vulnerability Archives - Jeremy Mast, MS, MDiv, LMFT

The Best Resource for Making Your Marriage Sweet

Posted on July 6, 2015

in Authenticity, Couples, Family, Marriage, Relationships

“What resources can you recommend that will help us with our marriage?” As a marriage counselor, I hear this question a lot, especially from couples I see for the first time. Like so many married partners, these couples quite understandably want to know what they can do to make their marriage better. Of course, a number of books, articles, blogs, and podcasts come to the top of my mind in response, but when couples ask about resources to improve their relationship, my first answer is always the same: you. You are the best resource available for making your marriage sweet.

A Few Words on Living Fully in 2015

Posted on January 5, 2015

in Authenticity, Healing

by Jeremy Mast

The novelty of the New Year has not yet worn off, has it? Indeed, today I returned to work and, with awkward, halting penmanship and deliberate thought, wrote “2015” in the date I recorded on some paperwork. It’s this time of year that we are still eagerly embracing our hopes for the year ahead, wanting to make fresh efforts to realize what we long to be in our lives.

Why the Holidays Can Drive You Crazy (& What to Do about It): Part 2

Posted on December 23, 2014

in Authenticity, Couples, Family, Marriage, Relationships

by Jeremy Mast

This time of year, as Paul McCartney sings in his classic tune, the mood is right, the spirits are up, but that doesn’t always mean that you’re having a wonderful Christmas time. Indeed, in case you missed it, in Part 1 of this series, I considered what visiting family for the holidays can bring up—anger, sadness, frustration, anxiety, shame, and other “crazy” feelings, other painful feelings that you may even feel guilty about or that cause you to second-guess your emotional experiences. As we saw, one way to make sense of these feelings is to understand them as the result of relational trauma, which happens when someone we really care about hurts you, blames you for being hurt, and rebuffs your efforts to reconnect. These “crazy” feelings become more intense around family as members interact with and hurt each other in familiar ways.

Why the Holidays Can Drive You Crazy (& What to Do about It): Part 1

Posted on December 22, 2014

in Authenticity, Couples, Family, Healing, Marriage, Relationships

by Jeremy Mast

For many, the holidays truly are the most wonderful time of the year—a time of gathering with family, being close with loved ones, revisiting old memories, and making new ones. The title of this post and my post last year notwithstanding, I love the holidays, as I have many fond memories of being with my family around our Christmas tree as a boy. Being with family and friends is still deeply meaningful to me and to most of us.

However, starting a few weeks before Thanksgiving and throughout December, I frequently hear of anxiety, frustration, and even dread this time of year, because just as it’s a time of gathering with family and being close with loved ones, it’s also a time of gathering with family and being close with loved ones. Visiting family can be wonderful indeed, but if we’re honest, the holidays can you drive you crazy. Why is this, and what can you do to make your family time merry and bright?

On (Emotional) Shackles & Freedom

Posted on July 4, 2013

in Anxiety, Couples, Depression, Family, Healing, Marriage, Relationships

by Jeremy Mast

Today, of course, is the Fourth of July, the holiday during which America remembers its adoption of the Declaration of Independence on this day in 1776. We celebrate that after declaring our independence from Great Britain, we at last gained hard-won freedom after the long years of the Revolutionary War ended in 1783. Though that war is over, Americans still battle in many conflicts throughout the world.

A different kind of conflict, however, churns within each of us, regardless of nationality: Each of us fight for our innermost desires and longings to be recognized and understood in our most intimate relationships.

6 Things You Can Do to Argue Constructively with Your Partner

Posted on January 22, 2013

in Couples, Marriage, Relationships

by Jeremy Mast

Every couple fights, but fewer couples know how to fight well, that is, to argue in ways that prevent conflicts from causing collateral emotional damage or escalating into vehement brouhahas. Arguing with your partner in ways that actually cultivate intimacy, vulnerability, and emotional safety is difficult for reasons I have recently considered with you.

Happy New Year? There’s an App for That

Posted on January 1, 2013

in Healing, Relationships

by Jeremy Mast

New Year’s Eve has long been a time of reflecting on the past year, and of course, on New Year’s Day we celebrate what we hope will be in the year ahead. In our culture, many people engage in self-reflection and make resolutions with the goal of personal change.