The Relationship Blueprint: Recent Episodes
Sola Oguche-Agudah
Each person was born with dreams but for these dreams to be fulfilled, we must have healthy and thriving relationships. No matter how much we have achieved or what material possessions, we have acquired, a life without healthy relationships has no meaning. These relationships span from having a relationship with ourselves, the people in our lives (spouses, children, parents, friends, mentors, mentees and colleagues) and our purpose. This podcast offers weekly tips, strategies and great advice to help you rediscover yourself, create long-lasting relationships and live the life of your dreams.
Submission is not a word that most women like to hear. However, I think that it’s because it has been grossly misinterpreted in our marriages today.
Men and women are created equal but there cannot be two captains in a ship. The man is the head of the home and he is held accountable for the state of his home.
What does submission look like in a marriage?
It is interesting that the charge God gives men is to love their wives. This is one of the most revered statements in marriage but sometimes I wonder if this statement is really understood.
This statement is a high calling and a charge to men to lovingly lead their wives in a way that is humanly impossible.
If it is humanly impossible, then how can it be achieved?
Mathematicians of course will frown at this analogy. However we are not talking about mathematics, we are talking about matters of the heart. With the matters of the heart:
1 whole individual + 1 whole individual = 1 whole marriage.
The quality of a relationship is dependent on the quality of the individuals in that relationship.
The reason why are some relationships are in trouble is because the individuals are broken.
I have tried numerous times to define love.
My definitions have ranged from ‘love being a decision’ to ‘love being a deep feeling of
affection’.
Is love a feeling? Does it have anything to do with butterflies in our stomachs? Is it true, intense
and genuine affection? Can you truly love someone without feelings?
What really is true love?
One of the critical things to do before going into any relationship is to determine your deal breakers.
Deal breakers are things that you have identified in the course of your life that you need or you cannot bear to live with. For every individual, the deal-breakers are different and they have a great impact on our relationships.
Parenting is serious business and life is war. For you to achieve your dreams on earth, you need to know how to war. This means that our homes become the war room that prepare our children for the battle of life. How does this happen? Listen to find out more.
Many people think that after the wedding, the bride and the groom automatically get used to each other and become one.
However, we find out that adjustments don't just happen and things don't just fall into place. Becoming one is a process.
To learn how to truly navigate the process of becoming one and operate fully in it, press play to listen now
Help, we are so different!!
If you've ever been in a relationship, these words must have been said or thought about.
We often find out that we are attracted to people completely different from us.
Men and women are different. People from different backgrounds are different and people with different personalities are different.
So how can a relationship work with all these variables?
This is the beginning of not just a new year but the beginning of a new decade. This year is going to be a phenomenal one with a lot of advancements in different areas of life.
Most people have set goals, put plans in place and are ready to do whatever it takes to make this year and decade count.
One area though that people fail to set goals in the area of relationships.
What are your relationship goals for 2020?
Christmas is here and this brings us to the last podcast for the year. This marks the end of one season of 13 episodes. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey.
A lot of activities are going on right now. People are trying to catch up on lost time, complete their shopping lists and plan vacations.
In all of these going on, please remember that Christmas is a good time to bond with family and build healthy relationships.
Christmas has no value without people to share it with.
How can we make this Christmas a time of meaning?
Our children are definitely a different breed and light-years apart from the kind of children we were growing up. These children are bold, adventurous, daring and full of life!
Should we model the Parenting style our parents used? Some of us turned our well, so it can't be all bad. The question though is: 'will it work for our children?'
There are so many grey areas; one of which is whether we are to be parents as well as best friends? Is there any answer to this question?
**The advancement of technology has brought its share of good and bad. One of the downsides is that it had provided a bigger platform for more competition. Nothing has been left out and marriages are not an exception.
People are constantly comparing their marriages and spouses based on what Social Media or the world at large says is the way to go. As a result, a lot of tension and discord have been created in quite a lot of homes.
Is there a way around this? Find out more in this episode.**
Podcast 10: That's so not true about marriage!
