My guest, marriage coach Maggie Reyes, and I are talking about the 4 essential elements of a great relationship, how they apply to marriage, parenting, and all types of relationships. Plus, we dive into how to reconnect with your spouse when you feel like you’ve been drifting apart and why they don’t have to change for your relationship to feel better.
You’ll learn:
Even if you aren’t married, you’re going to want to stick around, because her model can be applied to any relationship in your life.
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Today’s guest, Maggie Reyes, is a marriage coach who is sharing her advice to make any relationship better. Even if you aren’t married, you’re going to want to stick around, because her model can be applied to any relationship in your life.
We’re talking about the 4 essential elements of a great relationship and how they apply to marriage, parenting, and all types of relationships. Plus, we dive into how to reconnect with your spouse when you feel like you’ve been drifting apart and why they don’t have to change for your relationship to feel better.
If you’re in a relationship with someone that’s not feeling amazing, you might not even know where to begin. The four elements Maggie shares give us a starting point to narrow down where the issue(s) might be and offer possible solutions.
They each come with their own question to get you started.
Perspective. Is there a different way to look at this? For example, if you feel you aren’t getting what you need in a certain situation, is it possible that your partner is trying but not doing it the way you would want?
Partnership. Are we on the same team? Do we have collaboration and rapport? This works like an emotional bank account. You need to make a lot of deposits into the partnership in order to make the withdrawals you want.
Pleasure. Are we having fun and enjoying our connection? In a marriage, this also includes having a sexual connection. This is where tools like the Delight List I often teach come into play.
Personal Power. Am I thinking that I matter? This allows you to explore what is and is not okay with you. You have to believe that you matter enough to even ask for what you want and need in the relationship. You get to ask for things that you find pleasing or delightful, and you get to say “no” to things that don’t fit your priorities and values.
These elements are often connected. For example, if you’re enjoying each other’s company, you likely also have a strong rapport and partnership. If there is one that really stands out as you ask yourself these questions, that is a great place to focus your attention.
Maggie believes that people love us the best they can, but it isn’t always the way we want to be loved. You and your partner might express your feelings and what matters to you in completely different ways.
Sometimes we miss each other or we miss the mark on what the other person wants or needs. We're trying to do things, and the other person isn't seeing them. It’s easy to tell ourselves, “Oh, they don’t care. They’re not thinking about me.” But often, this isn’t the case.
A shift in perspective can help us see things that we weren’t noticing or looking for before, or we might see that they are expressing love in a different way that we would.
Try asking what is meaningful to the other person. What would they like? What would be delightful when they get home? You may be scared of asking these questions because we think they’re going to want something that's beyond our capacity, but sometimes what our spouse needs from us is much simpler than we think.
And because you matter, you can give feedback, too. I’ve experienced situations with my own husband when I had to tell him, “I love what you’re doing, but I don’t like the way you’re doing it.”
Busy schedules, work, kids activities and chores fill our days and often leave us feeling disconnected from our spouses.
In her work, Maggie sees a direct correlation. The people who struggle the most in marriage are the people who spend the least time together. The people who are thriving spend the most time together.
The natural inclination in any relationship is to drift apart. So you have to choose to turn toward each other on purpose.
Maggie’s suggestion is to build in small pockets of “together time”. This can be 5 minutes of coffee together in the morning or 20 minutes together to check in and just breathe after the kids are in bed.
If you love date nights, that’s great, but they’re not required (thank goodness!). Making a plan to curl up on the couch, eat snacks and watch Netflix works, too. It’s about doing more of what works for you.
Daily check-ins also create space for connection and conversation, even just a few minutes each evening.
The best way to understand what you value, Maggie says, is to look at your calendar and your bank account. With busy lives and limited amounts of time and money, it’s easy to feel like there isn’t enough to go around. But we choose where our resources go, and we can be more intentional so they better reflect our values.
Sometimes our values aren’t clearly articulated, but you can look to your life for clues. I noticed that as a family we visited a lot of National Parks, which highlights the value we place on spending time in nature.
When you look around and see where you are spending your time and money, the next step is to ask yourself, “Is this actually important to me in this chapter of life or is it just a habit?” and “What if I valued it on purpose?”
You can make your values even more clear with a simple conversation as a couple or as a family. What is important to you, as individuals and as a unit?
For example, if you are telling yourself that your weekends are all filled up, ask if there is another way you can look at it (shifting your perspective). Why is every weekend filled?
If you say that your family and your relationship are important to you, how do you want your weekends to look and what can you say “yes” or “no” to in order to create that?
There will always be an opportunity cost - something you have to give up in order to get something else. Make the choice that gives you what is most important to you and your family.
Your spouse doesn’t have to change in order for you to be happy or to have the marriage you want. You don’t need to keep hanging your happiness on changing your spouse. Your peace and joy are not conditional on what they do or don’t do.
This is great news because if you’re waiting on someone else to change, you might just end up sitting and waiting for a long time. It also means that you can take action towards what you want…right now!
Ask yourself, “What do I want to be different? What do I want to prioritize?”
You can start doing the things that engage you in the world, and your spouse can simply respond to what you're presenting in front of them. This can be as simple as making an invitation. Saying, “This is what would delight me this weekend. Would you like to join me for any part of that?”
If your spouse doesn’t want to do something that you’re doing, it’s okay. You don’t have to make them wrong for it. It doesn’t have to mean anything about your relationship. Instead, you can try a different approach of how it could be fun and work out for both of you or find a friend who would love it.
And if they extend an invitation to you that you’re not thrilled about, you get to choose whether to decline or be a little uncomfortable and do something that’s not your favorite out of love service and love to this person that you care about.
Especially with kids, it’s a bit of a dance between making an effort to prioritize our relationships while also exploring the things that matter to us as individuals. But there can be space for all of it. There's a space for you to do things that you’re interested in. And there is also space where you and your spouse (with or without the kids) can do things together that are fun for both of you where you can connect.
Maggie and I had such a great time recording this episode for you. We are cut from the same cloth and share so many of the same views in what we teach and how we help our clients.
Her intention behind her group program, The Marriage Breakthrough Accelerator, is that once you go through the program, you will always be able to create your own breakthroughs. You’ll be able to use the tools you learned to handle any situation that comes up in your relationship with confidence and with grace. Learn more about working with Maggie at the links below.
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Alright. Welcome back to become a calm mama. I am your host. I'm
Speaker:Darlyn Childress. And today, I I
Speaker:am excited about this. And I know everyone who's listening is gonna be excited
Speaker:because I have, Maggie Reyes who is a marriage coach
Speaker:on the podcast today. Welcome, Maggie. Say hi. Hi, everyone.
Speaker:Thank you for having me. I am so excited for everyone listening. If you listen
Speaker:to this podcast, you love Darlene's approach. I have a crush on her.
Speaker:Respectfully, I'm happily married, but I respectfully have the biggest crush on her. So
Speaker:I am so excited about everything we're gonna talk about today. Oh my gosh. I'm
Speaker:so excited. I really thought to myself, why don't I just turn the mic
Speaker:on and then you just talk for 45 minutes and then that would be enough?
Speaker:And I because I wanna learn, you know, from you. And I love
Speaker:our work. Our approaches are similar in that we're race we're basically
Speaker:relationship coaches. Right? And my where I spend all
Speaker:my time is coaching parents and their relationship with their kids, and then of course
Speaker:their relationship with themselves. And that's how you are too. You're coaching,
Speaker:relationship with your partner and then also relationship with yourself.
Speaker:Yes. Yeah. So I just love I just
Speaker:love talking to you and having you here. So we're gonna get into it.
Speaker:I don't even know. Do you wanna do backstory? You wanna tell us a little
Speaker:bit about yourself? I don't know. You lead, and I will follow.
