by heartsdesireintl | Apr 11, 2014 | breakups, Communication, Dating, Heart's Desire International, heartache, Intimacy, Love, Marriage, Relationship Advice, Romance
by Gladys Diaz
When we begin a new relationship, we are so happy, hopeful, and excited about sharing our love and life with a wonderful man. I honestly don’t know of anyone who gets into a relationship with the intention of causing themselves or the other person heartache. We usually begin with the intention of making the relationship work.
That’s why there’s probably nothing more frightening than being in a relationship and noticing how the love, passion, and intimacy are beginning to fade away. At first, it may not be very obvious. It can seem like your lives have just gotten busier with work, kids, and other responsibilities. Maybe you’re not kissing, hugging or having as much sex as you used to, you’re not talking or connecting as often with one another; when you are talking, it seems like you usually end up in an argument.
I speak with women almost every day who are in this situation and who are wondering if there is any hope for their relationships. The women usually fall into one of these categories.
In Denial.
If you’re in denial, then you’re ignoring the changes that are taking place. You may be rationalizing and telling yourself that this type of thing is “normal” in a relationship, that all relationships go through slumps, and that this is just a phase you and your guy are going through.
The problem with denial is that, in ignoring the fact that there may be a problem, you also avoid doing anything to fix or change what is happening. The likelihood that things are going to “just get better on their own” is slim to none. Instead, the intimacy and romance will continue to deteriorate until nothing is left and you’ll find yourself asking yourself, “What happened? How did we get here?”
In Blame Mode.
If you’re in “blame mode,” then you’ve begun looking at all of the things the man you love is doing wrong to ruin the relationship. Not only do you see everything he is doing and saying wrong, but you make sure you point it out to him every chance you get. You see where he’s not being loving or romantic, where he’s not making an effort to connect, where he’s not initiating sex. It’s blatantly obvious to you that if he would just change, then the relationship would be fine.
The problem with being in blame mode is that you are making your man responsible for everything that is not going right in the relationship, and avoiding owning up to the role you have been playing in allowing things to get to this point. Inside of blaming him, you don’t have to be responsible for what you are doing (or not doing) to impact the love and intimacy in the relationship. Regardless of whether or not he is making some mistakes, the truth is that you can’t control or change him or what he’s doing. The only person you can truly control is yourself. So, until you begin owning the part you are playing in having your relationship unravel, you can’t do anything to turn things around.
Unsure of What to Do.
If you’re a woman in this category, it’s likely that you realize that your relationship is in trouble, you are willing to acknowledge that there are things you can do to change the dynamic of the relationship, but you don’t know what those things are or how to begin making the changes. You may have tried some things on your own that either backfired or didn’t produce the results you hoped for. You may be afraid to do anything because you are scared to mess things up even further. Or you may really be afraid of trying to make changes, only to find that nothing changes.
This is the category of hope! Where there is a willingness to change, change is possible! Your uncertainty comes from not knowing where to begin. So it stands to reason that with the right information, tools, and support, you will be able to make the changes that will help shift the dynamic in your relationship!
If you fall into either of the first two categories – denial or blame mode – pay close attention, because the truth is that if you continue ignoring the changes in your relationship, pretending they are not happening, waiting for him to be the one to make the first move, and/or thinking that things are going to get better on their own, you have to know that your relationship will continue to deteriorate and will probably end.
If, however, you are willing to admit that things are not going to get better on their own, acknowledge that there are changes that need to take place, and you’re ready to do the work it will take to turn things around and reignite the love, peace, and romance in your relationship, then reach out to me so that we can talk about where your relationship is, where you would like it to be, and what you can begin doing right away to create that shift!
I’ve reserved a few slots in my schedule next week to speak specifically to women who are ready to begin transforming their relationships.
Just click here to set up a time for a Love Clarity call!
You deserve to have the happy, fulfilling relationship your heart truly desires with the man you love! Let’s connect and talk about how you can make your dreams come true!
