If you’re having a breakdown in your marriage, you may just be playing out a pattern you learned in your family. Whether your parents are divorced, never married or are married to this day, maybe they don’t have the kind of marriage you want to emulate. There probably was no Relationships 101 at school, so where were you supposed to learn how to have a good marriage? Most of us do get our early training in relationships from our families since our first relationships were with our parents and siblings.  I unwittingly copied my parents’ recipe so well that I ended up with a miserable marriage, at which point I nearly got divorced, just like my parents had. And if I hadn’t found some new and better training on relationships, I’m confident my marriage wouldn’t have lasted and all of my other relationships would also be suffering. Fortunately, there have been modern advances in revitalizing relationships that weren’t available to our parents, who had the TV show All in the Family with Archie Bunker to study from. On today’s episode of The Empowered Wife Podcast, we’re talking about 3 ways to break your family patterns.  During our free Adored Wife Challenge twice a year, where we all experiment with the 6 Intimacy Skills™ together for five days, I interviewed Heather, who has such a hopeful and engaging story that I knew I wanted you to hear it. I’m excited that Heather agreed to let me share with you what she did so you can do the same things to make your marriage thrive.  The Worst Relationship Advice of the Week is from an article titled “Empowering Relationship Advice for Women,” but it should be called “Exhausting Relationship Advice.” If the effort in your relationship isn’t 50/50, this advice is a reliable way to cause distance or an outright fight.