Hannah Brooks Marriage Coaching
               

If you find you get easily rattled, you feel things intensely, or have always felt more sensitive than other people, you may feel kind of bad about it on some level. These qualities are not exactly praised in our society, so it's no surprise if you sometimes wonder if something's a little wrong with you... Plus, you may notice how these qualities can bring some challenges to your relationships. But what if I told you those very qualities are actually some of what's really rig

What are we ultimately aiming for in our love life? If it’s not the fairy tale dream we’ve been fed as the ideal, what is realistic to expect in a deeply loving, supportive, and healthy relationship? What’s one really look like, day in and day out? I hope the following will set your mind at ease about making things “perfect” with your partner, and also inspire you about what's really possible in love (especially when at least one of you is on the sensitive side). Obviously, t

Here's a more in depth look at Key # 2 from last week’s “5 Ways to Improve Things When Your Partner is The Problem”. These are my boys (I have 3 sons). Someday to be men. In fact, the one on the right is my man as a young boy. Look at that sweetness on all of their little boy faces. Such loves. My deepest wish is that my sons grow into the men that we women most long to have as our partner in life: loving, patient, respectful, tolerant of our imperfections, able to navigate t

Listen to the audio blog version of this: Do you ever feel not really seen, heard, or valued in your relationship? If so it could be that you have what I call "squashed voice syndrome" (I did and recovered, but still occasionally relapse!). It's so common, especially for the sensitive among us. "Squashed Voice Syndrome" ( okay, I made that up) is when you don't really deep down know what you want or need, when you override your true "inner knowing". Which leads to all sorts o

Many of my clients come to me after having tried marriage counseling or therapy. Other people often ask me how what I do is different than therapy. Others assume they are the same thing. Here is my attempt to clarify what the difference is (and if one would be better for you and your relationship than the other). Keep in mind this kind of comparison risks oversimplifying things! 10 ways Relationship Coaching and Marriage Counseling are Different​ Marriage Counseli

Deep down we all want to feel loving. And that's a good instinct when it comes to getting more affection, because most of us are more easily able to feel warm feelings of care towards people who are loving towards us. It's like the good old golden rule...But it's not always so easy to "do unto other as you would have done to yourself". Especially in a long-term relationship. Because, after the initial love-stoked hormones begin to wear off after a year or so, we humans have t

You are the one. You are the one with the power to create the relationship you want. Even if you think it is all your partner's fault that things are hard right now. It is within your power to shift things into a place of harmony and fun again. How could this be so? How could only one person in the relationship make such a difference? Listen to the 6 minute podcast I made below to hear a couple stories about how this happens. And how you can get texts like this one my man jus

I feel vulnerable to share what follows (a journal entry from my secret diary), but I do it for love. I want to be an open book for you, so you can learn from my relationship mistakes in the past, and from my triumphs, as well. Because the more I learn the more I see that there are certain skills that lead to more love (and common mistakes that undermine it). I want you to know them intimately, so you can enjoy the love you desire. I recently stumbled across this journal ent

Over the coming weeks and months I will be doing a video series on “Self-Responsibility”. I believe that being able to take responsibility for your experience in your life is the number one key to having a healthy, loving, and fun relationship with your partner. This is a big topic. So I thought we would explore different aspects of it in bite-sized pieces via video, and perhaps written words and stories, too, as part of the biweekly Connection Compass. Enjoy this video (and