Marriage Counsellor and Psychologist Shivani Misri Sadhoo

According to India’s Top Marriage Counselor Shivani Sadhoo

Couples Therapist Shivani Sadhoo says all these years as a psychologist and marriage counselor, she has carefully observed the attitudes and behaviors of people who consistently succeeded in their long-term intimate relationships.

Several of those qualities are evident in a new relationship but are mostly much less vital in the long run. This blog from India’s leading marriage counsellor shares a few gender-free, common examples.

Shivani Sadhoo opines that although these are all essential requirements most people look for in new relationships, they are, in all truth, driven by the personal qualities that lie beneath them, and those characteristics are not always sustainable over time.

But there are a few personal qualities that are guaranteed to sustain and deepen love and commitment amongst the couple over time that is mostly not as evident early in new relationships. They crop up over time and are driven by the core beliefs and personal philosophies of those who are determined to lead and live a meaningful life in whatever endeavours they participate in. These are some of the qualities.

Humility

Quite a wise person once said that the roots of humility and humiliation are the same: being on your knees. If you are being pushed into that position, you will feel humiliated. It is so much simpler to comfortably stay humble, and deeply grateful for the capacity to be in amazement and wonderment of the experiences that keep everyone worshipping the blessings of life.

Fairness

Agreements and the rules that define those are mutually opted by both individuals in an intimate relationship. Fairness is the commitment to either live by those sacred alliances or to go for renegotiation if they no longer assist the relationship’s ideals and principles. When there is mutual fairness, score-keeping never exists.

Courage

It is most scary to take the risks required to challenge oneself and others in a long-term relationship when the outcomes might be difficult to bear. Yet, your thoughts, beliefs, and actions withheld to maintain a questionable harmony mostly backfire when those pent-up behaviors erupt. When a couple supports one another to stay present and real, they can better face the truth of what is.

Translucence

Honesty, authenticity, and transparency are the foundations of trust. They predict whether your partners will be who they say they are or not. Gaslighting and ghosting never exist in these relationships. The people in these partnerships make mutual decisions formed based on reality rather than assumptions formed in confusion and conflict.

Resilience

There will always be hurdles in every relationship, both from within and without, and certain couples have more than their share of losses. Yet, remaining broken and buried by those legitimate heartbreaks probably steals time and energy from recuperation. Though a few people are simply born with more capacity to rebound, resilience can also be learned. The past is for lessons, not for rehashing or reasons to helplessly fall down again in defeat. The present is for debriefing what went on, what was learned, and what could be done differently in the coming time.

Interested and Interesting

Long-term relationships quite often fall prey to the same-old predictable interactions. Though it is most comforting and more secure to know what your spouse might or might not do, it is never as compelling as new thoughts and personal transformations. Couples who balance commitment to their relationship with constant personal transformation are the most probably to keep each other engaged.

Accountability

No relationship is able to survive an unequal responsibility for the things that go wrong. Nor can it tolerate promises for transformation that never materialize. Accountability will only serve its purpose if behavior alteration follows the recognition of contribution. Certain behaviors are much more difficult to change and attachments could get in the way, but being aware, open, and honest about one’s own frailties goes a long way when repairing is mandatory.

Humor

Seeing the lightness in things while they get too heavy. Relieving tension in self and others. Laughing at yourself. Making others feel good. Shaking off your own sadness. These are critical reasons for humor being a wonderful quality that mostly helps a situation heal. But it is also true that humor can also be used as a tool for wounding. When humor is used as sarcasm, mocking, or teasing, or an effort to get out of accountability, it is not healthy relationship conduct.

Chivalry

Almost every relationship is, for the most part, transactional. You all strive to keep your commitments but, certainly, reasonably expect reciprocity when you need it in return. But the fairness that forces those agreements sometimes should be upended by an unexpected crisis that needs giving beyond the fairness that is generally present. Chivalry is an act of selfless motive that comes from a different part of the self. It is a non-conflicted work of giving without any expectation of getting.

Nurturing

You are always all the ages you have ever been, and there are times when the child in you desperately requires a safe haven to feel, to cry, to complain, and even to yell powerlessly. The nurturing that is needed for any intimate relationship to thrive is the simple comfort of a pseudo-parent-child interaction sans judgment. Being able to crawl into the haven of loving arms not just can heal the moment but also heal the trauma that might have driven it.

