Reducing Stress Around the Holidays
People are sometimes confused by the term pastoral counseling. They aren’t clear if it is religious counseling or if it is real therapy. Fortunately, today’s segment provides a perfect example of professional pastoral counseling perspective. In addition to addressing...Reducing Stress for Seniors : Tips for Dealing with Everyday Worries and Finding More Joy in LIfe
Reducing Stress for Seniors Tips for dealing with everyday stressors and finding more joy in life By Rev. Michael Heath, LMHC What Stresses you out? Here is a list of common senior worries : Money, Boredom, Pain and Health Issues, Loss of Physical or Mental Capacity,...Reducing Stress Around the Holidays – A Pastoral Counseling Approach
People are sometimes confused by the term pastoral counseling. They aren’t clear if it is religious counseling or if it is real therapy. Fortunately today’s segment provides perfect example of professional pastoral counseling perspective. In addition to addressing the...Emotional First Aid: Tips for Responding to Everyday Psychological Distress
Have you ever been in a situation with a friend, family member or co-worker when s/he becomes upset and you don’t know what to do? You want to help but aren’t sure what is the right thing to say. While most of us know something about medical first aid,...Take Control of your Holiday Stress
(This segment was planned before the tragic Newtown shootings occurred but upon reflection we decided to do it because, in spite of this dark moment, the spirit and essence of the holiday season is a fundamental affirmation that goodness and light is greater than the...Reducing Stress When You Travel
Reducing Stress When You Travel With Summer’s arrival, thoughts turn to vacations and travel. While trips can be fun, they also can be quite stressful for folks and hard on relationships. When unexpected problems occur, tempers can flare. Today we’re...The Good News About Stress
The Good News About Stress :Stress Studies Link Mental Health and Faith Newsweek’s recent cover story on stress deserves a second look. After all the bad news we’ve had about the effects of stress on our health, this report offered some good news. It also has some...The Keys to Successful Marriage
Declining Divorce Rates Research Reveals the Keys to Successful Marriage With all of the bad news flooding the media today, you may have missed an important and growing trend. Over the past few years, divorce rates for first-time marriages dropped from 50% to almost...
Romantic Myths: Out, Realistic Views In
With all of the bad news flooding the media today, you may have missed an important growing trend. Over the past few years, divorce rates for first-time marriages dropped from 50% to almost 40%. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/marriage-divorce.htm
The reason for the change is not fully known. Couples marrying later, at 30 rather than at 21, may be one reason. Couples having a more realistic understanding of love and marriage is another important factor.
As information increases, more folks are letting go of the traditional yet grossly unrealistic ideas of romantic love (RL). Specifically, folks today have a better understanding of what love is and what is needed to make a marriage last
Today, I want to contrast RL with Dr. Sara Nasserzadeh’s Emergent Love Model (ELM). Dr. Nasserzadeh’s work provides a useful summary of a more realistic view of love and marriage. Rethinking Relationships: The Emergent Love Model | Psychology Today.
Rather than myths https://revmichaelheath.com/on-romantic-love/, Dr. Nasserzadeh’s model is based on rigorous research that reveals the qualities of good and lasting marriages. Beyond identifying the essential elements of marriage, this model also dispels the romantic myth concerning love.
This view posits that love is what people experience as a result of a six-factor cluster of loving behaviors. In other words, although an initial attraction may “just happen,” mature and sustainable love requires intentional effort and commitment.
With this in mind, let’s review the basics of romantic love and marriage (RL), and then the more realistic Emergent Love Model (ELM).