Speaker:So, I'm happy to introduce myself a little bit,
Speaker:more. So before I was a a coach, I worked in human resources.
Speaker:So I have lots of thoughts about how we relate to stressful situations, whether it's
Speaker:at work, in our marriage. So relationships just from every
Speaker:angle fascinate me. And I became a
Speaker:life coach, and I specialized in marriage. I love continuing
Speaker:education. Darlene and I were talking about that earlier. And
Speaker:so I like to use a mix of evidence based
Speaker:interventions with intuitive things that have just come to me over the years. And
Speaker:And some of the things we're gonna talk about today is a mix of of
Speaker:both of those things. And let's just nerd
Speaker:out on helping people have better relationships. So that's me. I nerd
Speaker:out on it too. I just can't I just can't even believe, you know, how
Speaker:much time I spend reading about the nervous system and relationships
Speaker:and trauma and how it plays out and, like, communication skills and
Speaker:just anything self development. Yeah. So you and I are kindred
Speaker:spirits in that way. You are you are gonna talk to us about how to
Speaker:have a better marriage. Yes. Yes. I do wanna say some
Speaker:people on listening may not be married. Yeah. And they might be like, oh,
Speaker:this isn't for me or maybe they're divorced or maybe they're, you know, have a
Speaker:boyfriend or girlfriend or something. Yeah. So what would you say to someone
Speaker:listening? So I would say how to have a better relationship.
Speaker:Mhmm. Everything every single thing we talk about, especially
Speaker:the topics we're gonna talk about today, I, because I used to work in HR,
Speaker:thought about, is this the same for a team at work? Would these principles apply?
Speaker:And every time I sort of test my hypothesis for any type of relationship, like,
Speaker:yep, it applies here, it applies there, it applies over here. So,
Speaker:instead of calling it how to have a better marriage, just call it how to
Speaker:have a better relationship. And then everyone listening, think about the
Speaker:relationship in your life that you wish can improve. And what we're gonna talk about
Speaker:today, have that on your mind as I explain some of the things, and
Speaker:let's see what happens. Yeah. That's so good. Especially, I think, like,
Speaker:parents of teenagers or young adults often start and I have a lot of
Speaker:clients who listen, you know, because they're my friends and they've, like, you know, had,
Speaker:raised their kids mostly. And they're like, oh, how do I connect
Speaker:better with my young adults and, like, any of that. Yeah. Or or your own
Speaker:parents if they're still alive and then or your siblings. So
Speaker:there's always room here for that. Always room. And I tell me if you
Speaker:found this. I'm sure you have, where you'll have someone come
Speaker:and work on the relationship with their child, but then all their relationships
Speaker:improve. Immediately. Like, in my course, they're always like,
Speaker:can I use this on my husband? That's cool. Yes is yes, by the
Speaker:way. The answer is yes because it's a relationship model as yours is relationship model.
Speaker:Okay. Yeah. So I want you to tell us Yeah. The 4 essential
Speaker:elements for having a great relationship. Okay. So here's
Speaker:here they are, and then I'm gonna explain them and how I arrived at them
Speaker:and all that. So perspective,
Speaker:partnership, pleasure, and personal
Speaker:power. Now, what are these things? And why do they matter? So what happens
Speaker:is when a relationship when you're in a relationship with someone, and it's not feeling
Speaker:amazing, and you're like, how do I what do I do about it? Where do
Speaker:I start? Right? When you ask yourself that question, I don't even know where to
Speaker:begin. Sometimes we're tied up in these emotional pretzels. And we're like, where do we
Speaker:go? Okay, the place that you start, is you ask
Speaker:yourself, is this a perspective issue? How I'm looking at it? Could
Speaker:I look at it differently? Just ask yourself, is there another way that
Speaker:I could look at this that would help us move forward? Is
Speaker:it a partnership issue? Do we have collaboration and rapport?
Speaker:So sometimes we're in relationships with people where we feel
Speaker:at odds where we're like on opposite teams, right? So maybe it's your
Speaker:boss at work, maybe it's your cousin, maybe it's, you know, your mother-in-law, whatever
Speaker:it may be, Like, what if we were on the same team,
Speaker:the same team could be just I want peace in the holidays whenever I see
Speaker:them, you know, once a year. Like, that that could be the
Speaker:the the loosest interpretation of being on the same team could
Speaker:apply. Right? But if we were on the same team,
Speaker:how would I approach this? How would I look at it? Then if we bring
Speaker:the perspective in with the partnership, the more we
Speaker:want something done, the more rapport we need to build. That's just
Speaker:life. Yeah. Right? It's like an emotional
Speaker:bank or something. You know? You need to make a lot of deposits in order
Speaker:to make withdrawals. Yeah. Yes. Yes. A 100%. I sometimes talk about
Speaker:it, in terms of capacity. I'll say, like, you know, you
Speaker:have to have a lot of emotional capacity in this relationship
Speaker:to, you know, either set follow through on a boundary
Speaker:or or relational capacity. How much can your relationship take?
Speaker:How much can you take? Yeah. So Yeah. Exactly. So same same. So
Speaker:is it a partnership issue? Have I spent no time building
Speaker:rapport? Mhmm. And therefore, we make no progress in whatever
Speaker:it is. Right? And it could be with a teenager, it could be with your
Speaker:boss, it could be with your spouse, like, the same principle applies. So when I
Speaker:was thinking about, and I'll tell you the other 2, but when I was coming
Speaker:up with this idea, I had coached, I don't know, 1000 of hours. And I
Speaker:was like, if I were to distill the issues I coach on
Speaker:every single day, if I was just to go to the straight core,
Speaker:when it's just the seed of a situation, What are
Speaker:the themes that it that always reappear over and over and over and
Speaker:over again? And I was like, perspective, how I'm looking at it? Partnership is
Speaker:their rapport, pleasure, are we having fun? And
Speaker:in the marriage context that I coach on most of the time is, is there
Speaker:sexual connection? Is there sexual pleasure? Are we enjoying our
Speaker:connection, physically? But when I tried
Speaker:to extrapolate it to like a team at work, you know,
Speaker:a team that isn't having fun at work doesn't
Speaker:thrive. So you can have relationships, you can have all kinds of relationships, we
Speaker:all do right? In order to get to thriving,
Speaker:to something like delight to something like enjoyment,
Speaker:if you if you don't have these four things, thriving
Speaker:is what's not possible. The relationship is possible. So the purpose of
Speaker:these things, like, what gets me closer to thriving
Speaker:or to enjoyment or to delight, it's gonna be one of these four things.
Speaker:So we talked about pleasure, so it's not necessarily just sexual pleasure. It's
Speaker:any kind of pleasure. Mhmm. And I would say that
Speaker:probably the more fun you have, the more rapport you've built. Yeah. It's one
Speaker:of the ways into rapport. So that is such a good point,
Speaker:Dernan, that I wanted to share with everybody, which is so many of
Speaker:us think about that relationship that you thought of at the beginning of the
Speaker:episode, is we think we have to resolve the
Speaker:issue before we can have fun or be nice or be
Speaker:kind or be generous or do whatever. And we're,
Speaker:like, this big issue is, like, a wall in between me and the other person.
Speaker:So think about a teenager. Like, oh, they're not respecting the
Speaker:rule of cleaning up their room. So we're just gonna be, like, mean.
Speaker:Right? Like, you have to be harsh. We can't be nice until
Speaker:they listen or something like that. Like, no. There's no fun. There's no we're
Speaker:not we're not I'm not taking like, my son and I are doing some trips.