Ease with self

Those lucky souls who know who they are, what they can give, what they require in return, and who live life equivalent to what they expect of others are individuals who have suffered their losses and rejoiced in their joys. They have found methods to integrate the completeness of their life experiences in a composite of quiet confidence. They are at ease with believing what they presently know and are still open to altering their perspective as new experiences enter their lives.

Watch Out for the Red and Green Flags of Dating – Shares Couples Therapist Shivani Sadhoo

Getting to know someone actually you really like is a wonderful experience. You feel as if you will conquer the whole world. You stay up the entire night getting to know that special person and daydreaming about when you may see them again. And there is a nice reason for this.

Human beings are designed to bond with other humans. When you date, oxytocin is released into your brain. This helps you to bond. Dopamine releases to make you feel happy and elated when in the presence of your special person.

Due to this, you are not necessarily seeing clearly. You seem to minimize or completely ignore the bad and maximize the good. When you opt for something that does not feel right or a characteristic you do not like, you perhaps justify it or explain it away. This is the reason it is hard to recognize red flags at the initial stages of your relationship. Your body form does not want you to.

Fortunately, there is certainly research on what makes certain couples the “masters” and others the “disasters” of relationships. Relationship counselor Shivani believes you can use it as early as the first date to begin paying attention to whether or not you wish to continue with the other person.

Read on this blog by eminent couples therapist in India Shivani Misri Sadhoo that shares clues that you need to watch out for while you are dating someone.

Red flags

So what actually makes a couple a “disaster”? One of the top predictors of that is the utilization of something according to Dr. John Gottman who called “The Four Horsemen,” which is a play about the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” coming to indicate the end of times.

The Four Horsemen basically are:

• Criticism – Describing flaws in character within your partner
• Defensiveness – Not taking responsibility for your part
• Contempt – Belittling and taking a superior position
• Stonewalling – Shutting out your partner or shutting down

You can begin to notice whether or not these are visible in your relationship even in the initial phases. What may look like?

Criticism

If a person that you are dating, often criticizes you or other people, you may notice them saying words such as “always” or “never.” For instance, “you are always very late” or “you never think about me at night!”

Defensiveness

Defensiveness seems like counter-criticizing, over-explaining, or justifying actions, or playing the victim. If you are dating and bring up an issue that you have and the other individual responds defensively, that could be something to watch out for. It might look like them saying, “I know I keep showing up late but I truly have a very busy job. Why do not you get that?”

Stonewalling

Stonewalling is mostly the outcome of physiological overwhelm. This means the individual that is stonewalling perhaps has a racing heart and a rush of stress hormones. If you are with someone who is stonewalling, it will appear as if the other individual is zoned out or could not care less about what you are saying. You may experience this during the starting conflict. Probably the other person goes disappeared or is offline and becomes unresponsive.

Contempt

This one is quite important to watch out for. Contemptuous is the most damaging of the horsemen. Contempt seems when someone holds on a position of superiority. It could sound like put-downs or mean-spirited sarcasm.

Other instances of contempt are laughing at you (not with you), putting down your own interests or profession, or taking on a position of being better than you in a certain capacity. If someone shows contempt in the initial stages of dating, this is one big red flag. So now that you have looked at what you need to avoid, let us look at what you need to look for.

Green flags

Fortunately, it did not just stop with studying the disasters of relationships. There was an attempt to know what it was the masters did differently. In the research, Dr. Gottman found the antidotes to the Four Horsemen, which are counteractive behaviors for each of the above.

When you are in the process to know someone, look for them. It is a good sign they can manage conflict and show you respect, even while you differ.

Gentle Start-up

Instead of becoming critical, the masters of relationships discuss their problems and complaints by initiating the conversation gently. They also look to follow a formula of “I noticed this, I feel that, I need this” when discussing what is troubling them, instead of being accusatory “You always do this, you need to do that, why don’t you…“

Responsibility taking

Rather than being defensiveness, you want to take proper responsibility for your part. It means that you own even the tiniest piece of the problem when it is there. Individuals who take responsibility listen to their partner when they have a problem, validate the issues, and take pause prior to responding.

