All posts by Paul Sigafus

avatarImage

About Paul Sigafus

I'm Paul - the Director of Colorado Counseling Center and a Certified EFT Couples Therapist & Supervisor. My passion is helping people learn how to love each other and themselves, because I know from personal experience that the best way to grow stronger is to grow together. My enthusiasm for being a marriage counselor notwithstanding, I find my greatest joy and passion in life in loving my wife and children, and in creating with them a life full of warmth, love, joy, gratitude, and togetherness.

Everything You Need to Know Before Starting Marriage Counseling

Everything You Need to Know Before Starting Marriage Counseling

What do you need to know before starting marriage counseling? In this post, we’ll answer the common questions that couples have before starting marriage counseling. We’ll also share essential insights that marriage counselors wish their clients knew from the beginning of couples therapy. 

It’s normal to feel anxious about couples counseling

In my 20+ years as a therapist who specializes in helping couples, I’ve never met a couple that didn’t feel anxious about getting started with marriage therapy. This is your most important relationship after all, and so much of your happiness and your future depends on it! It’s only natural that you need some reassurance and guidance before starting marriage counseling.

Here’s an outline of the topics we’ll cover in this post:

Continue reading
Everything You Need to Know Before Starting Marriage Counseling

About Paul Sigafus

I'm Paul - the Director of Colorado Counseling Center and a Certified EFT Couples Therapist & Supervisor. My passion is helping people learn how to love each other and themselves, because I know from personal experience that the best way to grow stronger is to grow together. My enthusiasm for being a marriage counselor notwithstanding, I find my greatest joy and passion in life in loving my wife and children, and in creating with them a life full of warmth, love, joy, gratitude, and togetherness.

Generosity, Abundance, & Thanksgiving

Where Does Abundance Come From?

Abundance in our relationships, our communities, and our world comes from generosity.

What do you have to give? How could your relationships change if you generously gave others the benefit of the doubt? What would happen if you authentically and generously gave kindness and compassion to those around you? How could giving your courage, your humor, or your understanding make the world a better place?

As we each give from a place of generosity, our relationships become more full and more fulfilling. At Colorado Counseling Center, we help couples and individuals rediscover the abundance that comes through generously sharing with each other.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Generosity, Abundance, & Thanksgiving

About Paul Sigafus

I'm Paul - the Director of Colorado Counseling Center and a Certified EFT Couples Therapist & Supervisor. My passion is helping people learn how to love each other and themselves, because I know from personal experience that the best way to grow stronger is to grow together. My enthusiasm for being a marriage counselor notwithstanding, I find my greatest joy and passion in life in loving my wife and children, and in creating with them a life full of warmth, love, joy, gratitude, and togetherness.

How to Achieve Genuine Forgiveness

https://youtu.be/s2jlTpqUqFo?rel=0
How to Achieve Genuine Forgiveness (Forgiveness Series Video 5)

When Is Genuine Forgiveness Possible?

We all desire the best options for our relationships—which leads us ask, “When is genuine forgiveness possible?”

As discussed in my previous videos, cheap forgiveness doesn’t work, perpetually refusing to forgive keeps us imprisoned, and acceptance may be the best option when it isn’t safe to continue the relationship.

But what if we want to restore love and trust in our relationship? To answer this question, watch the video above or keep reading!

Continue reading

How to Achieve Genuine Forgiveness

About Paul Sigafus

I'm Paul - the Director of Colorado Counseling Center and a Certified EFT Couples Therapist & Supervisor. My passion is helping people learn how to love each other and themselves, because I know from personal experience that the best way to grow stronger is to grow together. My enthusiasm for being a marriage counselor notwithstanding, I find my greatest joy and passion in life in loving my wife and children, and in creating with them a life full of warmth, love, joy, gratitude, and togetherness.

Forgiveness When the Other Person Isn’t Sorry

How to Approach Forgiveness When They’re Not Sorry (Forgiveness Series Video 4)

Our counseling and therapy clients can struggle with how to approach forgiveness when the other person isn’t sorry. What do you do if the other person feels no remorse? What if having contact with them puts you at risk of further harm? How about when the other person isn’t available? These situations present considerable challenges to those wishing to move forward in life.

Drawing from the work of forgiveness expert Janis Abrahms-Spring, I previously shared about other approaches to forgiveness that end up causing more harm. If you haven’t seen them yet, you can check them out here!

In this fourth video of our forgiveness series, I share about acceptance. As taught by Abrahms-Spring, acceptance is a healthy approach to forgiveness when the other person isn’t willing or available to help you heal. When it’s not safe to continue a relationship, moving toward acceptance can also be a life-affirming approach that keeps you safe. Acceptance can restore you to a sense of freedom, wholeness, empowerment, and possibility.

To learn more about this vital topic, watch our 8-minute video above, or keep reading!

Continue reading
Forgiveness When the Other Person Isn't Sorry

About Paul Sigafus

I'm Paul - the Director of Colorado Counseling Center and a Certified EFT Couples Therapist & Supervisor. My passion is helping people learn how to love each other and themselves, because I know from personal experience that the best way to grow stronger is to grow together. My enthusiasm for being a marriage counselor notwithstanding, I find my greatest joy and passion in life in loving my wife and children, and in creating with them a life full of warmth, love, joy, gratitude, and togetherness.

When We Refuse to Forgive

When We Refuse to Forgive (Forgiveness Series Video 3)

What Is Refusing to Forgive?