Speaker:I'm not taking him until he straightens up. Right. That that
Speaker:attitude, we all have it. We've all done it. What I have found over
Speaker:the years is the way through, the way we
Speaker:get him to listen. And in that scenario, the way we get the
Speaker:thing to happen that we want to happen is through continuing to
Speaker:relate to the person to build rapport, including things that
Speaker:are more fun, more lighthearted, and that aren't as heavy as the thing that
Speaker:we're trying to resolve. Yeah. Seriously. Because we
Speaker:especially in parenting, you spend so much time, like,
Speaker:telling your kid what they need to do and what needs to be done, and
Speaker:there's, like, so much energy spent, like, get your shoes on, sit down, eat your
Speaker:breakfast, you know, whatever, do your homework, that then wears the
Speaker:space to just be, like, tell me more about Pokemon?
Speaker:Yeah. Yes. And it and it's something that or if
Speaker:we're in a rush and we don't have time, like, that school getting to school
Speaker:time. Right? We're in a rush and we need to go. How can we
Speaker:build the time to talk about the Pokemon? How can we build the time
Speaker:that we and listen, that's hard, Right? That's that's why we both have jobs,
Speaker:because that's hard, and we have to figure it out and all that. Like, I
Speaker:don't wanna minimize how hard that would be. No. It's hard. Let's talk about it
Speaker:in marriage, though, because I was thinking, like, what's the Pokemon of marriage?
Speaker:Okay. So many.
Speaker:Because I think about my particular partner and, we
Speaker:have been in a long marriage. We've been married 26 years. Yeah. And sometimes I'm
Speaker:bored of his Pokemon or I mean, we'll get into talking about that, but
Speaker:it's like some of that rapport building can be
Speaker:I'm not that interested. Just like a lot of my clients are like, I don't
Speaker:care about Pokemon. And it's like, I don't care about NBA
Speaker:basketball or whatever. Yeah. That's so interesting.
Speaker:It's so interesting that you mentioned that, before we started the the
Speaker:recording, I was telling Darlyn that we're, like, cosmically connected in some
Speaker:way. And this idea we're just gonna do a little tangent on this
Speaker:being bored by our partners or bored by the person we wanna connect with.
Speaker:I was literally talking about this with my husband this week,
Speaker:Because my husband and I do something called the daily check-in. It's
Speaker:a concept that I teach. And it's just checking in, how
Speaker:are you? How was your day? What's going on? What's on your mind? And
Speaker:the Gottman Institute that I quote very often they research what
Speaker:helps marriages thrive, and then they create interventions based on their research. And they
Speaker:also research what tears people apart. And they create interventions based on
Speaker:both ends of that spectrum. And they call it the
Speaker:self soothing conversation.
Speaker:And so there's actual research underneath it. But the idea is that you don't problem
Speaker:solve, you don't, you're not like troubleshooting anything, you're just sharing
Speaker:how you're doing. But what happens when you want to share how
Speaker:you're doing, but the other person is bored? Yeah. They don't wanna hear how you're
Speaker:doing. Or they don't have the capacity. Maybe they're tired. Maybe they're they're like,
Speaker:you haven't given me the time of day lately. Like, there's so much underlying
Speaker:resentment that gets Yeah. Good times. Underlying my time. So what do you do
Speaker:and actually perspective and partnership and pleasure, these three things you've already talked
Speaker:about, would be how you what do you do about being bored or
Speaker:being resentful or whatever? How is there another way I can look at
Speaker:it? So I can look at my partner and say you're a
Speaker:human on earth in 2024. And that's fascinating.
Speaker:And, you know, my husband's an engineer. I'm a life coach. So we're very much
Speaker:like the yin and the yang. You know, he's very methodical and very creative, like
Speaker:those kinds of things. Right? We both also have, like, a lot of
Speaker:right brain, left brain. We sort of can dabble in each
Speaker:side. But very often, we're very focused on the
Speaker:ways we do things. And I could find computer engineering,
Speaker:which is what he does, very boring. Right? And I
Speaker:look for what is fascinating about this, like, he works at a credit card
Speaker:processing company, like, I don't know, finance. Was
Speaker:anybody ever riveted? You know, do they make movies about that
Speaker:stuff? They don't. Right? Well, they have made some. Like, usually, if it's like
Speaker:a fraud or scam or something. That. Right? It was some the heightened
Speaker:drama. Right? I was like, I would be like, who's getting scammed in
Speaker:your company? No. Right? So, but we
Speaker:look for well, what is fascinating about that? What is interesting about
Speaker:that? And that's a practice. That's a habit.
Speaker:Right? So when I say I'm bored, I say
Speaker:it as if it's a state of being that cannot be altered and
Speaker:has no way forward. It's like, no,
Speaker:I can build a habit to be fascinated by a lot of things.
Speaker:And I can also have boundaries around it.
Speaker:So that perspective is how else can I look at it?
Speaker:That boundary is like where we have the fun and the pleasure is also my
Speaker:husband I have this as a running thing we do, which is okay, what's
Speaker:the executive summary on that? What are the bullet
Speaker:points? You know? Yeah. I could, like, I don't know, watch an Oprah interview and
Speaker:have, like, 15 things I wanna tell him. Right? And he's like, how about the
Speaker:top 3? Right? Which makes it more fun for
Speaker:him and still include some fun for me.
Speaker:Yes. Yes. Right? Yeah. So being able to say,
Speaker:like, I'm open to this within this boundary, with this within this limit. Yes.
Speaker:Yeah. It's very like, those who listen to the podcast, very similar when I say,
Speaker:like, you know, hey. If the kid is in a big feeling cycle, it's like,
Speaker:I'm I'm happy to help you within these conditions, like, within this
Speaker:boundary for the next couple of minutes or as long as you're not hitting me.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. Then what are the parameters around it? Mhmm. Right?
Speaker:Mhmm. So that it's enjoyable to you. So that you have a a level of
Speaker:of, oh, I wanna learn about this, but I don't need to know everything that
Speaker:was ever written about Pokemon. I don't need I'll listen to you for 5 full
Speaker:minutes. Ready? Go. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Pick your favorite parts. Come back
Speaker:to me. You know, pick your favorite parts. Take them back to me. So
Speaker:that's anyway. It's just a little tangent. It's good. I love that you talked about,
Speaker:like, building a habit of being fascinated. Like, really, it's a
Speaker:practice and working at how can I,
Speaker:on my own, take some initiative here and figure out how to
Speaker:find this interesting? And it's maybe it goes into that 4th
Speaker:essential element. Yeah. So personal power. So I taught
Speaker:perspective partnership and pleasure for probably a couple years. And
Speaker:then I realized as I kept, testing my hypothesis with
Speaker:my clients and working through different situations that you can't
Speaker:consistently practice perspective and partnership
Speaker:and pleasure as things that you turn towards without
Speaker:being engaged with your own personal power, which means
Speaker:simply having the thought I matter.
Speaker:Oh, interesting. So if I matter,
Speaker:how do I want to handle this conversation? How long do I want to talk
Speaker:about Pokemon? How do I want to look at this situation?
Speaker:With generosity and kindness but also the boundaries. Right? With
Speaker:like some things are not okay. If I don't include that I
Speaker:matter, I will allow things that are not okay. Mhmm. If I
Speaker:include that I matter, then I can explore
Speaker:what is okay and what's not okay. Yeah. I have a question because I think
Speaker:sometimes we have this thought that I don't
Speaker:matter to my partner. And I
Speaker:wonder if that's such a limiting belief.
Speaker:Like, you don't really even know that whether that's true or not.
Speaker:Yeah. But I wonder if that gets in the way of I matter.