This could sound like one partner saying, “Hey, I have noticed that when we go out with your friends, I am left all alone in the corner. I feel truly awkward in those moments. I require you to stay by my side a bit more until I get to know them” (a gentle start-up). In turn, the other individual responds non-defensively by saying, “You are correct. I should not walk away from you like that. I can imagine it is uneasy when you don’t know everyone yet.”

Self-soothing 

Everyone gets upset. It is human to have overwhelming emotions momentarily. However, those that do well in relationships seem to take responsibility for soothing themselves and they have partners who are willing to let them take the time they want to self-soothe. It means that when someone needs a break, they take it and the other individual provides them space.

Contempt

To overcome contempt, the individual expressing it requires to lean into recognizing and expressing their own feelings. They perhaps also need to explore their earlier experiences that are leading them to feel anger or hostility toward their partner. Rather than showing contempt and saying “I cannot believe you are late. You disgust me,” a partner who can properly express themselves may say, “When you are late, I feel so upset.”

The conclusion

The initiation of the relationship is full of happy hormones that want you to bond (and mate) with your newfound significant other. Learning to identify the signs of a healthy partner can assist you to override some of those hormones and see a little more clearly.

Watch out for people who are critical, defensive, withdrawn, and contemptuous. The use of these conducts doesn’t imply that you should not be in a relationship with them, but it actually means you need to get curious regarding how they respond when you set boundaries around those sorts of behaviors.

Eventually, you want a partner who is gentle with you (even when you are upset), able to take responsibility for his or her actions (even when it’s difficult), works with you to soothe your emotional systems, and own your past pain and resentment so that he or she don’t inflict it upon you.

Shivani Misri Sadhoo is a Gottman Certified Therapist. Every day several couples and individuals seek her professional advice. Be it about their relationships or psychological or behavioral issues.

If you are married to a workaholic partner, you might at times feel as if you are married to an unfaithful spouse who has replaced your intimacy with his or her work. This sense of being alone, the numerous broken promises, feelings of anger and disappointment, and a belief that you are not that important are all similar for spouses of cheaters and also, for spouses of workaholics.

Shivani Sadhoo says these issues, if left unmitigated, could result in spousal discontent or worse yet divorce; in fact, according to Maureen Farrel who wrote “So You Married A Workaholic” for Forbes during the year 2007, on average, couples in which one partner is a workaholic divorce at double the average rate.

When one of the partners works excessively, he or she is not nurturing or harnessing the marriage. It is also unhealthy to keep a life that is so much out of sync or balance, which could easily put you on the road to infidelity and even divorce. At times it requires a wake-up call such as a personal or health crisis for the workaholic to snap out of this conduct. There are certain things you may do that would not have you waiting around for this to be the impetus for the change. 

Couples Therapist Shivani Misri Sadhoo in this blog shares some suggestions to keep your marriage intact if you are married to a workaholic, in a healthy manner.

Strategies for Keeping Your Marriage to a Workaholic Healthy

If you find yourself frustrated with your partner’s continuous obsession with work, it is important to remember that even though you do not agree with his or her viewpoint on the issue, the situation itself puts you and your partner both under tremendous amounts of stress; as a result, conversations regarding being a workaholic needs to be approached cautiously and with compassion.

As frustrating as it might seem to not scold your partner for their overworking tendencies, nagging is not going to work. Rather, share in a positive tone what your partner has missed by working excessively or by bringing work home and not being present to you and the kids. Also, you must try to stop enabling your partner’s workaholic behavior—you might them be enabling your spouse’s need or desire to work by delaying family meals, keeping children up longer, postponing activities, or spending your money on things and services (such as takeout) that you could do without.

Instead, consider letting your partner experience the results of working excessively by serving dinner at the normal time and making your spouse have the cold leftovers once he or she finally emerges, hours later, from work. If your partner does not want to go out of the house with you, leave your partner at home and take the kids to the movie, mall, or park, or if your spouse is too busy to take certain days off, take a weekend trip to visit family without your partner do not put your life or your kid’s lives on hold waiting for your partner to make time for you.

