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By Gregory L. Jantz Ph.D. Courtesy of Psychology Today The love of your life. Your soul mate. Your life partner. That special someone. Whether we admit it or not, many of us are seeking to find our perfect complement. We crave having someone by our side who will love us through our moments of imperfection, and share the memories of our lives with us. We’ve seen enough movies about it, so it must be possible, right? Love is no fairy tale, so you can stop looking for a perfect "10" who fulfills all the qualifications on your wish list. It [...]

New research shows the unexpected predictors of your relationship's stability. By Susan Krauss Whitbourne Ph.D. Courtesy of Psychology Today Everyone would undoubtedly love to be able to peer into the relationship crystal ball to know whether they will remain with their partners, and for how long. Researchers who study the course of long-term relationships are often faced with the limitations of the one-shot or cross-sectional method, in which marital or other committed partners rate their satisfaction along with other key measures of interest, such as degree of conflict. Long-term, or longitudinal, studies have the advantage of being able to follow [...]

The difference between unconditional love and unconditional relationships. By Jeremy Nicholson M.S.W., Ph.D. Courtesy of Psychology Today Do you believe in unconditional love? I am asked this question frequently in discussions... When I respond with a "yes", my questioners are usually puzzled. They wonder how I can believe in unconditional love, yet discuss very "conditional" dating and relating techniques such as reciprocal gift-giving, withholding forgiveness, rewarding a partner, etc. After all, they assume, if you love someone unconditionally and truly bond with them, then you don't ever try to influence, limit, persuade, or set boundaries with them...right? Their confusion over [...]

Try these five tips when you are choosing friends and mates. By Elinor Greenberg, Ph.D. Courtesy of Psychology Today Many of us have had the experience of letting someone get close to us and then later regretting it. Toxic relationships can take many forms. We may have thought that someone was our best friend until she started making fun of us behind our back. Or, we may have idealized our handsome new love interest without really noticing that he gets drunk every night, flirts with other women, and gets irritated when we complain. Some of us spend years in unhealthy [...]

I Always Cra at Weddings by Sara Goff Published in 2015, Sara Goff's novel, I Always Cry at Weddings, is about Ava Larson, a young woman who is willing to lose everything in order to find true love. When it seems that everything is going wrong, Ava feels a loss of identity and the world seems different and dark. She starts to fear men and worries whether or not she would be ready for the right man when he presented himself. But she decides to live in faith, not fear. Goff's novel is a story that demonstrates the power of [...]