Speaker:Yeah. So I don't matter to my partner. Like, I matter to myself, but he
Speaker:doesn't give a shit about me. Yeah. I mean, first of all, how sad if
Speaker:if we all go through moments where we have a thought like that,
Speaker:or the family of that. And I'll say 2 things
Speaker:about it. One is, my hypothesis is
Speaker:people love us the best they can. Not always the way we
Speaker:want to be loved. So very often, not always,
Speaker:sometimes some people, you know, are married to jerks, and the
Speaker:partner really doesn't care. And so sometimes that is true. But out of a
Speaker:100 times, maybe it's 10 times. Right? The other 90, something else is
Speaker:going on. Yeah. And for the other 90, it's more
Speaker:like, oh, the way they express what matters to them is so different than the
Speaker:way I express what matters to me. Yes. And it almost feels that we're
Speaker:coming from, you know, 2 completely different planets about this situation.
Speaker:But it doesn't mean I don't matter to them. It's just they express it
Speaker:so differently. Yeah. And that might be where the perspective
Speaker:comes in. Right? Like, how can I see this differently? How can I see this
Speaker:differently? And it comes in in in in so many ways. I'll tell you one
Speaker:anecdotal thing about this exact thing. I had
Speaker:a client who her thought was he's just not that into me.
Speaker:And and she was convinced that this was real. This was what was happening.
Speaker:They were like, in a very serious problem because he just wasn't interested.
Speaker:Okay. Maybe let's test it. Let's find out. So her
Speaker:coaching homework that week was to make a note of
Speaker:anything that he did that was kind, that was considerate
Speaker:that you could tell, you know, he thought of her in order to do that
Speaker:thing. And she was just supposed to keep a little list,
Speaker:you know, open a Google Doc, just just a little bullet point of, like,
Speaker:okay, he made me coffee or he, you know, turned the
Speaker:thermostat down on the way to the bedroom or, like, the tiniest little things. Right?
Speaker:So she goes back the next week, and I always say God has a sense
Speaker:of humor because first of all, she had 17 different things of
Speaker:things he did. Evidence. I always tell them all the time. Yeah. And
Speaker:then that week that we were counting, he, like, bought her
Speaker:flowers and and and a card. And I'm, like, God
Speaker:just has a sense of humor because it's just ridiculous. Right?
Speaker:So apparently, that's not the problem. Yes. Right. Right. He is into
Speaker:me or, you know, or I can I can think I can I have evidence
Speaker:that he might be into me? Right? Yeah. Like, I think of bridge thoughts. Like,
Speaker:how do I get to the thought that I'm trying to get towards? And it's
Speaker:like, yeah. I matter, and
Speaker:then I have evidence that I matter to him or her.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes I'm not looking for it, or I'm looking for them
Speaker:to do it the way I would do it. Mhmm. And that
Speaker:is when we get into all kinds of, you know, sticky
Speaker:situations because, the way you would do
Speaker:it is the way you would do it. I have a funny story about this.
Speaker:I don't I don't wanna go too tangible, but I when I had
Speaker:young kids, right, they were 2 boys, 2 years apart,
Speaker:wild, you know, play toys all day long, and I would work really
Speaker:hard to make sure that the home was somewhat calm
Speaker:and peaceful when my husband came home from work. Yeah. Not to the I
Speaker:felt sometimes I'm like, am I, like, 19 fifties, like, changing my outfit and
Speaker:putting a ribbon in my hair and the 3 of us standing at the doorway,
Speaker:you know, waiting for dad. But I just felt like it was
Speaker:respectful for him. You know? He'd been at work, and I want to so I
Speaker:would, you know, clean up the house. Mhmm. And I would clean up the
Speaker:counters and make sure the kitchen was clean and this and that. And then
Speaker:weeks go by, he still walks in grumpy, and
Speaker:kind of gruff around about the house. Mhmm. And there was a point when I
Speaker:was like, hey. I work so hard at cleaning this house for you when you
Speaker:get home so that it feels peaceful and calm. And he goes, you
Speaker:do? And I was like, what?
Speaker:Yes. I I I go and I clean all the countertops, and I
Speaker:put some stuff away and da da da. And he goes, every time I walk
Speaker:in here, there's toys all over the floor. And I
Speaker:said, oh, yeah. That's fine. That's just toys. They're just on the
Speaker:floor. Like, that's not that's not a big deal. The floor doesn't matter. And he's
Speaker:like, well, the countertops don't matter. So
Speaker:good. And I was like, wait. What? He he's
Speaker:like, I don't care if there's shit on the countertops. All
Speaker:these toys in the floor is what I see. And I was like,
Speaker:oh, okay. Well, we could probably put those in bins. You know? I
Speaker:put the put all the toys away or not or whatever. Like, I don't have
Speaker:to please him, but it was just so fascinating to me to think I'm
Speaker:doing so much that he's not appreciating, and he's like, she's
Speaker:not doing anything. Yes.
Speaker:I think that's so powerful because when you think about negotiating
Speaker:a life together Mhmm. One of the things that nobody
Speaker:teaches us in school is this that you just described, which is
Speaker:the skill of asking what is meaningful to you. Yes.
Speaker:What would you like? What would be delightful when you get home? Mhmm.
Speaker:And so many of us, and and it's this is such a good example because
Speaker:we twist ourselves into pretzel to do to do this thing that we think
Speaker:needs to be done because someone somewhere did it on TV
Speaker:or in a movie or whatever. And, really,
Speaker:what's meaningful to the other person is this really simple thing that's so easy for
Speaker:you to do that. It's like, wait. That that takes 5 minutes and this takes
Speaker:half an hour and you go to 5 minute thing? Yeah. Exactly. I was like,
Speaker:oh, that's so simple. The boys could do that part. Yeah. Just throw
Speaker:all the toys in the bin because we're going to bed anyway. And then it
Speaker:was, like, changed my whole lifestyle because then the toys were all off the floor
Speaker:for me. And you'll something that happens is we we get so
Speaker:scared of asking the other person, what would you like? Because we think they're gonna
Speaker:want something that's so beyond. More or more. I'm already doing everything I
Speaker:could possibly do. I can't do more. Yeah. And so I just
Speaker:offered to everyone listening, like, if you just ask the person you wanna
Speaker:relate more deeply or better with, what would
Speaker:be meaningful to you? What would you like? Yes. Yeah. I
Speaker:just like this. I I have, like, a million example because my husband used to
Speaker:order these flowers for me from, I think, like, ProFlowers or something like that.
Speaker:Yeah. They came in a box with no vase. Yeah. No.
Speaker:That's I'm a I'm a hard no on that. I am a hard no too.
Speaker:And, like, he kept doing he would buy me flowers, and then he would or
Speaker:go to Trader Joe's and buy flowers. Yeah. And then he just hand them to
Speaker:me, and I was like, this is work. I do not Yeah. Want to
Speaker:do any work Yeah. When I receive a gift.
Speaker:Yeah. And, eventually, I said, I I love what
Speaker:you're doing, but I don't like the way you're doing it. And he was like,
Speaker:what great way to say it too. Yeah. And he was like, what do you
Speaker:mean? And I was like, I then have to cut these flowers and throw the
Speaker:trash away and then put them in the vase and stuff. And he's like, oh,
Speaker:what do you want? I was like, just put them in a vase. And I'm
Speaker:like, okay. Buy the ones that come in a vase. They have them in some
Speaker:supermarkets too. Yes. Right. Or if you buy them, put them in a
Speaker:vase, and like Valentine's just passed. And I come down, and there's a
Speaker:beautiful arrangement in a vase, and I am appreciative
Speaker:of it. So this I think this is really interesting to talk about, like,
Speaker:how sometimes we cross. We miss each other. We're trying to do
Speaker:things, and the other person isn't seeing them. Yes.