Also, you can try to entice your spouse out of work mode by suggesting an activity that you can both do together. Although this might be considered a bit manipulative, providing an opportunity that your partner will enjoy could ease the tensions between you and let for an honest discussion of the issues that are arising from your partner’s workaholic tendencies.

When to Go for a Professional Help

Solving your marital problems related to a workaholic partner might feel like an insurmountable task, and mostly it is almost impossible to do alone. Luckily, though, psychologists and marriage counselor’s help is available to mediate open dialogue between you and your special one.

If your marriage is in serious trouble because of your spouse working too many hours or days, then marriage counseling could be an alternative that will help. Even if you might simply get your spouse in for the first therapy session, you might be able to help him or her to understand the gravity of the things and the toll it is having on you and your relationship personally.

It is essential during these sessions to discuss setting boundaries you both agree to that will not only assist your spouse to overcome his or her workaholic conduct but assist you both to communicate with one another openly and have compassion and empathy. If your partner agrees to a day with you or even a few hours, setting boundaries such as “no cell phones or texts at dinner” could greatly reduce work-related stress during your alone time.

In any given situation, the first step toward overcoming marital problems associated with living with a workaholic spouse is to initiate a conversation, express how their behavior makes you feel, and work together towards an amicable solution that leaves you feeling more appreciated and your partner’s need to work fulfilled.

Happy couples or relationships are not merely about grand gestures or romantic messages. It is a lot more than that, says Shivani Sadhoo.  Happy couples are those who truly love and care for each other. Amidst differences, they support and respect each one’s opinions and that is the hallmark of a true, happy relationship.

When together, such a couple does not need the help of others or superficial materials to keep them entertained. They simply need hearty talk. However, sadly enough, there are several couples who do not realize if they are one of those happy ones. And so, in this blog, Marriage Counselor Shivani Misri Sadhoo lists some attributes that happy couples have in common.

They Have Respect for Each Other

Happy and content couples always respect each other’s views or opinions even if they disagree completely on an issue. They firmly believe that no couple will ever be totally cent percent compatible, so it is necessary to accept each other’s decisions since, at the end of the day, every person is his/her own individual before a relationship.

Interested in Each Other’s Lives

Being keen and interested in what your partner is doing is a healthy sign that you are in a happy relationship. Be it the hobbies, interests, opinions, aspirations showing interest in what a person pursues automatically places their partner in their good books.

Communicate with Each Other

Happy couples never ignore the option of communication out of the door. As vital as any other aspect, communication can assist a couple to understand what they both are thinking or feeling. And without right communication, misunderstandings, arguments, and fights are a surety to grow.

Seeing the Best in their Partners

These couples always see the best in each other as they believe that noticing positive attributes will garner more love in the relationship. Individuals need to know how good they are from their partners in an attempt to feel motivated and happy about themselves. Seeing the negative aspects in each other will only cause the relationship to go haywire.

Happy Even When they are not with Each Other

Couples do not need to be with each other 24/7/365 just to be happy. They can be equally happy and content when spending time with families, friends, or even alone. People in a happy relationship find peace with being content within themselves and then, they go on to share that happiness by being with another individual. Two partners should not be with each other to fill an emotional void.

Non-Motive Based Sex

Happy couples do not necessarily pay attention to sex for pleasure or gratification. It is not their topmost priority in a relationship because they tend to attend to each other’s emotional needs first. Being in a relationship just for the sex is not right as couples are less invested, both emotionally and mentally.

Your Therapist Is Now Just Skype/Video Call Away

During the current challenging time, it’s common to experience anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, and relationship challenges at home. While you are under lockdown and maintaining social distancing norms to help the country to control the pandemic’s spread, your very own counsellor Shivani is now just a call and Skype video call away from you.

However, in this age of coronavirus, we hope to offer our therapeutic help. Change is difficult for all of us and changing the way you meet with your therapist is no exception.  But try it before you disregard this option.  This is a challenging moment in time, and fears and anxieties are running high.

You may find, telepsychology isn’t a second-rate option. Instead, it’s an effective and efficient upgrade to a valuable service!

Feel free to call Counselor Shivani Misri Sadhoo at +91-8860875040 for telephonic or video support and to book an online counselling session to address any relationship issues, emotional and psychological challenges.