Questions? Comments? Let us know below! We love hearing from you!
by heartsdesireintl | Apr 1, 2014 | Autism, Coaching, Communication, Heart's Desire International, Intimacy, Love, Marriage, Parenting, Relationship Advice
by Gladys Diaz
Last week, my husband and I had a conversation we’d been avoiding for years. It was something we knew we had to do. We’d talked about having the conversation, mentioned it to others, and, still, months and years went by without us having it. Why?
We were afraid of what it would mean – for us and for our family.
The conversation I’m referring to wasn’t a conversation we needed to have with one another. It was the conversation to let our older son know that he has Asperger’s Syndrome – a mild form of Autism.
We found out that our son had Autism during the summer before he begin first grade. The truth, however, is that I’d had my suspicions since the time that he was about 2 years old. There were signs that he wasn’t connecting with others, he had obsessive patterns of behavior, and changes in his schedule were very difficult for him to handle.
I even had a “secret” folder on my computer where I had been gathering research about Asperger’s Syndrome. No one knew about my suspicions, except me. For years, I carried this feeling with me, but was too afraid of what it might mean if my suspicions were confirmed.
The decision to not tell my son about his diagnosis was one that my husband and I made together. We went back and forth about the pros and cons of letting him know, considered what it would mean to him, how he might react. We were afraid of saying something that might set him off, make him feel like there was something “wrong” with him, or that he might use his diagnosis as an excuse, rather than the reason for trying harder. At the same time, we wondered if not telling him would cause just as many issues for him, with him never knowing why he felt and was sometimes treated as if he were “different.”
I can’t tell you how many times I envisioned us having this conversation with him. In each scenario, I would hear my son asking a million questions (something he does anyway), questioning who he is, why there was something “wrong” with him, how it could be cured (there is no cure for autism), and why this had to happen to him. I pictured him crying, storming out of the room, or throwing a tantrum.
The fear of what I imagined his reaction would be is one of the things that kept me delaying having the conversation. I couldn’t imagine having to have to comfort my son, answer questions I didn’t have the answers to, and explain something that, quite honestly, I understand very little about myself.
We finally decided to stop avoiding having the conversation. He’s about to go to middle school, and we want him to be able to speak up for himself if he needs help. We planned what we would tell him and decided to keep it as simple as possible, allowing him to ask questions if he wanted more information.
Last week, we sent our little one upstairs and let him know we needed to talk with him. I was sweating, cold, and trying not to cry, all at the same time. I looked at my husband. We gave each other the look that said, “We’re in this together,” and we told him in the most simple and matter-of-fact way about his diagnosis, what it meant, what it didn’t mean, and why it was important that he know about it now that he’s getting older.
He asked us some questions like, “Is this why I feel left out a lot of the time?” (that was a hard one to hear), “Is this why I’m really good at math?” (an easier one to hear), “Is this why I have trouble with my short-term memory?”
Then he asked me if I had Asperger’s, too. I told him I didn’t but that dad had learned that he might have it, and that seemed to make him feel better. Then, out of nowhere, he asked if Albert Einstein had Asperger’s. I smiled and said that, a matter of fact, doctors now believe that he did (this made him feel a lot better).
When we asked him how he felt about knowing that he had Asperger’s Syndrome, he said, something I had never imagined in any of my worst-case-scenarios.
He said smiled and said, “It feels good knowing that there is something unique about me!”
In that moment, all of my imagined fears fell away. All of the doubts I’d had about whether or not telling him was a good idea, disappeared. And I had to smile to hide back the tears.
I spent years ignoring the fact that I suspected my son had Asperger’s because I was afraid of what others would say and how they’d treat him. I was afraid of what it might mean for him and his life. But avoiding the issue didn’t make the Asperger’s go away.
I spent years avoiding telling my son about his diagnosis because I was afraid of how he might react, that it might be “devastating” for him, and that I wouldn’t know how to help him through understanding and dealing with it. But, eventually, we had to have the conversation, anyway.
