Kate Motaung

Most couples get married with the hope of a, “happily ever after” etched deeply in their hearts and minds. In the early days of marriage, husbands and wives proclaim undying love for each other, telling each other how they couldn’t imagine living a life without the other. Passion, romance, affection, and sharing of hopes and dreams are probably the most common and expected characteristics of the early stages of marriage. It is in these early stages that most people

New Year Resolutions are typically broken in the first few weeks of the new year. But what if you could change that? What if you could create habits, you will follow through on month after month? They say it takes twenty-one days to form a habit. When you accomplish a goal, your brain rewards you with a rush of chemicals that make you feel happy and confident. When you feel more in control, you improve your mental wellness. By

Have you ever set out to start healthy eating or exercise more only to give up a few days later? If you have, you are not alone. While people set out to make resolutions or goals for these important changes, it can be hard to accomplish these things on our own. Fortunately, as believers, we don’t need to do anything in our own strength. We have the help of God in everything we do. Let’s talk about goals. Goals

Belonging to a family, whether by birth, faith, or choice, develops connections. These can sometimes be marked with apparent contradictions. They can prove exhilarating, but also exhausting. We love each other, but don’t always align. We toggle between the tensions, finding ourselves at odds and offended by each other. Instead of covering faults with prayer and love, we expose one another and misuse our relationship as an opportunity to injure and retaliate. It can result in cutting each other

Depression is more than feeling unhappy or down in the dumps for a few days. It is a real mental health condition that affects mood and ability to function. It can vary in intensity from mild to severe, be brought about by numerous reasons, and impact you in unique ways. Although the exact cause of depression is not fully known, risk factors include a family history of depression, abnormal brain chemistry, significant losses, chronic stress, and life circumstances. Typically,

When life gets hectic, we take stress for granted. Who does not experience stress at some point in their lives? Yet, mental stress can create problems with well-being and lead to more severe disorders. The mental aspect does not exist in a vacuum, either. If your mental health is in jeopardy, your physical and emotional states may also be. Learn how to deal with mental stress and improve your mental health to avoid worsening conditions like anxiety and depression.

Teenage life is often a lot of fun and there are many articles discussing the positive developments that occur in the life of a teenager. It is equally important to be aware of the issues, sometimes big issues, that can make a teen swerve into unhelpful behavior and development. Some of these teenage problems will include the risks of body shaming, bullying, anxiety, and social media, to name a few. A strong family environment and culture will certainly assist

Traumatic events are unpredictable and devastating. They can happen any time and anywhere, leaving the people who experience them with significant struggles as they try to process and recover from the memories of the event. Some people are gradually able to come to terms with what happened, but others are not. People whose symptoms do not go away may be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Their symptoms may become so pervasive that they interfere with their ability to

Do you feel like you and your spouse just cannot get through to each other? Or as if you are speaking different languages? Do you often feel unheard or misunderstood? Are you battling with a silent spouse, one who withdraws or avoids conflict, or even the opposite - one who just seems to push all your buttons? Perhaps there are certain important conversations that you just don’t feel that you can have anymore with your spouse without tempers flaring

Take a read through this article and see how many of these causes for resentment in marriage you identify with. While this may not be a checklist you want to score well on it may be useful to know what specifically needs work from you as well as your spouse. One contributes more than the other. Between household chores, time with the children, the school run, and the financial contribution to running a household, there are many areas in

This article will address what it means to be a real man. I will be touching on three themes: worldview, biblical view, and therapeutic view. My wife just asked me “How are you doing” I replied, “I am living a life of quiet desperation.” This is a well-known quote from Henry David Thoreau. “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” Growing up in the United States I learned

The conversations you have with yourself, in your mind or out loud, can either dial up or dial down the amount you worry about. “Inner talk is one of the most effective, least-used tools available to master the psyche and foster life success,” says Psychologist Ethan Kross. Times have changed since we thought others were crazy for talking to themselves. Many of us are doing it, and self-talk is recognized as an exceptionally useful tool as we navigate our