GoodGuys2GreatMen Video Podcast

The Simple Mind Hack to Creating More Connection and Intimacy

Dan Dore & Steve Horsmon • 4m 37s • 5 May 2018

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The Simple Mind Hack to Creating More Connection and Intimacy
Video overview: If you’ve been thinking about your wife through frustration, disappointment, suspicion, or resentment, she can feel it before you say a word. This video explains how positive regard changes the way you see her, speak to her, listen to her, and create the trust and intimacy you want.

The way you think about your woman matters more than you probably realise.

Not just what you say to her. Not just whether you help around the house, plan a date, apologise, or try to be more affectionate.

The way you hold her in your mind matters.

Because she feels it.

She feels whether you are looking at her as a problem to solve, a woman to blame, a gatekeeper to sex, a critic to avoid, or a partner you actually like, respect, and want to understand.

That is where positive regard begins.

Positive regard does not mean pretending everything is fine. It does not mean ignoring hurtful behaviour, swallowing your needs, or convincing yourself that every cold, sharp, distant, or dismissive thing she does is wonderful.

That would be dishonest.

Positive regard means you choose to see the human being underneath the behaviour before you react to the behaviour.

That is a very different thing.

When a marriage is struggling, it is easy for a man to start building a negative case against his wife. He notices the cold look. The lack of affection. The short answer. The criticism. The rejection. The way she seems cheerful with others and flat with him.

Before long, his mind starts writing a story.

She doesn’t care.

She’s impossible.

She only sees what I do wrong.

She’s selfish.

She’s deliberately withholding.

She doesn’t respect me.

Maybe some of those thoughts feel true in the moment. Maybe there is real pain there. Maybe she has been distant. Maybe she has said things that cut deep.

But if you live from that negative story, you will bring that story into every interaction.

You may think you’re being neutral, but you’re not. You’re walking in with a courtroom in your head. You’re listening for evidence. You’re waiting for the next complaint. You’re preparing your defence before she even finishes her sentence.

And she can feel that.

She can feel when you’ve already judged her.

She can feel when your curiosity has disappeared.

She can feel when your kindness is really a strategy to get her to soften.

She can feel when your patience has resentment underneath it.

That does not create trust.

It creates more distance.

This video is about learning how to think differently about your woman so you can relate to her differently. Not because you’re trying to manipulate her into intimacy, but because the way you see her changes the way you show up.

If you see her as the enemy, you will defend.

If you see her as broken, you will fix.

If you see her as unfair, you will argue.

If you see her as withholding, you will pressure.

But if you see her as a woman having her own experience, her own fears, her own stress, her own disappointments, her own longings, and her own protective patterns, something shifts.

You get less reactive.

You get more curious.

You stop making every hard moment about your worth.

That is powerful.

Positive regard lets you say, “There may be something going on in her that I don’t fully understand yet.”

It lets you pause before assuming the worst.

It lets you ask better questions.

It lets you listen for the pain beneath the complaint instead of only hearing the criticism.

And brother, that kind of listening can change the whole emotional tone between you.

A lot of men think the path to intimacy is getting their wife to behave differently. They want her to be warmer, softer, more affectionate, more sexual, more appreciative, more respectful.

I understand that.

But your influence often begins before you ever ask for anything.

It begins with the mindset you bring.

If you walk into the room carrying resentment, she feels pressure. If you walk in carrying fear, she feels need. If you walk in carrying blame, she feels defence rising in her own body.

But if you walk in with steadiness and positive regard, she may feel something different.

She may feel less judged.

Less managed.

Less pushed.

Less like she has to protect herself from your disappointment.

That matters because trust grows in an atmosphere where both people feel seen as more than their worst moments.

Your wife is not just the woman who rejected you last night. She is not just the woman who criticised you this morning. She is not just the woman who has been hard to reach.

She is also the woman you once loved easily.

She is also carrying things you may not understand.

She is also responding to the energy, history, and patterns between you.

Positive regard helps you remember that without losing yourself.

It takes a strong man to do this. A weak man either collapses into pleasing or hardens into blame. A strong man can stay grounded enough to care about her experience and still tell the truth about his own.

That is the balance.

You don’t need to become fake-positive. You don’t need to excuse everything. You don’t need to pretend her behaviour never hurts.

But you do need to stop feeding the mental movie that turns her into your opponent.

Because intimacy cannot grow when your mind is constantly prosecuting the woman you want to love.

This episode invites you to look at what you are rehearsing inside yourself. Are you rehearsing blame? Are you rehearsing disappointment? Are you rehearsing all the ways she is wrong?

Or are you choosing to see her with more maturity, more curiosity, and more heart?

That choice changes how you speak.

It changes how you listen.

It changes how you touch.

It changes how you handle rejection.

It changes how safe you feel to her.

And it changes how much self-respect you feel in yourself.

Positive regard is not weakness.

It is disciplined love.

It is a decision to see clearly without turning bitter. It is a decision to lead your own mind instead of letting resentment lead it for you.

And if you can learn that, you give trust, connection, and intimacy a much better place to grow.

Change the way you see her

If resentment, frustration, or disappointment have started shaping the way you think about your wife, you don’t have to stay stuck there. We can help you become calmer, clearer, and more grounded so you can create more trust without losing your self-respect.

Talk to a coach →

About the Hosts

Steve Horsmon & Dan Dore | Certified Professional Men’s Coach

Steve Horsmon and Dan Dore have spent over a decade supporting good men who are confused, frustrated, and afraid that their marriages and families are falling apart with no idea what to do about it. We've both experienced the same emotions that you're going through now. We know what it feels like to try all the mainstream try harder, be nicer advice while watching things continue to get worse. And that's exactly why Goodguys2Greatmen exists. Since 2012, we've coached thousands of men through some of the hardest periods of their lives; marriage breakdown, emotional distance, sexless relationships, fears of divorce or separation. We focus on practical solutions to help you survive some of the most challenging and painful experiences that a man can go through. This podcast is for men who are done waiting for their life and relationships to improve and are ready to make some bold decisions so that you become more calm and confident and start moving toward what you really want.