I spent years carrying all of that unnecessary fear, emotional stress, and useless worrying.
And, in the end, he just felt special!
So, how does this relate to you and your relationship?
Is there something in your relationship that you’re not dealing with?
Are there signs that the intimacy in your relationship is fading?
Are you arguing more than you need to?
Are you not connecting the way that you used to?
Are you pretending that the problems aren’t there?
Is there a conversation you’ve been avoiding having?
Are you afraid of what he might say or not say?
Are you imagining a worst-case scenario in your head that is keeping you from having a discussion that might actually help turn things around?
Pretending that the problems are not there doesn’t mean the problems aren’t there, nor is it helping to solve them.
Avoiding having the conversation because you are afraid of how he might react or what might happen as a result isn’t solving anything either. It’s just delaying the inevitable, and could actually be making things worse because of your unwillingness to deal with reality.
I know it’s going to take courage to see what you may have been unwilling to see and to say what you’ve been afraid to say.
Consider that what you are imagining may be ten times worse than what actually ends up happening.
And consider that having the courage to confront reality and deal with what there is to deal with now may save you years of dealing with unnecessary worry, fear, and heartache.
If you need support with having a difficult conversation, contact us.
We can help you gather your thoughts and communicate them in a way that will help you say what needs to be said and empower you to begin turning things around in your relationship.
You don’t have to avoid things or pretend any longer, and you don’t have to face it alone!
Questions? Comments? Let us know below, we love hearing from you!
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
by heartsdesireintl | Mar 21, 2014 | Communication, Dating, Heart's Desire International, Love, Marriage, Relationship, Relationship Advice
by Gladys Diaz
This afternoon, Michelle and I had an opportunity to join our friend and host of Social Chats, Tonya Scholz and her co-host, Dean Bairaktaris to discuss why and how men and women communicate differently and how understanding these differences can make or break a relationship.
It was an interesting topic, to say the least!
The truth is that good communication is at the heart of making a relationship work. But “good communication” isn’t just about you saying what you want the other person to hear. It involves understanding how to say what it is you want to say so that the other person can understand what is being said. It’s also about understanding and accepting that there are differences in the way that men and women speak, hear, process, and use the information being delivered and received.
If we can begin to understand these differences, and accept them as not as “right” or “wrong,” “better” or “worse,” but simply as different, we are on our way to improving and bring peace to all of our relationships – our romantic relationships, the relationship we have with our family and friends, those with our co-workers, and, yes, even the relationship between countries!
Below are some of the main differences we spoke about on the show.
Women tend to speak a lot more than men do,
The fact is that most women tend to speak more – a lot more – than men do. For example, research shows that, while most women tend to speak about 20,000 words a day, most men speak about 10,000 words in a day. That means that there is a 50% difference between the amount of talking that is being done between men and women.
This is why, while women tend to want to include what we feel are “important details” when telling a story or relaying information, men tend to want us to just “get to the point.” It’s also why you’ll begin to see that “glazed” look come across a man’s face when there are simply too many words being said. It’s not that he doesn’t care or doesn’t want to listen. It’s just that there’s so much coming at him at once, it’s difficult to figure out what it is you are really trying to say.
If, as women, we can understand this, then we can begin to get clear about what it is we want to say so that he can actually hear it!
Women’s and men’s brains process emotional information differently.
While men’s brains tend to process better in the left hemisphere – which is more logical and factual, women tend to process equally between both hemispheres. There are actually more areas of the woman’s brains that connect their ability to feel, process, and speak about their feelings, then in the man’s brain. This is why, if a woman is communicating very emotionally, she may have the experience that the man “doesn’t care,” because he isn’t saying anything right away. It possible that what he’s doing is processing the information coming at him. He’s actually having to “sift” through all of the emotions coming at him, coupled with the tone of voice, volume level, tears (if there are any), the intensity with which the actual words are being delivered.