When we refuse to forgive, we hold on to our hurt, our anger, and our bitterness. We stew in our feelings of hostility and resentment. But this comes at a great cost. In her book How Can I Forgive You? Janis Abrahms-Spring identifies refusing to forgive as a second approach to forgiveness.

To learn more about refusing to forgive, watch the video above or keep reading!

Continue reading
When We Refuse to Forgive

About Paul Sigafus

I'm Paul - the Director of Colorado Counseling Center and a Certified EFT Couples Therapist & Supervisor. My passion is helping people learn how to love each other and themselves, because I know from personal experience that the best way to grow stronger is to grow together. My enthusiasm for being a marriage counselor notwithstanding, I find my greatest joy and passion in life in loving my wife and children, and in creating with them a life full of warmth, love, joy, gratitude, and togetherness.

Why Cheap Forgiveness Doesn’t Work

Why Cheap Forgiveness Doesn’t Work (Forgiveness Series Video 2)

In this second video of our forgiveness series, we define “cheap forgiveness,” identify where it comes from, explain why cheap forgiveness doesn’t work, and describe how it can actually end up hurting you and your relationship. Watch the video above or keep reading to learn more! (If you missed it, here’s our first video introducing our series on how to forgive.)

Continue reading
Why Cheap Forgiveness Doesn't Work

About Paul Sigafus

I'm Paul - the Director of Colorado Counseling Center and a Certified EFT Couples Therapist & Supervisor. My passion is helping people learn how to love each other and themselves, because I know from personal experience that the best way to grow stronger is to grow together. My enthusiasm for being a marriage counselor notwithstanding, I find my greatest joy and passion in life in loving my wife and children, and in creating with them a life full of warmth, love, joy, gratitude, and togetherness.

How to Forgive

How To Forgive (Forgiveness Series Video 1)

How to Forgive: Introducing Our Forgiveness Video Series

After painful experiences, we often wonder, “How do I move on? How do I heal from all that has happened?” In my experience as a couples therapist, people sometimes tell me, “I don’t know how to forgive.”

How Can I Forgive You? by Janis Abrahms-Spring

In this 5-part video series on how to forgive, I summarize some excellent counsel from Janis Abrahms-Spring’s book How Can I Forgive You? Also, I share some of my own observations from nearly 20 years as a Marriage & Family Therapist. In the coming four videos and blog post summaries, I’ll first share some ideas about what doesn’t work. I will then share some observations about how to navigate forgiveness and relational healing in a healthy way. We need ways to approach forgiveness that allow for safety, dignity, self-respect, and authentic growth. To learn more, watch our 2-minute video above or keep reading!

Continue reading
How to Forgive

About Paul Sigafus

I'm Paul - the Director of Colorado Counseling Center and a Certified EFT Couples Therapist & Supervisor. My passion is helping people learn how to love each other and themselves, because I know from personal experience that the best way to grow stronger is to grow together. My enthusiasm for being a marriage counselor notwithstanding, I find my greatest joy and passion in life in loving my wife and children, and in creating with them a life full of warmth, love, joy, gratitude, and togetherness.

Protecting Your Marriage from Infidelity

You probably know couples whose relationships have been damaged—or devastated—by infidelity. Some of you have been through this yourselves. Few things hurt worse than the betrayal of having your partner step outside of your marital commitment to each other. In our marriage counseling and couples therapy work, we often get asked, “How can we affair-proof our relationship?” In this two-minute video, Sue Johnson (the leading expert in couples therapy) offers timely wisdom addressing the question: “Can you affair proof your relationship?” Continue reading

Protecting Your Marriage from Infidelity

About Paul Sigafus

I'm Paul - the Director of Colorado Counseling Center and a Certified EFT Couples Therapist & Supervisor. My passion is helping people learn how to love each other and themselves, because I know from personal experience that the best way to grow stronger is to grow together.

My enthusiasm for being a marriage counselor notwithstanding, I find my greatest joy and passion in life in loving my wife and children, and in creating with them a life full of warmth, love, joy, gratitude, and togetherness.

10 Practices of Happy Couples

10 Practices of Happy CouplesBy Paul Sigafus, LMFT

Are you interested in bringing more happiness into your relationship? Successful couples and marriages share common practices that bring them greater strength, deeper joy, and more lasting love. Consider how you can bring these ten practices of happy couples into your own relationship: Continue reading

10 Practices of Happy Couples

About Paul Sigafus

I'm Paul - the Director of Colorado Counseling Center and a Certified EFT Couples Therapist & Supervisor. My passion is helping people learn how to love each other and themselves, because I know from personal experience that the best way to grow stronger is to grow together.

My enthusiasm for being a marriage counselor notwithstanding, I find my greatest joy and passion in life in loving my wife and children, and in creating with them a life full of warmth, love, joy, gratitude, and togetherness.

Small Lights

Small Lights Quote - Colorado Counseling Center

Small Lights

About Paul Sigafus

I'm Paul - the Director of Colorado Counseling Center and a Certified EFT Couples Therapist & Supervisor. My passion is helping people learn how to love each other and themselves, because I know from personal experience that the best way to grow stronger is to grow together.

My enthusiasm for being a marriage counselor notwithstanding, I find my greatest joy and passion in life in loving my wife and children, and in creating with them a life full of warmth, love, joy, gratitude, and togetherness.