Relationships with Family & Lovers

1) Dysfuntional Relationship Beliefs that I believed/believe: 

*My husband cannot change

Why?

-Every Psychology class told me "People do NOT change"

-When I think about it, the people I am close to really never changed much

-Before my husband and I got married, many people told us not to marry expecting the other to change, because they won't

-I think this because it is what science says and from my own experience

*Men & women are monumentally different

Why?

-My husband and I think, feel, and act completely differently about the same situation

-Books like "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus"

-Men are portrayed as emotionless and extremely different than women in movies and TV shows

2) Explore how your family has created and maintained a mutual identity. Consider stories, rituals, rules, conversation patterns and/or family traditions.

*We lived together, shared our lives, and our living space

*We have many memories that we share

*We have many family traditions like going to church on Easter and Christmas Eve together, the way we open gifts on Christmas 

*The time we spend together and the memories we share will help us maintain a mutual identity forever.