"We're so different," moaned Beth. "Josh loves hunting, fishing and camping. I despise them. His idea of a good time is a cold beer and a football game on television. I could care less. I love the music, theater and the arts. I could spend all day at the museum. He acts like doing "my things" are b-o-r-i-n-g! I don't think we have anything in common except the kids. I wonder how we ever got together in the first place."

Read more: Falling in Love, Staying in Love - Part 2

"He drinks too much, and flirts with all my friends, but I really do love him!"

"She went out with my friend and now calls up and said she wants me back. My family says to forget about her, but I really do love her."

"I know he's married, but he says he never really loved his wife. We have so much in common. He's just waiting for the right time to tell his kids. Then I know we'll be together."

How is it possible to fall in love with someone who treats us poorly, appears to care less about the relationship than we do, and cannot be counted on to come through for us when the chips are down? At some level we know this is not in our best interest, but we fall head over heels anyway.

Read more: Falling in Love, Staying in Love - Part 1

I learn about the benefits of doing strength training and I know I should take advantage of the weight room at the fitness center, but it's hard to start something new.

I know if I take time to write down everything I eat in one day as I eat it, I'll do less "mindless eating" and perhaps lose a few pounds. But writing things down is a pain . . . how do I get myself to do it?

Read more: Wilting Willpower: Why Change is Hard!

It rarely fails to happen. I'll be working with a group of facilitators, doing an on-site training for supervisors, or teaching a workshop for couples—the kind of group really doesn't matter. We reach the point where it's time to focus on personality styles and I ask participants to complete the Primary Colors Personality Tool©, where participants are asked to endorse and rank statements about themselves. At the completion of the exercise their personality style is identified as a color, e.g. "Red" or "Blue." There are six colors in all—red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple—so one might naturally expect to see a fairly even distribution of colors in any group assembled. My experience, though, after working with hundreds of people, has been otherwise. Most often we have very few if any "Reds" and a disproportionate number of "Greens." Why might this be?

Read more: Mother Teresa or Attila the Hun

"Mom, the back of your hair looks like the parting of the Red Sea!" exclaimed my adolescent daughter from the back of the mini-van.

"Really" I wondered?  "I thought it looked pretty good from the front."

My daughter's assessment wasn't a particularly attractive one. In fact, I didn't much like hearing it. She wasn't very tactful. She actually sounded embarrassed to be with me. Her comment would have been easy to discount. After all, she was a teenager and I was an adult. Perhaps she was just feeling cranky and decided she would have a go at me, her mother. If she really cared that much about my feelings, she might have shared her perspective in a different way. What did she know anyway?

Read more: The Back of Your Head