If, as women, we can understand this, then we can begin to be responsible for the manner in which we are communicating, and choose to wait until we can do so in a calm and rationale manner so that (1) he can actually hear what we’re saying, and (2) so that the processing time can be shorter.
Women tend to want to talk about several things at once, while men are more single-focused
There are two difference that fall under this category.
Men are single-focused individuals. While a woman can talk about what happened during the day, the fact that she’s worried about her friend’s surgery, and the argument that she had with a co-worker, men tend to be single-minded. That means that they will communicate better if there is one topic being addressed at a time.
By the way, ladies, this is also why he’s not listening when you’re talking to him during the game! It’s not that he doesn’t care, it’s that he’s focused on something else. It’s not personal, so don’t take it personally!
Men prefer transition time. If a man has been dealing with something at work, working on a project, or doing something that takes a lot of his attention and energy and you want to have a conversation with him, it’s probably a good idea to give him some transition time, or, what I refer to as “time to decompress.”
Allowing some time for his attention and energy to transition from one activity or topic to the other means that, when you do finally get to communicate with him, the conversation is probably going to go a lot better than if you approach him with a machine gun of questions, topics, and decisions that need to be made right away.
If, as women, we can understand and accept this difference, then we can allow time to pass so that when we finally do have the conversation we’d like to have with him, he can be present, attentive, and responsive to what we are saying.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that the communication styles between men and women are “different,” does not mean that one is better or worse than the other.
If we can bring both understanding and acceptance to these differences, we’ll not only be able to improve the level and type of communication we have in our relationships, but we’ll also experience more peace, happiness, and intimacy as a result!
Feel free to contact us if you’d like more information on how you can learn learn how to communicate more effectively with members of the opposite sex!
We’ll be sharing the actual interview in our next article!
For more information on Social Chats, visit: http://socialchats.net/
Questions? Comments? Let us know below! We love hearing from you!
by heartsdesireintl | Feb 12, 2014 | breakups, Communication, Dating, Heart's Desire International, Intimacy, Love, Marriage, Relationship Advice, Romance, Self-Love
by Gladys Diaz
Today’s a pretty special day at Heart’s Desire International… It’s Michelle and Arnie’s 3rd Wedding Anniversary!
For those of you who are not blessed enough to know Michelle and Arnie, I can tell you that they are one of the most inspiring, couples in the world! To see them together is to see what real, unconditional, and extraordinary love looks like! They love and respect one another, are each other’s biggest fans, and accept one another exactly the way they are and exactly the way they are not!
While their relationship isn’t “perfect,” because neither one of them is, either, the love that they share is as close to perfect as it gets!
Now, you may be wondering how Michelle got so “lucky” to end up with such an amazing relationship and marriage? You may think that she’s simply one of the lucky ones who just happened to land an amazing guy without having to go through any type of heartache. And you’d be wrong.
To see her now as a confident, motivational leader who wins one award and recognition after another, and has helped hundreds of women around the world fall in love with themselves and the man of their dreams, you would never guess that just a few years ago she was feeling alone, rejected, and heartbroken.
See, Michelle fell in and got married at a very young age, and her marriage was far from the fairytale romance she lives now. She and her ex-husband did not get along, did not know how to communicate with one another, and, after 13 years of fighting and chipping away at the love they once had, they divorced.
When she began dating again, Michelle will be the first to tell you that she had no idea what she was doing. And because her self-esteem was on the floor and she was looking outside of herself for validation, she dated some pretty bad frogs. At that time, she didn’t honor and love herself, so it was impossible for her to attract a man who would love and cherish her. She tried to create a relationship with men who were clear they did not want to commit, she stayed in dead-end relationships for longer than she should have, and she allowed men to treat her poorly.
It wasn’t until Michelle began practicing the skills we now teach women world-wide that she began to fall in love with herself. She began to realize that she was worthy of love, that she was loveable, and that she could have and deserved the type of happy, peaceful, loving relationship she had always dreamed of.
