SMART Resolutions: Do you have what it takes to better your relationship for the New Year?
The New Year is a time for resolutions to create better habits for the upcoming year. After all the holiday feasting we resolve to better our physical well-being with a promise to eat better, exercise more, and cut out the sweets and soda. We start to kick the bad habits by deciding to quit smoking, drink less alcohol, and stop biting our nails. To improve ourselves we resolve to become more organized, reduce stress, and be more independent. These are all resolutions we decide to do to better ourselves, but what can we do to better the relationship we have with our loved one for the New Year?
Earning her doctorate in Marriage and Family Therapy from Texas Tech, Dr. Laura Bryan is the Clinic Director of Pfeiffer Institute Reach. She has over 10 years of experience working with individuals, couples and families facing a wide range of issues, from depression and anger to divorce and parenting. Dr. Bryan is an Assistant Professor in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at Pfeiffer University in Raleigh. She is also the Director of the Capital Chapter of the North Carolina Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.
To find out more about Dr. Bryan and her practice, Pfeiffer Institute Reach, you can visit their website or call (919) 941-2900 for an appointment.
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How can your commitment to health affect your commitment to the one you love?
Summertime is meant for lounging by the beach, enjoying the sun, and trying to avoid showing the entire world your every physical insecurity. Come autumn, the temperature drops, the leaves change, and everyone’s best friend, the over-sized sweater, makes its triumphant return from the depths of the closet. Just because the temperature is dropping, that doesn’t mean that your waistline will too. With the colder temperatures come the hectic, sleepless schedule filled with holiday parties and filling holiday meals with their seemingly limitless supply of every artery clogging treat your struggling heart can handle.
While many resolve to make up for their holiday splurging with a promise to do better “next year”, it may not only be your body that’s paying the price for your poor physical health. While your gym membership and a full 8 hours of sleep may have been a top priority when you were unattached – a committed relationship, work, or even kids, can have a way of taking time from things that were once considered essential. The black coffee in your hand and soaring 3-digits on the scale don’t lie! As those numbers get higher, so do your chances of marital dissatisfaction. How can a commitment to get physical lead to better marital health?
Dr. Kristen Wynns is a child and adolescent psychologist who owns a specialty private practice in Cary, North Carolina called Wynns Family Psychology. She earned her Ph.D. and Master’s in Clinical Psychology from UNC-Greensboro. Dr. Wynns has been frequently sought out as local expert on child psychology and parenting issues for radio shows, magazines like Carolina Parent, as well as TV shows like My Carolina Today and Daytime. Dr. Wynns has also founded the parenting website, No Wimpy Parenting, providing services for parents struggling with behavior and discipline problems. Married for 15 years with two young children of her own, Dr. Wynns likes to say she is “doubly qualified” to offer parenting and marriage advice.
To find out more about Dr. Kristen Wynns and her practice, Wynns Family Psychology, you can visit their website Wynns Family Psychology or call (919) 467-7777 for an appointment. For information regarding the services available to help parents struggling with behavior or discipline problems at home, you can visit Dr. Wynns other site, No Wimpy Parenting.
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Movies are made for our entertainment, but are they the key to a real life Hollywood romance?
Authors like Jane Austen were setting unrealistic expectations of romance and breaking hearts all over the globe as early as the 18th century. Should it come as a surprise that present day romantic comedies are continuing the standard? Movies offer an escape from the daily routine and drama of life and feed our imagination with whimsical images and romantic tales. The glamorous illusion that Hollywood creates can be shattered all too quickly when we check back in to reality. Life isn’t always like it is in the movies, but wouldn’t it be great if it could be? Whether it’s a Say Anything boom box by your window or a surprise visit at work a la An Officer and a Gentleman; movies not only hold a high standard for romance and romantic gestures, it can serve itself up as an instruction guide to navigating love in the real world.
Professor of Family Medicine at UNC School of Medicine, as well as Director of Behavioral Medicine at Carolina Medical Center; Dr. Matthew Alexander is a psychologist and Founder of Alexander Therapy in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Alexander specializes in clinical, health and family psychology giving him a strong background in family systems, psychodynamic and interpersonal approaches to mental health. Dr. Alexander has been published in multiple journals and is the lead editor and author of Cinemeducation detailing use of cinema as a teaching tool. Dr. Alexander primarily treats couples in his private practice and is also available for public presentations on a variety of topics related to relationships. To find out more about Dr. Matthew Alexander and his practice, Alexander Therapy, or call (704) 371-3070 for an appointment.
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