The weeks leading up to a wedding ceremony are usually fully packed with no space in between to breathe. We find ourselves concentrating on the wedding ceremony itself and forgetting that there's a marriage to build after the ceremony is over.
As a result, a lot of people go into marriage with many misconceptions that are so not true about marriage. These myths and conceptions actually make the difference between a marriage that lasts and one that doesn't.
The most important person in any relationship is the individual. So many times we are in a hurry to enter into new relationships without pausing to think of how well we are doing.
To build healthy relationships with anyone, you must have a healthy relationship with yourself and for you to do that, you must let the pain and the wounds of the past heal and then move on.
In this week's episode of The Relationship Blueprint, I talk about how unresolved issues and pain of the past leave us with skewed lenses, heavy burdens, and depressive habits that lead to dysfunctional relationships.
I don’t know about you when I was younger, I thought that parenting was just a walk in the park. All I thought was cute kids, cute clothes and loads of fun all the way. I had no idea the work it would entail and definitely was clueless how much of me it would take.
As I grew older and became a mum, I realized that the destinies of two children depended on me. To a large extent, the way their lives turned out depended on the foundation I was able to help build. My life took a different turn immediately I realized this. Press play to listen to this episode.
During the dating and the courtship process, there’s a lot of buzz going on. Date nights, Gifts, Words of affirmation, romantic gestures, unsolicited kindness and the works are all normal occurrences that keep the tempo of a relationship up and keeps a couple feeling connected.
What then happens when people get married? Where does the fire go? Do we ditch all our romantic gestures and expecting ‘happily ever after’’ to just happen?
The decision to marry is one of the most significant decisions you will ever make in your life. This
decision to a large extent determines how your life will turn out and also the quality of life you will
have. When you get married, you literally give yourself to somebody else. From that time on,
someone else has a big say in what you do with your life.
If this type of commitment is required for marriage, then who you decide to give yourself to must
be worth it. Listen to this week's episode to learn more about this important decision.
It is possible to go through life without ever asking yourself this important question: 'Who am I?' We focus a lot on our relationships or the absence of them. However, the quality of a relationship is determined by the quality of the individuals. Therefore the most important place to start even in building any relationship is to first undergo the journey of self-discovery.
Do you truly know yourself? Do you like yourself? Are you confident in who you are? Can you be yourself at all times?
The journey of self-discovery is one that every individual should go through. In this episode, I talk more about it.
I’m in my 30s and I really want to get married but it’s not happening….
This thing called marriage!!! Almost everyone wants to get married. It is the dream for almost every young lady. Marriage is one of those things that cannot be forced or coerced. It is something that must follow its due course. In a way, it seems like everyone has his or her own time.
So what do we do when we are waiting for marriage to happen? Do we just sit down and wait for that to happen? Do we just fold our hands and stop our lives?
In this podcast, we will address what to do while we are waiting for marriage to happen.
This question has been asked many times over. All over the world, people want to know if there is someone specially crafted just for them. We would all like to know if we should wait for a specific knight in shining armour or princess in waiting.
What is most important is not if there really is ‘the one’’ but if how do you identify when the right person comes along. Do you go with just your heart and your feelings or are there things to look out for?
There are actual steps and things to look out for in choosing a life partner that helps to create and build a marriage that is heaven on earth.
Marriage is the most gratifying relationship with any human being on the surface of the earth. It was intended to be heaven on earth. That has always been God’s desire. But is this really possible?
It would seem that the purpose of marriage will be popular knowledge but unfortunately, it is not. People are increasingly getting married because they need to and it’s what society expects. However, if the purpose of something is unknown, abuse is inevitable.
In this episode, we will explore the purpose of marriage and why these pillars are so fundamental to building a healthy marriage.
We were created relational beings and for us to have truly fulfilling lives, we must have healthy relationships.
No matter how much material wealth we’ve been able to acquire, how much success fame we’ve achieved or even how much fame you have, a life without healthy relationships is at best miserable.
How do we cultivate these relationships? Is it possible to have thriving relationships? Why are they important?
This podcast gives an insight into the types of relationships available to us and why they are important.