In my world, being in a long term committed relationship can sometimes be one of the most challenging adventures I have ever experienced.  Nowhere else have I ever felt so angry, vulnerable, misunderstood, seen, loved and cherished in all of my life.  It’s wild to agree to spend the rest of your life with someone and really COMMIT to making it work.  We live in a world where the divorce rate is still up in the 60 percentile with people walking away from 15-20 year marriages like it was nothing.  I don’t want to be a part of that statistic and the odds are not in my favor since I did not grow up in an environment where a strong, present father and doting, loving mother were the norm.

Turns out there are many ways to learn how to have a great marriage even if that was not your model growing up.  Welcome to Marriage Prep 101.
“What is unconscious has a tendency to repeat itself.”

“The past has a framing tendency.”
Oh yes it does ~ and where better to realize this than in relationship (I write with a laugh). At some point we all realize that the common denominator in all past relationships is US and we had better do something to look INSIDE if want a great life OUTSIDE.  What Drs. Michelle and Patrick Gannon so honestly and generously shared with us hopeful participants at Marriage Prep 101 was that every marriage is a unique blend of personalities, ego, wounds, brilliance and opportunity. By knowing ourselves better, we have a MUCH greater chance of staying in LOVE.
We learned that there are many TYPES of marriages, each having it’s wisdom and challenges, as well as the 7 Keys to a Thriving, Lifelong Marriage.  The bulk of the workshop was spent covering these important keys and opening dialog in areas that are MUCH easier to skip over like money, sex, kids and religion.  One of my favorite exercises was called “Clarifying Expectations” where we each separately answered a list of questions about every topic you can imagine that a couple would need to discuss and yet so easily avoid.  We walked away from that exercise with a game plan for finances that was NOT going to happen had we not really looked at it in this workshop - Thank You Michelle and Patrick!

We also got a chance to look at our Strengths, Challenges, Areas of Change and Goals as a couple.  Looking at what changes we need to make individually as well as together to resolve our relationship challenges gave us a roadmap we could have not created on our own.  One of our goals is “honor each others individual needs and desires while having a solid dedication to our relationship.”  That is a great reference point we can always look back on when we are met with new challenges.
By showing us the components of a what makes a great marriage, Rick and I can be much more prepared with the awareness and skills to create one.  I really enjoyed Marriage Prep 101 and highly recommend it to anyone thinking of getting married, planning a wedding or who are already married - it is never too late to learn how to be a better lover, great partner and overall conscious human being.  Makes me appreciate to NO END that a course like Marriage Prep 101 exists for us to enjoy - take advantage!