Moving From a Functional Marriage to Being Fulfilled and Emotionally Close: Episode 372
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Release Date: 12/10/2024
What Women Want in Marriage, Especially Mothers: Episode 394
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Women’s needs in marriage evolve—and if you're not paying attention to those changes, disconnection can creep in even when there’s love. This is especially true in the seasons of motherhood, when emotional, physical, and mental demands are at their highest. In this week’s podcast episode, we break down the 5 key categories of needs most women have in marriage right now—especially mothers in the thick of parenting. Whether you’re navigating newborn life, toddler chaos, or school-age schedules, this conversation helps both partners understand what matters most for staying connected....
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The “Love Account” Principle and Why You Feel Connected & Attracted to Each Other vs Not: Episode 393
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
It’s easy to assume that love alone should keep you feeling connected, but day-to-day life has a way of pulling couples apart without them even realizing it. In this episode, we break down why feeling loved and being committed are two different experiences — and what really determines whether you feel close or distant from your partner. You'll learn the surprising factor that affects how you interpret everyday moments, why good intentions sometimes miss the mark, and what shifts help couples rebuild emotional closeness over time. If you want to feel more connected, seen, and understood,...
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When’s the Right Time to Bring This Up to My Partner? Knowing the Line Between Expression and Temporary Suppression: Episode 392
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Suppose that something is bothering you about your partner. The two options are to express it or to suppress it. Likely you have had moments where you have chosen both options. At times when you have expressed it your partner received it well, other times it caused tension or even conflict. Over time maybe you have started to hold things in instead for the sake of keeping the peace. But then down the line you end up reacting to another situation and you bring up your unhappiness and frustration with all you have been holding in. So when is the right time to bring things up? ...
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How to Be More Self-Aware to Break YOUR Patterns That Affect the Marriage: Episode 391
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Marriage isn’t static; it evolves, and to thrive in it, you have to evolve too. Often, it’s the resistance to this truth, not just the circumstances you face, that makes marriage feel more difficult. Satisfaction goes down, frustration goes up. That’s why personal growth and self-awareness are non-negotiables in a long-term marriage. In this episode, we unpack what “personal growth and development” actually looks like in a relationship. You’ll hear six key areas to reflect on and bring more awareness to within yourself, before turning to what you want your partner to change. Growth...
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Rebuilding a Marriage After a Hard Season: Episode 390
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
“Throughout the course of your life, you will be married 2–3 times. For some, this will be to the same person.”This sentiment is becoming more widely recognized, and it means you need to be ready for your marriage to evolve. Those who aren’t ready (or who don’t accept this) often go through harder seasons and are more likely to split from their partners. We will all face difficult chapters in the lifespan of a marriage, but those who accept the evolution are the ones who can re-make their marriage with the same partner. Today’s episode is about the importance of being able to...
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The Mental Load is Hurting Your Marriage Attraction and Intimate Life (& How to Achieve a Better Share) With Dr. Morgan Cutlip: Episode 389
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
You can love your spouse and still feel overwhelmed by the unspoken responsibilities constantly running through your mind. The mental load is the invisible to-do list in your head—and when roles and responsibilities feel imbalanced, it can quietly erode connection, create resentment, and impact intimacy. In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Morgan Cutlip— author of the upcoming book A Better Share: How Couples Can Tackle the Mental Load—for one of the most important conversations couples need to have. Together we explore: • How to bring up the mental load in a way that unites...
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How to Maintain Physical Intimacy (For Both Partners) When You’ve Been Together a Long Time: Episode 388
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
This is the logical followup from last week’s episode about emotional intimacy differences, which is about maintaining physical intimacy with your partner the longer you are together. It might seem obvious to say that men and women are different in this area yet in this episode you will hear a breakdown of some of the modern challenges that lead to a decline in physical intimacy for men and women. Many of these things are the predictable, daily life tasks and stressors that all couples will have. The main takeaways from listening to this episode will be 6 different things you can take...
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How to Maintain Emotional Intimacy (For Both Partners) When You’ve Been Together a Long Time: Episode 387
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Emotional intimacy is a key part of your having high satisfaction in your marriage. The challenge becomes maintaining this the longer you are together with your partner. There are a number of reasons for this that you will hear in this episode, one of the obvious ones being that each partner feels connection in different ways. In this episode you will hear a breakdown of the differences in emotional intimacy for men and women. You will hear 3 different ways that both men and women feel emotionally close so that you can begin to bring more emotional intimacy into your relationship that...
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Staying on the Same Team in Good and Bad Moments: Episode 386
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Things are going to happen in your life and marriage. When they do, are you on the same team or find that you turn against each other? This is one of the most important ideas when it comes to having a successful marriage. As hard as we try we just can’t avoid conflict or even external situations happening in our lives that we do not like. But the differnece for successful marriages is that they stay on the same team and do not let these stressors amplify an already difficult situation. In this episode today you will hear 5 principles for staying on the same team when both small and big...
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Handle Harder Seasons of Marriage Better With These 3 Changes: Episode 385
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Everyone should have the appropriate expectation that things in life won’t always be easy or go your way. This is the same in marriage. Having harder seasons of marriage is a part of the journey a couple needs to accept. Now these harder seasons can come from two places: external circumstances and from poor interactions of your own making! In this episode you will hear about the 3 changes that need to be made to better handle these hard seasons. The situation will be different based on whether it is an external circumstance out of your control or whether it is from a series of poor...
info_outlineIf you are not experiencing this already, having a structured, reliable, and well functioning marriage is definitely a goal. This brings a great sense of relief, peace, and being a team. However, at different times for each of you, there will be a feeling that something is missing, that there is something more that is needed. A marriage is meant to go beyond the function and to strong connection and closeness.
What can make this slightly complicated is the timing for each of you, but also the activities that have you each feel connected are going to be different. This is where communication and meaningful conversations are needed that go beyond the daily tasks. You will also need to gain awareness of the more subtle “ways of being” with each other if you truly want to enter the state of connection, joy, closeness, and love. In this episode you will hear about the state of function and how to move into the state of connection and closeness in ways that are meaningful to each of you.
Relationship Resources
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