Send us a textWe often try to avoid conflict because it usually doesn't go well. So, what's the point of working through conflict? To create understanding and connection.Listen in As Dr. Steve Call and Lisa Call offer insight through a practical example into engaging conflict that leads us toward the desired outcome.

Send us a textThere are 3 common and core issues couples experience sometime in their marriage:1) feeling stuck2) loneliness3) contemptListen in as Dr. Steve Call and his wife, Lisa Call, engage in a conversation that helps listeners become more aware of the three common and core issues for couples and how to engage these issues well.

Send us a text There is often some resistance, perhaps caution, to remembering our past. Naturally, remembering the past, particularly experiences in our family of origin, is painful. Yet, many of our everyday moments in marriage reflect the past and can be difficult to navigate well if we choose not to remember the past. Listen in as Dr. Steve Call and his wife, Lisa Call, engage in a conversation that helps listeners connect to the importance of linking the past to the present and the pote...

Send us a textEnvy is a common feeling and experience in marriage! Yet, for many of us, envy can imply there is something wrong or that we ought not to feel it. In marriage, envy shows up often, and it can create disruption and disconnection, and we aren't aware of the source.Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call offer insight into navigating envy and helpful ways to communicate when it is present.

Send us a textLingering in the discomfort can feel uncomfortable. We often rush or hurry to solve or fix what our spouse may be feeling or experiencing. Yet, we often need our spouse to linger - to stay present and be with us. Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call offer insight into how lingering in the discomfort fosters and develops a sense of resilience and reminds our spouse of the soothing comfort of presence.

Send us a textA common fear we each have is the fear of abandonment. It's the core fear from the moment we are born. It's common for us to experience this fear when we experienced an emotionally unavailable parent. Sometimes, this fear can become activated in our marriage when our spouse is emotionally unavailable. Listen in as Dr. Steve Call and Lisa Call have a conversation about the fear of abandonment and helpful ways we can navigate the fear.

Send us a textContainment is the relational engagement with our partner or spouse, particularly in times of distress or need. Containment is a movement toward and the capacity to hold what the other might be feeling or thinking. Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call have a conversation on the need for containment and how couples can pursue containment with one another.

Send us a textThe struggles and tensions in marriage are often connected to differences. We can have different thoughts, beliefs, ideas, needs, and these differences can lead to a sense of disconnection rather than connection. Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call offer an engaging conversation about how differences in our marriage can create a level of intimacy in marriage.

Send us a textOften in a marriage relationship, we have reactions to one another when our spouse's thought, idea, feeling, or belief is different or unexpected. We simply have reactions rather than reflections. Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call offer helpful insight into the value of reflections with our spouse rather than reactions.

Send us a textAttunement is vital and essential in a marriage relationship. Attunement can be defined as "bringing into harmony." But for many of us, attunement wasn't a consistent experience in our family of origin. As a result, the lack of attunement can be a significant source of conflict and tension in marriage.Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call offer insight into the importance of attunement and how attunement can be cultivated and developed in your marriage relationship.

Send us a textWhen we don't have access to our spouse's attention or focus, we can sometimes feel distress in our bodies. And, of course. It's such a natural and common relational experience in marriage. Yet, it can be a difficult tension in a marriage. Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call offer listeners insight into how couples can navigate the lack of access well without perpetuating a sense of disconnection.

Send us a textEach of us develops particular loyalties that protect us. Loyalties are often a strategy to relationally cope both in our early story and in our marriage. Yet our loyalties can inhibit connection and/or perpetuate disconnection. Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call offer listeners an opportunity to become aware of how loyalty to our early experiences in our family of origin limits our core desire, which is to be seen and known by our spouse.

Send us a textOne of our four primary emotions is sadness. Sadness, unfortunately, is often met with judgment, whether from ourselves or our spouse/partner. And sometimes, when sadness is felt, it is met by an attempt to talk the other out of what they feel. Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call offer a vulnerable reflection of common dynamics when sadness is experienced and what we need from the other when we feel sad.

Send us a textContempt can be a disruptive and divisive force in marriage. It often reveals itself in the form of judgment and usually implies that one's thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and feelings are minimized. Contempt can become an embedded pattern for many couples experiencing a sense of disconnect and lack of emotional intimacy.Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call offer insight into how contempt reveals itself and helpful responses to our contempt that invite connection rather than perpetuat...

Send us a textSometimes the emotional reactivity we have with our spouse is connected to the remembering of trauma which can cause significant distress. And when our body remembers the trauma/loss/heartache of what we have endured, we crave a presence from our spouse that reminds us we are not alone in the remembering. Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call offer insight into how trauma reveals itself in particular interactions in our marriage and how we might offer helpful responses to on...

Send us a textTrauma is part of each couple's story. Meaning, each individual brings a story of trauma into marriage and for many couples, there is trauma within their marriage. We may not be aware that our emotional responses to our spouse are often connected to the trauma we have endured. Sometimes the trauma in our body is remembered, felt, and re-experienced and the way in which it reveals itself in marriage can create significant disruption. Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Ca...

Send us a textSometimes we can't be what our spouse needs. Sometimes we don't know what to say or how to respond to our spouse's needs. And often, we don't know how to react or what to say. And sometimes, in not knowing, we may communicate that what our spouse needs is too much or off limits. Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call offer a unique perspective on how to respond to our spouse when we are unsure of what they need or what could be helpful.

Send us a textConflict can certainly be difficult for most couples. Conflict is common and familiar and can be a stuck point that can perpetuate disconnection. In conflict, many couples are reenacting their family of origin experiences, and avoiding conflict is avoiding intimacy. So what is the goal or hope of conflict?Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call offer a thoughtful and engaging conversation about how couples can navigate conflict that leads to greater intimacy, awareness, and underst...

Send us a textInternal scripts are part of how we navigate the relational world of marriage. Internal scripts are what we say to ourselves regarding an event and experience and often can create a sense of disconnect relationally. Sometimes, we aren't aware of our internal scripts and the role or impact they can play. Join Dr. Steve and Lisa Call in a conversation on becoming aware of internal scripts and how they can impact relational dynamics.

Send us a textEach of us desires to be known and seen by our spouse. Sometimes we develop strategies and ways of being known and seen by our spouse and strategies and coping responses when we experience being unseen and unknown. Often this struggle can be the undercurrent of the tension in marriage.Listen in as Dr. Steve and Lisa Call explore in depth how the desire to be seen and known can lead to a hopeful connection in marriage.