Speaker:And it's like, it's so much easier. It's so much easy to say,
Speaker:oh, they don't care. They don't care. They're not thinking about me. They don't have
Speaker:personality. Asking for what you want. So this is another great
Speaker:example of you had to have the belief that you
Speaker:mattered to even ask. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:And so just the thought like I matter. So I get to ask
Speaker:for things that I find pleasing or delightful. Right? And then
Speaker:when you made the ask you prioritized building
Speaker:rapport, you prioritize the partnership, I appreciate what you're doing.
Speaker:I don't like the way you're doing it Mhmm. Is one of the
Speaker:most beautiful ways to give feedback to someone and say,
Speaker:hey. Your effort is recognized. I see you.
Speaker:And this is what would delight me. So good.
Speaker:So good. Everyone should just write that bit down.
Speaker:Yeah. Right there. Let's talk about we've kinda talked about it a little
Speaker:bit. So let's go back. Okay? So it's perspective. Yes. Is there another way to
Speaker:look at this? Yep. Partnership. Partnership. Are we on the same team?
Speaker:Mhmm. Pleasure. Are we having fun? Mhmm.
Speaker:Personal power. Am I thinking I matter? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:Okay. Mhmm. Now what we've kinda talked about, like, when we're
Speaker:when we're feeling that disconnection or, like, especially, you know, when you're
Speaker:raising kids, you there's so much going on. You got like,
Speaker:every every weekend is filled with a birthday party and a soccer game
Speaker:and, you know, housework and, it's just you then you gotta
Speaker:go to your in laws. It is a thing. Right? Mhmm.
Speaker:And it's easy to feel drifted apart.
Speaker:Mhmm. And and that disconnection.
Speaker:So it's like kinda like what do you see is the main
Speaker:culprit of why we get disconnected and then sort of what are some
Speaker:ways to get back. Okay.
Speaker:So And please don't say date night or everyone will stop listening. I'm just kidding.
Speaker:Okay. That wasn't even in my awareness, but good to know thank you for the
Speaker:because I think that's what we hear a lot. You need to prioritize date night.
Speaker:And people are like, what are you talk where who's gonna watch my kids? Like,
Speaker:it just feels like another date. So let's talk about yeah. So let's
Speaker:just take another attention on that. So I don't call it
Speaker:date night. Uh-huh. I like to think about it
Speaker:for the same reason Mhmm. As together time.
Speaker:I love that. And together time can be in the
Speaker:morning having 5 minutes of coffee. Together time can
Speaker:be right after you put the kids to bed and you have like 20
Speaker:minutes to just breathe. Like, together. It's it's
Speaker:more what works for you. Some people love going out
Speaker:on dates. I love my house. I don't even need to leave my house. You
Speaker:know what I'm saying? We have a hot date planned tonight. And our
Speaker:hot date is I'm obsessed with Formula 1, and we're
Speaker:gonna watch Drive to Survive on Netflix. Uh-huh. And I
Speaker:couldn't be more excited. Right? Like love it. And then we plan, what are we
Speaker:gonna eat? What are we gonna it's gonna be pizza night. Like, we have a
Speaker:whole plan for this thing, but it's what works for you. So anybody whenever
Speaker:you hear date someone say date night, you just say together time that works for
Speaker:me. Just replace that whole sentence. Together time that works for us.
Speaker:That's, that is important. I will tell you that,
Speaker:when I talk to people who are struggling in their marriages, because I'm a marriage
Speaker:coach, I talk to a lot of people who are struggling. You
Speaker:think? When I ask them how much time do you spend together
Speaker:Mhmm. The people who are struggling the most spend the least time.
Speaker:Yeah. And people who are thriving spend the most time. It's definite it's
Speaker:there's definitely a correlation. There's definitely,
Speaker:prioritizing how you think about the together time how you plan, like all of these
Speaker:different pieces. It just shows you where your work is. It
Speaker:just shows you what what do I need to figure out here, right? Yeah. When
Speaker:there's a deficit of time together, sometimes we were you were asking me
Speaker:what creates the drift. So that's just I want to name
Speaker:it. So that feeling of disconnection, we feel like roommates instead of
Speaker:soulmates, anything like that. What
Speaker:this is something that specific term was coined by the Gottman
Speaker:Institute, who I love quoting because it's just so clear and
Speaker:succinct. So the drift is if you imagine yourself in the ocean,
Speaker:and you and your partner, let's say, in this case, in a in a marriage
Speaker:or or deep relationship, the natural inclination
Speaker:of the ocean is for you to drift apart. But
Speaker:this is true in any relationship with your kids, with
Speaker:your cousin, with your parents, any relationship. You
Speaker:your natural if the natural flow of life
Speaker:is just for you to drift apart unless you turn
Speaker:towards each other on purpose. Mhmm. Even
Speaker:at work. Right? Even if like you have different projects and different
Speaker:things, you have to choose to do those projects on purpose that day.
Speaker:And if we don't choose to turn towards each other, we just continue
Speaker:to drift further and further and further and further apart. Now
Speaker:you gave that example of every weekend is filled.
Speaker:Yeah. Now here's where I would take that perspective
Speaker:and say is there another way I can look at this? Why is every weekend
Speaker:filled? How do I wanna decide how to fill my weekend?
Speaker:Right? If if my, let's say my family matters,
Speaker:like my relationship with my kids, and my marriage matters, my
Speaker:relationship with my partner, how do I want those weekends to
Speaker:look? What will I say yes to and not what I say no to?
Speaker:Yeah. I'd love to speak to that for a second because Yeah. We
Speaker:actively chose not to do, travel sports Mhmm.
Speaker:Like club anything Mhmm. Because my
Speaker:husband worked, like, 60 hours a week, and he had a
Speaker:commute. And he was just not I was we called Hollywood widows.
Speaker:That's what the term is for people who are married to people in the film
Speaker:industry. Mhmm. And he would leave
Speaker:and I would not see him till like, I
Speaker:wouldn't see him. I'll go to bed and he was not home, like, most of
Speaker:the years that we I was raising young kids. But then he was he didn't
Speaker:work on the weekends. Mhmm. And so we were so
Speaker:precious about our weekends and we needed he needed to be at home
Speaker:because he wasn't at home. Yeah. And he didn't wanna be driving, you know, an
Speaker:hour and a half and sitting on a field and this kinda thing and having
Speaker:our life be that way. So we were really, like,
Speaker:protective of that. Yes. I'm grateful for those
Speaker:decisions. Now did it maybe impact my kids because they didn't
Speaker:get better at sports? Yeah. Right? Or whatever. We weren't maybe
Speaker:as qualified to play on the high school team and that kinda thing.
Speaker:Sure. Possibly. But they had a relationship with their dad
Speaker:Yeah. Who was happy and their their parents' marriage was working.
Speaker:Yes. So that was just more important to us.
Speaker:Yeah. But that's because of our time constraints. Yeah. Well,
Speaker:for you, it's sort of like you had this organic reason to have to decide.
Speaker:Yes. And most of us don't have an organic reason to have to decide, so
Speaker:we just react on a day to day basis of, like, whatever falls in front
Speaker:of us. We just Right. Everyone else is doing it. We should just do this
Speaker:or Right. Exactly. Mhmm. Uh-huh. So so the people who are listening to this podcast,
Speaker:like, yay you for listening to the podcast Yeah. And and
Speaker:being intentional about how you wanna raise your kids and how you wanna show up
Speaker:in your relationships and like, and part of that being intentional is
Speaker:there will always be in management, if you have an MBA or
Speaker:something like that, there will always be an opportunity cost.
