstatic? Then how about sending that delight to your loved ones. In the past you may have to walk through you nearest shop to pick up those greeting cards. Now you just have to go online, browse, few clicks here and there then it’s on its way!

Good relationships take work. I have witnessed many potential good relationships fail due too poor or ineffective communication, an inability to meet each other needs and by having unrealistic expectations of the relationship in general. The fact is, most of us don't know always know the things we can do to improve our relationships. Contrary to popular belief, its not always how much love you have for each other that can predict the success of your relationship, but ultimately it comes down to how conflicts and disagreements are handled.

Answers to the most commonly asked questions that apply to men and women equally...

This is a series of short articles about men and their preferences. Men are not difficult beings, or the enemy, as some women would like us to belief. They are simply different. By understanding and accepting their men, women can save their relationships and keep their sanity.