In order to get to a healthier and more productive place, we need to give up our fear of conflict, turmoil and resistance.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse predict an ailing marriage: Criticism, Defensiveness, Stonewalling and Contempt. The worst of these is contempt.

We move in response to our conversation partner’s face, and our brain also fires as we move those muscles and stirs the passions. Paralyzing the face is idiotic.

Bid for connection: Each of our daily interactions with another person.

I believe we're going to find that respect and affection are essential to all relationships working and contempt destroys them.

I liken an affair to the shattering of a Waterford crystal vase. You can glue it back together, but it will never be the same again.

Marriages are much more likely to succeed when the couple experiences a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions whereas when the ratio approaches 1 to 1, marriages are more likely to end in divorce.