Speaker:It's the price I pay for the thing I don't do. Right. So
Speaker:I invest over here, I'm giving up something over there. There's a there's a
Speaker:cost on your case. It's such a beautiful illustration. It's like, the cost is,
Speaker:okay, the kids' journey in sports is gonna be
Speaker:different because they made you as parents made this choice. But their
Speaker:journey in life is gonna be different because you as parents made this choice. So
Speaker:it's like, am I willing to pay the price of that opportunity
Speaker:cost? For me, I'm very social. I do podcast
Speaker:interviews, I coach people, I talk and listen in deep
Speaker:ways of a lot of hyper focus all the time. And sometimes on the weekend,
Speaker:I don't want to talk to anybody. Yeah, I agree. And
Speaker:so sometimes my my wonderful, amazing extended family is
Speaker:always doing things. And my opportunity costs I miss out
Speaker:sometimes on time with them to rest and
Speaker:just be with a book or just be quiet or just, you
Speaker:know, watch movie. And it's like, am I willing to pay that cost?
Speaker:Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not. I I we I remember
Speaker:now I'm I coined this phrase, like, work recovery. So we had, like,
Speaker:these 5 priorities was work, work recovery,
Speaker:our marriage, our kids, and our house. Mhmm.
Speaker:And that those five things sometimes I always think of it as
Speaker:a Ferris wheel, like, whatever's at the top, but the things are still important. And
Speaker:sometimes the Ferris wheel's moving, moving, moving, and it's all great, and everything's getting managed.
Speaker:And other times, something's at the top, and that's what you're focused on. Yeah. It's
Speaker:not like you're gonna forget about all the rest. Yes. And there was a
Speaker:lot of weekends that was like work and work recovery. I love
Speaker:that so much. Mhmm. We would just spend time being in recovery,
Speaker:and that's not, you know, maybe working on our parenting
Speaker:or marriage or, like, we're just, like, letting the kids do whatever or, like, we're
Speaker:just all doing our own thing because we're recovering
Speaker:from a Yes. Heavy work week. And then other times, it's like, no. This
Speaker:is a house weekend. This is a project weekend. This is we're we're gonna focus
Speaker:on our marriage. We're gonna be really invested in our kids. Whatever. Yeah.
Speaker:I love work recovery. It's so clear.
Speaker:Yeah. And I love thinking about
Speaker:you know, I talk about, like, nerding out on some of these things. Right? Like,
Speaker:I'm learning out on this right now. So I talk a lot about how in
Speaker:nature, things happen in a cyclical manner.
Speaker:But our Western industrialized society where productivity is revered, like a deity, we
Speaker:deity, we pretend like humans don't
Speaker:need work recovery. Yeah, you pretend, and
Speaker:then burn out. And then we have all these other health issues and all these
Speaker:other relationship issues, because we're just pretending that
Speaker:we are widgets in a factory as opposed to, like,
Speaker:organic organisms that work the way the rest of the planet
Speaker:works. Right? There's night and day. There's ebb
Speaker:and flow of the ocean. But there's winter. Sometimes there's whole
Speaker:seasons. There's whole seasons. That's why it
Speaker:always makes me laugh. Like, why am I making goals in January? All I wanna
Speaker:do is hide in a bush and, like, be in my couch and be
Speaker:quiet. And then, you know, middle of February, people start to
Speaker:emerge out a little bit. Yeah. Like, oh, yeah. Because we should probably be
Speaker:making goals and have a new year at spring. Yes. When everything
Speaker:is blooming, when everything is falling. Like, the idea
Speaker:that we were we would pause and ask ourselves, how
Speaker:do I want it to go? Again, is a perspective is like, how
Speaker:do I want to think about this thing? And then I matter, so
Speaker:I get to choose how I relate to my life. I know. It's so
Speaker:good. I matter. Yeah. And that means
Speaker:saying no. And you said, yeah, opportunity is a cost and, like, yeah,
Speaker:we have I always think we really do need to have our priority. Like, what
Speaker:are we work what's important to us in this season
Speaker:or big picture? I would always say, like, early
Speaker:those years, I'd say, I want I wanna be married to Kevin in the back
Speaker:end. I would call I would say that, like,
Speaker:whatever was going on and struggle and we were you know, had so
Speaker:many struggles those years. And it's like, I need to do
Speaker:whatever I can to set myself up for the back end, which I'm
Speaker:about to go into empty nest. I have a senior in high school last kid.
Speaker:And it's this man and I that will be married 27 years, and
Speaker:it's like, okay, we're at our back end. Here we are. We made it. What's
Speaker:it gonna look like? I have no idea, so I have a lot of work
Speaker:to do. But I I think that was my one of my priorities is, like,
Speaker:how can I make sure that this marriage is Yeah?
Speaker:Exists? Right. In a way that works for you.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes it was just let's keep it existing. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. And then we'll figure it out. Yeah. Oh, yeah. But that
Speaker:okay. I wanna talk about that, like, that
Speaker:you're you have this concept and and I love it and I've learned a lot
Speaker:about this is like your spouse doesn't have to change in order for you to
Speaker:be happy. Yes. I really
Speaker:had to own that for myself
Speaker:Mhmm. In order to then have the marriage I wanted.
Speaker:Yes. And so I would love for you to talk about that. Yeah.
Speaker:So here's the thing. Sometimes our spouses do change. Sometimes we do
Speaker:shift things in ourselves just like when you teach your parents how to deal with
Speaker:their kids. Their kids' behavior actually does change. 100%.
Speaker:And I actually do see this with this this concept with my husband. Yes.
Speaker:Yeah. So what we what we stopped doing is we stopped hanging our
Speaker:happiness on it. Yeah. Stop hanging and and like literally,
Speaker:like, well, figuratively, not literally, figuratively, like, making
Speaker:it conditional that I cannot have peace or joy or anything good,
Speaker:unless this changes. We we become detached
Speaker:to in our relationship to, like, how do I wanna handle this?
Speaker:And inside that detachment, we create space where very often
Speaker:the byproduct is the person responds in different weights. Oh my I
Speaker:see it so much in the parenting work. Like Yes. We stop
Speaker:focusing on their behavior and what they're doing wrong and how much the kid is,
Speaker:like, a problem, and we shift to Yes. This is
Speaker:different than in marriage, but shift to, like, what delightless is one of the things
Speaker:I teach. Like, what are the things that I like about this kid? Yes. And
Speaker:then the perspective stuff. Where is it going well? And, like, bringing pleasure into the
Speaker:relationship. And then the the the
Speaker:the, like, little tiny feeling between the two
Speaker:people, the energy shifts. Yes. Okay. Gross.
Speaker:That's it. So the idea is you don't have to wait
Speaker:for the person to be different before you take action
Speaker:towards what you want. That's another, like, layer of
Speaker:nuance within that. It's like, if I'm waiting for my spouse to change, I'm just
Speaker:gonna sit and wait for a very long time. Right? Versus,
Speaker:okay, if I release, whether they change or not, as part of the
Speaker:essential part of the equation, what do I want different? How would I plan my
Speaker:weekend? What what do I want to prioritize, I start doing the things that
Speaker:engage me in the world. And then they simply respond
Speaker:to what you're presenting in front of them. So instead of
Speaker:me, I don't know, nitpicking something and getting all annoyed about
Speaker:it. I'm like, I would be so delighted if we
Speaker:stayed home this weekend. And here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do this and
Speaker:this and this. Would you like to join me for any part of that? Yeah.
Speaker:And make that invitation. I think sometimes it's easy to stop inviting
Speaker:Yeah. And and stop trying. Yeah.
Speaker:Or like I invited my husband to this, thing I got tickets to,
Speaker:like, at LA Food and Wine Festival type of thing. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:And I was like, do you wanna come? And he's like,
Speaker:no. It's crowded. I don't really care about food.
Speaker:I don't drink. Like, you know, nada. And I, like,
Speaker:really want to make him wrong. Yeah.
