Marriage Advice & Tips for a Happy Life

What’s the Secret to a Happy Marriage?

Editor’s note: This is a guest post on conflict resolution from Stephanie Baffone.  I love the perspective that she brings as a trained professional therapist, talented writer and Aunt to 38!

First, let me say a big THANK YOU to Dustin for the opportunity to guest post here at Engaged Marriage! It’s a thrill to be a part of such a valuable blog and share some wisdom on effective conflict resolution, a topic near and dear to my heart. Thank you, Dustin!

For my husband and high school sweetheart, this past Valentine’s Day marked twenty-five years since our first date, and in August we will celebrate twenty years together passionately married.

Sometimes when we tell people we’ve been together for so long-and happy-we get looks like we are creatures from another planet.  Once people process our success, the next question we get asked is, “So, what’s the secret to a happy marriage?”

Classified Information

My husband and I don’t possess some highly guarded classified information, but if there is one thing I could point to that has contributed significantly to our harmonious existence, it would be that we learned early in our marriage how to resolve conflict effectively.  



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Be Proactive: A Marriage Lesson From a Fat Smoker

Proactive.  Marriage.

Do you ever use those two words together in a sentence or in your thoughts?  I actually do, but I also often find myself trying to come up with more effective ways to express just what Engaged Marriage is all about.

I would expect that you don’t face this same issue, so you probably haven’t had a good reason to talk about a “proactive marriage.”  That’s cool.  The words aren’t important.

However, if you do not practice a proactive marriage, I sincerely think you are missing out on an incredible opportunity for improving your quality of life.  And more than that, you are quite possibly setting your relationship up for problems over time.

Don’t Take My Word For It

If you have been a reader here for a while, you know that I am a big fan of Seth Godin.  You may have also read some of my thoughts on a book called “The Big Moo,” which represents the collective writings of 33 of the best business writers (and thinkers) on Earth. Mr. Godin brought this “Group of 33″ together and edited this awesome compilation.  



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Did Tiger Woods Simply Have a Car Accident? I Sure Hope So.

When I started seeing “Tiger Woods car accident” flying around on Twitter yesterday afternoon, I was immediately concerned.  I am a big fan of Tiger on the golf course, so I would hate to see anything happen that could derail his seemingly inevitable path toward capturing all of the important records in golf. My focus online is typically marriage related resources and news stories, but this was a favorite sports icon and it legitimately concerned me.

Those thoughts were fleeting, though, as I remembered that Tiger Woods and his wife Elin Nordegren have two small children.  I was particularly concerned when I read initial reports that Tiger had wrecked his 2009 Cadillac Escalade, and the results were serious injuries.  This news story was very concerning to me.

Wait a Minute, Where & When Did the Car Crash Occur?

As the news reports started to materialize, it became clear that this was no mid-afternoon freeway crash.  Instead, Tiger Woods had wrecked his SUV in his neighbor’s driveway.  Strange by itself, but when accompanied by the fact that this occurred at 2:25 a.m. and it was a single vehicle crashing into a fire hydrant and tree, the story was taking a turn for the strange.  



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What is Your Dream Marriage?

When Amanda asked me to participate in her Motivating Monday with the theme of marriage, I had two thoughts: (1) Of course! and (2) What am I going to post about?  Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to write a new post from scratch because I’m in the middle of helping with the release of an awesome free e-book on the topic of “Love Everyday”.  You can see the cover in the sidebar and please check back tomorrow (Tuesday) to get it for yourself!

Amanda kindly told me that I could just link up to a previous post, which is what I chose to do.  Well, there are over 80 posts here at Engaged Marriage, and they’re all about marriage!  In the end, I chose this post because my wife and I found a lot of motivation and inspiration in the exercise of defining and discussing our dream marriage and lifestyle.  Enjoy!

What is Your Dream Marriage?

Have you given much thought to just what your Dream Marriage would look like?  



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Marriage And Money: How To Improve Communication And Minimize Money Fights

This is a guest post by Brad Chaffee from Enemy of Debt.

Are you married? Do you have an income? If so, then chances are you have experienced an occasional, or NOT so occasional money fight. I can tell you from experience that they are never fun, and often end with slamming doors and pots and pans embedded in the dry wall. Since managing money, or the lack of it, is one of the leading causes for divorce, I want to help you deal with the problem at hand.

Don’t get me wrong, eliminating money fights alone won’t save a broken marriage, but it will help you address some major marital issues. Money fights happen for many reasons, but let me share with you some of the reasons my wife and I used to fight about money.  



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• Poor Communication – This is likely the most destructive problem in many marriages. We had very poor communication skills. Have you ever tried dealing with a fight when you cannot even communicate?
• Overdraft Fees – Not keeping track of our money caused many fights over hundreds of dollars in fees. “It was your fault!” “No it was yours!” (constant bickering—later we realized it was both our fault.)

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