It wasn’t long before she began enjoying dating because she started attracting some really wonderful men into her life who treated her like the princess she is. She was able to have fun, meet different types of guys and have the really wonderful “problem” of having to choose which of these great guys she wanted to date exclusively! Arnie was one of those guys.
But their love story wasn’t always smooth sailing. While dating, Arnie had moments when he wasn’t sure he wanted to be in a committed relationship, so they would stop seeing each other. But Michelle would not go into a cave and hide until he was ready to tell her that he wanted to be in a relationship with her. She continued dating, attracting more generous, affectionate men of great character into her life, and, when he did come back, she had the choice of whether or not she would let him back into her life and her heart. And she did.
Today, she has the experience of waking up and falling asleep in the arms of the man she loves and who loves her with every part of his being. They laugh, love, grow, and dedicate their lives to empowering people to create the life and love of their dreams!
Michelle can tell this story so much better than I can (and I love hearing it!), so, if you’d like to learn more about how she turned her dating experience from one of pain and tears to one of constant tears of joy, join us tomorrow night, Thursday, February 13th, at 9:00pm ET. We will be offering a FREE webinar called “Ready to Love Again.”
In this webinar, you will learn:
- What makes it difficult to move beyond the heartache of a breakup
- The steps you can take to move beyond your heartache and toward a new future filled with LOVE
- How to begin attracting new love into your life NOW!
Just click here to register!
Michelle’s love story is beautiful, and yours can be, too!
Let’s start writing the first chapter together tomorrow night, at the “Ready to Love Again” webinar!
Congratulations, Michelle and Arnie! And thank you for inspiring us with your love and who you are as individuals and as a power couple!
by heartsdesireintl | Jan 31, 2014 | Communication, Dating, Heart's Desire International, Marriage, Relationship Advice, Self-Love
by Gladys Diaz
Recently, I was working with a client who was frustrated about the fact that her long-term boyfriend had not proposed. Who can blame her? When you invest a lot of time – months, years, sometimes decades – to a relationship and it doesn’t seem to be moving forward or to be working out, it’s not unusual to begin to feel angry and resentful toward the other person. And it’s tempting to begin to blame him for the choice you made to stay in the relationship.
While it’s possible that promises were made that had you continue to stay in the relationship – such as him promising that he would propose, and it never happened – the choice to stay inside of a dead-end relationship is completely yours. You get to decide just how long you are willing to wait. And you also are the one who decides how long you are willing to put your dreams, your happiness, and your life on hold, waiting for him to pop the question.
I’m not saying that it’s “easy” to walk away from a relationship, especially if you really love the person. It’s going to take courage to stand for yourself and your dreams. But if you won’t stand for your dreams, who will?
One mistake women make is to begin to dish out ultimatums, such as:
“If you want to be with me, then you need to propose and give me a ring.”
“If you want us to be together, then we have to go to counseling.”
“If you want us to get back together, then _____.”
The problem with issuing ultimatums is that they suck the love, romance, and joy right out of the proposal. Think about it this way: Do you want him to propose because he feels he has to, or because he can’t imagine living his life without you in it?
Issuing ultimatums backs the other person into a corner, and, even if you do get the proposal you want, you will never truly know for sure whether he is marrying you because he really wants to.
And, by the way, this holds true for situations other than proposals. If you’re trying to get your husband to help you around the house, take you on a vacation, or start a family, and you’re doing that by threatening to leave him, giving him the silent treatment, or withholding sex, you may get what you want, but I promise it won’t be as fulfilling as if you knew that he was doing these things because he wants nothing more than to see you happy.
So, what are the alternatives to issuing ultimatums?
- Be clear about what you want. Once you know what it is you want, it’s easy to communicate that to you partner. Let your partner know that you love him and that, for you to be truly happy, you need to be married. Let him know that while you would love to spend your life with him, you know that may not be what he wants, but that it is what you want. Then stop talking. If you don’t, it highly likely that you will slip “convincing mode,” and there will be a temptation to start getting emotional and angry, and issue an ultimatum.