Speaker:Like, what's wrong with you? What Yeah. What are you doing? You're so you're so
Speaker:boring. You're so lazy. You're so like, I really want to make him, like,
Speaker:wrong. And then bring in the perspective in of, like, I can
Speaker:go. I can find someone who would love it. Yeah. And that doesn't mean anything
Speaker:about our relationship. Doesn't mean anything about him. Yeah. And then if I
Speaker:also want him to go, he will. Yeah. If I presented in
Speaker:a way that's like, it would make it fun for me if you came.
Speaker:Or is there any part of this that's interesting to you? Like, what if we
Speaker:just went for lunch? Yeah. Right. Right. We just got our bellies full.
Speaker:Yeah. Right? Like, how do we make it a win win for both of us?
Speaker:And my husband and I have gone to the lengths, so so to speak. We
Speaker:can sometimes go in separate cars to things. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. It's
Speaker:like, what part of this do I wanna engage in? And what part of this
Speaker:I don't wanna engage in? It's it's removing also all or nothing thinking
Speaker:Yeah. From our marriage or our partner or how we approach
Speaker:things. Yes. Right? And sometimes
Speaker:it is saying, I would really love to have this
Speaker:experience, and I'd love to have it with you. Mhmm.
Speaker:Would you be willing to spend an afternoon? Here's how I'm thinking we would
Speaker:approach it. Here's what I'm thinking we would do. Yeah. And
Speaker:just sometimes we can be uncomfortable or do
Speaker:things that aren't my our favorite thing, and service and love to the
Speaker:person that we care about. That's okay. But how we approach
Speaker:it, giving them the space to say, like, oh, I wanna be there all day.
Speaker:Well, could we just do the afternoon? Like, giving them the space to have, like,
Speaker:what is the essence of the thing that you want?
Speaker:And then finding how that's possible with the other person. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. And, like, I can be happy if he says
Speaker:no. Yeah. I can still do my thing.
Speaker:Yes. Yeah. But and I can keep
Speaker:inviting. I just think we get, like I'm gonna do my own
Speaker:thing. I see this, like, when parents have kids, like, in middle school, if
Speaker:their kids get a little bit older where they can stay home alone or they're
Speaker:not as needy, the children Mhmm. And the drifting has
Speaker:happened. Yeah. And then it's like, I go do this with my friends and I
Speaker:go, I'm out here and I'm on this trip with the girls and this and
Speaker:that. And there's not really the invitation Yes.
Speaker:Of coming together and saying, like, I care about this relationship.
Speaker:I want to, you know, be in it. Yeah. And I'm
Speaker:I'm happy. I'm okay. And I want
Speaker:more from From that relationship. Yeah. And whether it's with your
Speaker:kids or with your partner, it's okay. There's a space for me to
Speaker:do the things that I'm interested in. And what's the space where
Speaker:we as a family or or you and I in our relationship, what is
Speaker:that what are the things that we could do together that could be fun for
Speaker:both of us where we can connect? And then how do I prioritize
Speaker:those things within also exploring the things that matter to
Speaker:me? Yeah. Yeah. It's like a dance. It's a little bit of It is. It
Speaker:is. And it's a lot of talking like it out a little bit. Yeah. And
Speaker:creating space like your daily check-in sounds like a nice
Speaker:pattern or habit that you have. And that might be the room of,
Speaker:like, let's just talk through this weekend Yes. Or I got an invitation
Speaker:to this thing. I wanna talk to you about it. Whatever. Yeah.
Speaker:Even having a simple conversation as a family
Speaker:on what do you value. Like, what's important to you?
Speaker:So I am sure everyone
Speaker:listening can see that there are things we
Speaker:value more than other things. Yeah. But sometimes we
Speaker:don't articulate that. You know, you all are listening to
Speaker:this podcast, and you're like, oh, yeah, that's so important. Okay. So So, like, do
Speaker:I value freedom? Do I value routine? Do I value spontaneity? Do I value
Speaker:planning? Do I value time together, having adventures, or do I
Speaker:value meeting lots of different new people and giving my
Speaker:kids lots of different types of experiences? What do I
Speaker:value? Right? And and within that,
Speaker:then how what are the places where we can honor the things
Speaker:each person in the family values? Yeah. I think
Speaker:I noticed it as I parented longer or had a family longer.
Speaker:And I, like, looked back and I was like, oh, apparently, we really value going
Speaker:to national parks. Right. But I was like, okay.
Speaker:Nature, time outside. This is like a huge value that I don't know if it
Speaker:was articulated, but you could see it in our life. Like Yes. What you
Speaker:sometimes maybe you don't know what you value, but you can
Speaker:look at the decisions you've made Yes. And see, oh,
Speaker:we spend a lot of time doing this type of thing. Yeah.
Speaker:Is this I must care about this, or do I care about this?
Speaker:I've spent so much time doing this. Why? Wait. Do you even like it?
Speaker:Or was it me? Right? Or whatever. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:The way you can tell what you value really quickly for everyone listening
Speaker:Please tell us. Is look at your calendar and look at your bank account.
Speaker:Immediately. So my husband and I, you know, we live in Miami,
Speaker:we can be at South Beach every weekend. We don't value that. There's
Speaker:nothing you know, you look at our credit card statement, there's nothing about that.
Speaker:We go on family breakfast at a hole in the wall place that is
Speaker:like authentic Nicaraguan food and because, you know, you
Speaker:can immediately see if you look at your bank account. These are the things I
Speaker:value. Yeah, I have a very humble car. I
Speaker:drive a Hyundai. I love it. It's amazing. But I spend a lot of
Speaker:money on coaching. I'm a coach. And if you look at my bank account, you'd
Speaker:be like, oh, this woman values coaching. Uh-huh.
Speaker:You can immediately tell and then your calendar are do you go on
Speaker:trips? Do you go out every weekend?
Speaker:Do you spend money on art? Do you have beautiful art in your office?
Speaker:Like, you can immediately tell and then you can help that
Speaker:allow that to be clues. It's like, oh, what if I valued it on purpose?
Speaker:Yeah. Mhmm. Or is this
Speaker:actually important to me? In this chapter. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:Like, I just think about my own budget because I've been doing, like, really severe
Speaker:budgeting those past couple years. Like, you know, write down everything,
Speaker:whatever. Mhmm. Well, Well, I don't write it down. The credit card tells me what
Speaker:I spent. Yeah. And I just think like, oh, I'm thinking
Speaker:as you ask that, like, oh, is that really what I wanna value? Like
Speaker:Yeah. But that's a great question. Yeah. Like, is oh, wow. I spent a lot
Speaker:of money on that. Do I even care about it? Do I want to do
Speaker:that? Yeah. Does it still matter to me the way it mattered before?
Speaker:Yeah. Or is it just a habit? Is it a is it just a
Speaker:habit? Mhmm. Yeah. Oh, that's so good. Well, that that's just some
Speaker:life coaching right there. There you go.
Speaker:Okay. Anything that you wanted to tell us that that we haven't talked
Speaker:about? And I wanna spend a few minutes talking about your program because I
Speaker:do wanna give everyone listening a chance to know how to work with you. But
Speaker:like really, I think in a podcast, we sometimes leave that to the end.
Speaker:They're like, okay. So go to my website. I would love for you to tell
Speaker:us what you do in your 6 month program and, like, lay it
Speaker:out a little bit and give us some room to breathe into it because it's
Speaker:beautiful. Aw. Thank you so much. Let's talk about that. Absolutely. I would
Speaker:love for you to ask me anything you're curious about. About the program.