Relationships perhaps always start with wild, head-over-heels feelings of attraction and devotion. On its own, however, love is simply not enough. Shivani Sadhoo reveals some of the most common barriers between you, your partner, and long-lasting passion.

This blog by Couples Therapist Shivani Misri Sadhoo highlights the facts when love is simply not enough.

Ah…love! Certainly, a hot and tricky topic says Shivani—and while many agree that good love takes time and effort, one also needs to know that love falls apart when the ball gets dropped in specific ways.

Everyone says we want it; but once they find it, why is it so damn difficult to keep it?

Here are some ways when you or your partner unwittingly ruin your love.

Brush Aside Past Pain

This one is huge. Once a person passes the age of 16, the possibility of experiencing hurt, disappointment, or betrayal is 100%. Not taking the needed time to feel the pain from your past keeps it alive and present in the here and now. One may love the ones you are with, but you also project all over them.

When you have old pain that has not been processed, you carry it into our present relationship. You cannot skim over or positively think your route out of emotional pain, and when you try to stuff your emotions, you will find a method to make your current partner pay for the past sins or wrongdoings of others because pain wants to be processed. Take care of your past so your present can be happy.

Safeguarding yourself Emotionally

Placing one foot out emotionally to safeguard yourself just in case things do not work out is like trying to constantly drive 40 km/hour while tapping your brake every other minute. You are not going to reach anywhere in love by holding back. Sure, respect your own boundaries, but remember falling in love is simply that—freely falling. Too frequently one experience hurts and never actually lets go again. Take your foot from the brake and trust.

Over – Thinking all the Things

Have you heard the phrase “paralysis by analysis”? Over-thinking and over-analyzing someone’s every word, move or intention dampens any chance of intimacy or connection.

Worrying and attempting to figure out someone’s intention vs taking them at face value is a sign of emotionally functioning from the past in an attempt to stay safe in the present. It is hypervigilance at its best and that best exposes out your worst.  Even if your present lover has hurt you in the past, expecting them to hurt you again certainly guarantees they will because you are hypersensitive vs relaxed and present. Remember, you see what you expect to see—remain and live in the now moment.

Stop Making Eye Contact

It is said and believed that “Eyes are the windows to your soul”.

Let’s accept it, life is busy and over time it becomes far too easy to navigate getting out of the house in the morning without even making eye contact with the one you love. It might sound small, but eye contact is intimate. Intimacy in the bedroom begins with intimate contact throughout the day. Look at each other.

Assume you Know your Loved One Completely

Even if you know each other from their birth, spent every single day together, and have talked for hours, there is no method to know everything about another human being. You are all individuals with individual perceptions, thoughts, and emotional experiences.

People change over time, so never assume that you know completely about your partner’s hopes, dreams, aspirations, and desires. Because the reality is, it’s not possible to know everything about one another no matter how long you’ve been living together.

Stop Touching

The two biggest influences on your sex drive come from your skin and your brain. Relationships are hot initially, because you are touching and kissing, as well as talking and questioning each other—constantly. Stimulation of the brain got covered in the above part, so let us move on to touching.

As time passes, several couples get lazy about touching for no specific reason. When you touch the one you love, the hormone oxytocin is produced and presents a huge opportunity for connection. Oxytocin is just like a powerful love tonic. Talking stimulates your brain, while touching stimulates everything else. Touch each other a lot.

Your Therapist Is Now Just Skype/Video Call Away

During the current challenging time, it’s common to experience anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, and relationship challenges at home. While you are under lockdown and maintaining social distancing norms to help the country to control the pandemic’s spread, your very own counsellor Shivani is now just a call and Skype video call away from you.

However, in this age of coronavirus, we hope to offer our therapeutic help. Change is difficult for all of us and changing the way you meet with your therapist is no exception.  But try it before you disregard this option.  This is a challenging moment in time, and fears and anxieties are running high.

You may find, telepsychology isn’t a second-rate option. Instead, it’s an effective and efficient upgrade to a valuable service!

Feel free to call Counselor Shivani Misri Sadhoo at +91-8860875040 for telephonic or video support and to book an online counselling session to address any relationship issues, emotional and psychological challenges.