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With much awaited anticipation, Amy today welcomes her husband Josh as a special guest on the Pilot's Wife show, for the 50th episode. Hear his perspective on the three things he notices most in couples and their relationships. Amy and Josh also talk about the one thing they would say (if they could only say one thing) to encourage couples around the world. And there are some analogies from within the cockpit that can be applied to romantic relationships - if you want to hear a little about how pilots talk while up front...

Have you ever wondered how you (or someone you know) ended up with a lazy / bossy / controlling etc partner? Here's one way it could have happened - but if this is the way it happened, the good news is, it's reversible. Find out how in this latest episode.

Has anyone ever told you you're too assertive, or not assertive enough? There's a certain connotation from the word that makes it a dirty word in romantic relationships. Amy shares the true definition of assertiveness to remove all doubt and explains how to set the scene to exercise some level of assertiveness, so as not to suffer consequences later on.

Take a chill break from whatever you are doing, and have a listen to this chilled "free time" chat from Amy McLaren on a couple of relationship musings. Amy takes a social psychology phenomenon to do with crowds, and wonders if the same thing doesn't happen even when there's just two, not even a crowd. She also chews the fat about contingency planning, given what Josh has been working through at his job this past week. (Backing track is "I Got This" from Fesliyan Studios)

Sometimes, we don't give each other enough credit. This episode is about correcting that. Hear a little bit about Josh & Amy's biggest conflict area in their marriage and how it has been working out during this time, when this area of their marriage has been under the most intense pressure in all their 18 years of being together. https://myweddingmag.co.nz

Has anyone ever asked you the rhetorical question: "What did you expect?" with the meaning that you shouldn't have expected anything other than what you got? In this episode Amy invites couples to actually seek the answer next time someone asks them that. And she invites the male listeners to go against a social norm (in the privacy of their own home of course). Plus, find out how many millions make a billion (oh, you already know? Amy had to look it up - must be all that lack of sleep!) in this refreshing episode of The Pilot's WIfe.

A whole lot of our communication is non-verbal. When we are having a heated discussion, the non-verbal stuff actually blocks the real message getting through. This is often why the argument goes around in circles without getting resolved: because the real message isn't getting through. Amy gives a hack for either type of non-verbal communication style - both body language, and tone, which can be applied in any relationship to trump the non-verbal stuff and allow the real message to get through.

In this episode Amy has been digging around, and found some research from a few years back about an unconventional method for preventing divorce.   http://www.rochester.edu/news/divorce-rate-cut-in-half-for-couples-who-discussed-relationship-movies/movie-list.html

In this special episode, you will get probably the one and only opportunity for you to be a fly on the wall within one of Amy's private couples counselling sessions. Amy goes through some of the values exercise material in a different way to usual, and explains a key concept in maintaining a successful and satisfying relationship that has not been covered before.

There are obvious benefits to working on our relationship skills, primarily being happier and enjoying our life much more when our marriage is doing well. There are also some hidden benefits to becoming relationship ninjas too. Amy highlights one benefit that contributes to a lasting legacy we can build, simply by having a good relationship with our spouse.

Happy New Year! If you're anything like Amy, you've experienced a number of relationships around you, maybe including yours, suffering from some kind of argument or tension over Christmas. It brings about the topic of when relationships feel like they are going in a downwards spiral, how to recognise if this is the pattern or if it's just a temporary, seasonal phenomenon, why it's happening and what to do about it. Be encouraged by the normality of relationship grumpiness and that there is something you can do about it and here is an answer for you.

Amy and Josh don't argue too often, but every couple has their hiccups. Amy has decided to have a break from arguing at all over Christmas - and has come up with a strategy she is going to try out. She invites you to partner with her in trying this method and explains how it would work. This is the final episode for 2020, episodes will re-ignite in early January 2021.

This 100% foolproof, totally successful technique will get you results and a resolution from anything that your partner does that annoys you. Try it for yourself!  In Amy's humourous run-through of the techniques, complete with examples, you'll learn everything you need to know to stop that annoying thing from happening again.

How do you avoid that heavy feeling after a yucky argument with your spouse? How do you move past it and get on with living together? Amy was making some observations of her 5 and 3 year old girls recently. What she discovered was a lesson we can all learn from as adults, and they seem to do it pretty easily. Why do we find it more difficult as adults? Amy gives her best answer, and issues a challenge to try something new in the week that follows.

It's time for... How well do you know your spouse? Tonight Amy has a little quiz for you. But just to be fair, she answers them at the same time she puts them out there... with no prior preparation for the answers! Next week, Amy will report back on her results, after Josh has had a listen and tells her how many facts about him she got wrong.

Yes the marriage rate is declining, and there are those who have put the question: at the current rate of decline, will marriage become a thing of the past entirely? With a lesson from a Russian tradition, Amy discusses the possible reasons behind why less people are getting married and explains why they've got the wrong end of the stick before they even try it.

One of the more common marriage struggles is about intimacy. Instead of laying on you ten or twenty things to try, Amy gives you just two strategies. Understanding and applying these two things will make the biggest difference not only to your intimacy now, but also will help you over and over in future when intimacy hiccups arise again.

When couples seek counselling for help with their communication, they often think they aren't communicating effectively. Amy proposes they are communicating fine, it's just that they each don't like the message their partner is sending. Listen to this episode for tips on communicating at a different level than the default, all inspired by the help Amy and Josh sought and received when struggling with the parenting of one of their daughters.

A storm occurred in Amy and Josh's marriage last week and Amy comes clean about what happened, and how she dealt with it, without being a doormat!   Amy bares her emotions and shares honestly about her raw reaction to a misunderstanding, and learns a big lesson at the end.

A tough topic, but listen to this episode for some tips you won't hear much anywhere else. :)