Speaker:Because for me, I don't know anything about human
Speaker:design. I know nothing. But I have been told that I am,
Speaker:I thrive when I'm in response. So when you ask me a question, I'm just
Speaker:like, yes, let's dive in. As opposed to like, oh, my gosh, I
Speaker:could tell you 54 things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now I wanna just talk
Speaker:about human design. That's another
Speaker:episode. That's another episode. It is another episode. It's funny because a couple weeks ago
Speaker:on the a podcast, I was, like, talking about internal family systems, and I was
Speaker:like, but we can't talk about that today. And I was like, it's another episode.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay. I wanna know. Mhmm. It's a 6
Speaker:month container. Yes. It's a group program. Yes.
Speaker:And I think, like, someone comes in
Speaker:and they're most of the time struggling, right, in their marriage. Maybe they
Speaker:feel, hopeless or
Speaker:they feel discouraged, or they feel like they're in pain.
Speaker:And I wonder what that is like to go into a
Speaker:group when you're feeling that vulnerable. I'd love for you to talk about
Speaker:that. Yeah. I would say the people who end up working with me are
Speaker:hopeful because that's why they join the program. Oh, because they buy it.
Speaker:They're like, oh, we're gonna be okay. Or, like, there's a whole bunch of figure
Speaker:this out. We're gonna do something about it. So it is a slightly
Speaker:different it is vulnerable, a 100%. And it is a
Speaker:tender time in your relationship when you're kind of thinking about what do I want
Speaker:my marriage to look like. I tend to have 2
Speaker:different types of people who come and
Speaker:work with me in the program. And it's
Speaker:someone who's like at a turning point, it really needs to decide sometimes it's empty
Speaker:nest, what do I want my marriage to be about now, it's really sort of
Speaker:a reset in the relationship in some way. Sometimes it
Speaker:is taking things from good to great, where it's like, a lot of things are
Speaker:working really well, but there's some things that aren't, and we need to calibrate
Speaker:those. And then sometimes it's, I really
Speaker:need help. I don't know how to talk to this person, or I don't
Speaker:know. Like, it's really how how do we relate to each other. So,
Speaker:it is a little bit of a variety in a group program.
Speaker:Some people really thrive in a group environment, hearing celebrations,
Speaker:hearing struggles, feeling less alone. And some people
Speaker:really, and I just really wanna say this as a coach, really need to do
Speaker:like 1 on 1 work. If you don't thrive in a group program, you shouldn't
Speaker:do a group program. Like, there's no good, bad, better or
Speaker:worse thing is like, what are the
Speaker:conditions in which you thrive? And I think that's an important thing to
Speaker:just think about. And, and
Speaker:when people apply, that's why I have an application process for them, because I
Speaker:really want to check-in on what do they wanna get out of it, all
Speaker:those kinds of sort of logistical things. So when someone comes in, we talk about
Speaker:the stress cycle. Mhmm. Let me just say if anybody is in your program,
Speaker:they will love my program because we are cut from the same
Speaker:cloth and some of the things that we that we teach and that we do.
Speaker:So they come in and they get a whole orientation, sequence.
Speaker:They they get an email, they get a video workshop, which
Speaker:part of it is just the logistics of how to get the most out of
Speaker:the program. And part of that orientation is how does your
Speaker:stress cycle work? How do you decide what to focus on when
Speaker:you're in the program? What are your top three values in your
Speaker:relationship? And how can we help you turn towards them
Speaker:over and over and over again, and what gets in the way of you turning
Speaker:towards them. So I have some actual teaching
Speaker:training pieces. And then they can come to our coaching
Speaker:because we have live coaching calls as well. They can ask questions about
Speaker:what they're learning, they can get coached in their specific
Speaker:situation. And I mix a lot of teaching with
Speaker:coaching. So even when I'm coaching and teach little pieces of
Speaker:things. Yeah. That's how I do it too. Because it's not always,
Speaker:sometimes you need some basic information or a skill. There's there's
Speaker:a skill gap, and so we have to, like, kind of well, here's a skill
Speaker:or here's a little bit of concept. And now knowing this, how would you
Speaker:respond? Yes. That's exactly if I was gonna distill it down, it's
Speaker:like, now knowing this, what comes up for you? How Yeah. Where could you get
Speaker:stuck? What could get in the ways? That kind of thing.
Speaker:What else? Yeah. That's my suggestion. So is it
Speaker:ongoing enrollment, or is how does it work? So we're talking in
Speaker:2024. Who knows? Yeah. If you're listening to this in the future,
Speaker:just go to my website, and we'll see. That's how I feel about my programs.
Speaker:I'm like, it's you know, we're always in, you
Speaker:know, Yeah. Perpetual response to whatever is happening. You know? It's like
Speaker:Yeah. This is the truth today. So today Yeah. It is
Speaker:a continuous enrollment program, which means if you're listening to this and you're
Speaker:inspired and you wanna apply, you can go to my website. All the details
Speaker:are there. And so you have, just
Speaker:like you would join, I don't know, something that expires. I was gonna join a
Speaker:gym, but a gym doesn't necessarily have an expiration date. But you start on your
Speaker:1st day. And then in 6 months, you have an end date.
Speaker:And you can continue on if you want to like renew again, or
Speaker:whatever, you do again, or whatever. But it's 6 months. And the reason
Speaker:that it's 6 months is I really think you need to have time to sort
Speaker:of fall down and get back up again and fall down and get back up
Speaker:again. And play with some of the tools and the teachings and the things
Speaker:that that I talk about, and breathe with it. Because I could teach
Speaker:everything in like a week, right? Yeah. Yeah. But you have to go into it's
Speaker:kind of you with with kids, you have to go into your marriage. Yeah. Do
Speaker:some of these things, have some of these hard conversations, and then come back and
Speaker:say, okay, here's where I landed now. Here's what's going on now. And for that,
Speaker:I think you need space to to breathe. Yeah. And have support in that
Speaker:process. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. So if they wanna join or
Speaker:learn more about the program, they go to maggiereyas.com? Dotcom
Speaker:forward slash group. Group. And then what is it called? Like, I
Speaker:we've been saying MBA, but what is it? Yeah. It's called v marriage
Speaker:MBA. It's the name. And it actually stands
Speaker:for the marriage
Speaker:mindset breakthrough activator. I love it. My
Speaker:intention behind it is that you will always be able to create your own
Speaker:breakthroughs. Once you learn the things that I'm teaching you in the program
Speaker:and practice
Speaker:for yourself. I was just watching an interview
Speaker:with the founder of Hinge. It's a dating app. And one of their principles
Speaker:is designed to be deleted. Yeah. That's what this
Speaker:principle is. Like, like, I wanna coach you. I wanna help you for as long
Speaker:as you need help and support and all those things. But more than that, I
Speaker:want you to be able to internalize the things we're talking about. Yeah.
Speaker:So that you can, you know, 10 years from now, just fall back on that
Speaker:skill and know exactly how to handle any situation that comes up in
Speaker:your relationship with confidence and with grace. I love that. Sometimes I'll
Speaker:think to myself like, oh, I don't see that client that much
Speaker:anymore or something like that. And then I'm like, oh, that's because they got what
Speaker:they came for. Yeah. Like, they learned the things they wanted to learn and
Speaker:they're now implementing them, and that's beautiful and that's the whole purpose.
Speaker:Like, we're not trying to create people who need constantly
Speaker:need us. Like, it's like, let me give you some skills and a foundation
Speaker:and then you go create the marriage you want. You go create the parenting
Speaker:relationships you want. It's like Yeah. That's what we're here for. Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, well, thank you so much for being here. We'll put all the,
Speaker:details to find Maggie in the show notes. And, yeah,
Speaker:I'm just so grateful. Thank you for having me. I got
Speaker:to I got to have fun with my crush today. That's how
Speaker:I feel too. All week, I was like, I get to talk to Maggie this
Speaker:week. I was really thrilled. So thanks so much for being here.
Speaker:Thanks, everybody. Everyone. Hope you have a great week.