I’ve been writing a lot lately about fairy tale myths and other lies that lead people to have unrealistic expectations in their relationships.  The last lie I want to address is the myth that a healthy relationship is free of conflict.  In other words, that Happily Ever After means you never fight.  In my experience, [...]

Most romantic relationships are built on the myth of a fairy tale.  We don’t stop listening to fairy tales as we get older.  Instead, they morph from children’s stories into popular romantic and romantic comedy movies and books.  One of the most prevalent myths in modern media is “You complete me.”

In fairy tales, sometimes the princess kisses a frog, or otherwise falls in love with a beast, and by doing so reveals his true nature as her prince. There are two facets to this particular myth.  The first facet is that you can change someone, which is almost always untrue and sets the princess up [...]

Soulmates who are romantic partners have a special role in our lives.  They have agreed to help us heal our childhood wounds.  They have agreed to show us the blueprint for the cage we’ve built, so that we can find the tools necessary to escape.

Ahh, soulmates.  We’ve all been fed the romantic notion that there’s one perfect someone out there for us.  Everyone has one perfect soulmate, and if we’re lucky, we’ll find each other and live happily ever after.  The stars will align for us:  we’ll be born at the same time (give or take a few or [...]