- Realize that he may not want what you want. Just because you want to be married doesn’t mean that he wants that, too. If you’re with a man who loves and wants to take care of you, there’s a high probability that he’ll want to do what he can to please you and that he wants to spend his life with you. But there’s also a chance that he may want something different, and that doesn’t mean that either one of you is right or wrong. You simply want something different.
- Know when it’s time for you to let go. Before you have this conversation, know how much longer you’re willing to stay in the relationship before moving on. However, don’t share this time frame with him, because then you’ve created a deadline, which means you just issued an ultimatum. This is your timeline for yourself.
Once you’ve expressed that you would like to be married without issuing an ultimatum, if there’s still no movement toward marriage after the amount of time that feels right for you, you’re going to have to be courageous enough to let go. This means it’s time stop putting your life and your happiness on hold, time to move on, and make space for the man who is going to want to commit to spending the rest of his life with you. This does not diminish or lessen any of the love that the two of you shared. You are simply choosing to stand for your happiness and create space for what you want to come into your life.
In case you’re wondering whether or not this really works. Remember the client I mentioned at the beginning of the post?
After a few coaching sessions, she had the conversation I described above with her boyfriend. She waited the amount of time she’d decided she was willing to wait making sure not to keep bringing it up, hinting, or reminding him. What happened? Right before her time frame was up, she got the proposal she had been waiting on for years!
They were married last week and she gets to live the rest of her life knowing that he asked her to marry him because he wanted to, and not because she forced him to!
Here’s to you living the life and love your heart desires!
Questions? Comments? Let us know below. We love hearing from you!
by heartsdesireintl | Jan 17, 2014 | Communication, Dating, Heart's Desire International, Relationship Advice, Uncategorized
by Gladys Diaz
I admire my husband for thousands of reasons, but one of them is his level of commitment. When he commits to doing something – whether it has to do with work, a project, or working out– he follows through until he’s done. Even when he doesn’t feel like it. It’s what has him get the results that he gets at work, life, and with his health.
Many times, what has relationships not work is that we tend to let ourselves be guided by our feelings and emotions. Now, I know that love has a lot to do with feelings and emotions, but if just feelings were enough to make relationships work, there would be no breakups and no divorces. Having a relationship that really works and stands the test of time requires something else: a high level of commitment – even when you don’t feel like it.
See, you may not feel like responding in a respectful manner when your husband or boyfriend snaps at you. However, if you strike back with sarcasm or a venomous response, you can guarantee that the conversation is not going anywhere, except south. On the other hand, if you choose to respond respectfully, or not at all (to avoid saying that nasty thing that is sitting on the tip of your tongue, just dying to pop out of your mouth), then there’s a good chance you’ll nip that potential argument in the bud so that you can have a conversation later that actually leads to a resolution.
You may not feel like saying “Thank you,” when he does something nice for you, especially if you’re upset with him, or if you think it’s something he should have done, anyway. If you choose not to say “Thank you,” you forfeit an opportunity to point out something to him that you’d like to see happen more often. However, if you do express your thanks, you send him the message that, even though you’re upset or it was something small or that he’d already said he’d do, you care enough about him to notice when he’s done something you like and let him know you appreciate it.
You also may not feel like saying, “I’m sorry” after an argument. Maybe you’re not sorry for thinking and feeling the way you do. That’s okay. You don’t have to apologize for having your own thoughts and feelings. However, consider that apologizing for how you said what you said to him sends the message that respect him and value the intimacy in your relationship more than you do being “right.”
Having a happy, fulfilling relationship takes work. It takes the willingness to go beyond our feelings and stand inside of a commitment to have the kind of relationship we really desire: a relationship that is built on respect, gratitude, appreciation, and love, and nothing less!
Questions? Comments? Let us know below! We love hearing from you!
