Love and Relationship Advice Blog

If you live anywhere on this planet, we're sure that you've heard that this has been a big month for Harry Potter fans. Not only did the "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" film debut but also the 7th and final Harry Potter adventure in book form reached the shelves.

We know that a lot has been written about the meanings of the films and the books and we couldn't help adding our two-cents worth--about how to create great relationships.

To us, one of the main themes in this current Harry Potter film is that we all have the possibility to do good and to do evil--and love wins out in the end.

So what does this have to creating great relationships?

Continue reading "Relationship Advice from Harry Potter" »

Posted by Susie and Otto Collins at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We saw the movie "Knocked Up" over the weekend and totally agreed with the reviewers that it was funny and worth seeing. There were so many observations that we could make about relationships and if you've seen it, we're sure that you have plenty of your own.

One of our teachers said it this way--"Men marry women hoping they don't change; Women marry men hoping they do"--and that's one of the big themes in "Knocked Up."

It goes something like this--Can the guy who doesn't hold a job, smokes dope and seems really irresponsible become responsible enough to become a good partner and parent? Can women change men and if men do change, are they happy?

So what about trying to change your partner? Can you do it and is it worth it if you do?

Continue reading "Relationship Advice from the "Knocked Up" movie" »

Posted by Susie and Otto Collins at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Like millions of others, we saw the blockbuster film "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" this past weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. The film had all of the elements of an enjoyable movie experience--beautiful people to watch, a lot of action, great special effects, and a witty, funny, well-written script. The characters seemed to be developed more in this film than in any of the other "Pirates" movies.

Being the constant students of relationships, we are always on the look out for great relationship lessons that we can pass onto others. Aside from being extremely entertaining, it did offer some food for thought.

Here's our take on it...

Continue reading "A Relationship Lesson from "Pirates of the Caribbean"" »

Posted by Susie and Otto Collins at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

During the past few weeks, there has been a furor over Actor Richard Gere kissing Shilpa Shetty on the cheek
during an AIDS awareness benefit in India.

There's even been a lawsuit brought against Gere over his actions and there's talk of arresting Shetty as well.

While we're not avid followers of Hollywood gossip, this story was intriguing to us because this is much to be learned about relationships if we really think about this incident for a moment. .

This whole situation has been very polarizing for different groups of people.

Some people are dismissing these allegations as the actions of extremists and that they are embarrassing to the Indian culture. Some people are saying that Gere was out of line and that he should have known better.

Needless to say, if this had happened in the US, this would certainly not have been an issue. The reality is it happened in India and because of this it is a problem.

So what does all of this have to do with your relationships?

Plenty and here's why...

Continue reading "Relationship Advice from Gere's Controversial Kiss" »

Posted by Susie and Otto Collins at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The two of us absolutely love music and have had an especially good time watching concert dvds of our favorite artists. It's been a great way for us to connect with each other in the evenings and just enjoy ourselves!

Last week, Otto brought out the BeeGees collectors edition and we ended up spending the entire evening enjoying a 1997 concert and then a dvd of the group's history. We had a great time talking about what we learned about life and relationships from discovering things about the Brothers Gibb and we'd like to share some of our thoughts here...

Continue reading "What we Learned about Relationships and Life from the BeeGees" »

Posted by Susie and Otto Collins at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As Relationship coaches and authors of "How to Heal Your Broken Heart," we wanted to check out the new film "Break-Up" as soon as we could. As we were walking out of the movie, we and others around us wondered why we paid the money to watch two celebrities we liked argue and fight--and argue and fight. Apparently, we weren't alone in our assessment of this film.

Although we know that the purpose of this film was to be a comedy (and it was funny in places), there is so much more that could have happened to actually help people who are experiencing or have experienced a break up in their own lives.

Here are some of our ideas of how you can deal with a break up without so much pain...

Continue reading "Jen and Vince Miss the Mark in Break-Up Movie" »

Posted by Susie and Otto Collins at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night as I watched Bono of U2 accept a Grammy award for their album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," I was appreciating the relationship lesson that he talked about from his own life. Because my husband and I are relationship coaches, we tend to look at most things in life as "relationship lessons" but I thought this was truly important enough to pass on.

We thought that "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" was a political statement but apparently we were wrong. Bono told the audience that the atomic bomb was his father who he's been screaming about for years and with this award he was giving it up. In other words, he was giving up blaming, judging and complaining about his father and would come to peace with whatever was between them.

If only all of us would have the same courage to do this in our own lives, we would not only be at peace about the past but our current relationships would be so much clearer and better.

Continue reading "U2 at the Grammys: A Relationship Lesson" »

Posted by Susie and Otto Collins at 09:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Because we're fascinated by relationships, personal growth and our desire to understand why we are the way are and why we do what we do, we're always talking about and exploring how relationships work, both with our coaching clients and in our personal lives.

Although the movie "Crash," which is up for several awards, is violent and can be difficult to watch, we wanted to pass along our thoughts about how the film's message has some important life lessons if you are open to them.

Continue reading "Life Lessons You Can Learn from the Movie "Crash"" »

Posted by Susie and Otto Collins at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)