Get Your Marriage On! with Dan Purcell

The thing that stood out to me the most in this interview you're about to hear is how important it is to focus on being our best selves if we want to fix our marriage. Also how important it is to shed our egos. And when we married, we signed up to love our spouse: meaning, to be their champion and cheerleader, not their critic. Laura Doyle is The New York Times best-selling author of several books, including The Empowered Wife. She's also the star of the Amazon Prime series Empowered Wives. Her books have been translated into 19 languages and published in 30 countries. Over 15,000 women credit her with not only saving their relationships but also showing them how to become desired, cherished, and adored for life. She is the founder of Laura Doyle Connect, an international relationship coaching company that teaches women the intimacy skills they need to have passionate, peaceful relationships. Laura lives in Newport Beach, California with her hilarious husband John Doyle, who has been dressing himself since before she was born. They have been married for over 30 years. Resources: Laura Doyle's Website: https://lauradoyle.org/

Passionate marriages require a healthy tension between two forces that paradoxically are at odds with one another: Security which is love and intimacy and Growth which is desire, autonomy, and adventure. In this episode, I had the privilege of interviewing Alana and Paris from the Kingdom Sexuality Podcast. We discussed how one can navigate love and desire in marriage and cultivate more desire & erotic energy in your relationship. Alana and Paris have a cool story. They were friends as youth, attended the same church, but each moved away, married, and started a family of their own. About the same time, each of them felt impressed to start a ministry around helping others understand God's design for sex and intimacy. Alana and Paris reconnected and are now best friends, sharing their message of faith and hope. And that's how their podcast Kingdom Sexuality came to be!

Part of being an adult is unlearning the things that no longer serve you, and learning new things that bring richer meaning to your life. When it comes to sex, there's a lot that isn't helpful that we can unlearn, and a lot we can learn to bring deeper meaning and joy to our most important intimate relationships. I had the pleasure of interviewing Cami Hurst, a talented and passionate certified sex therapist out of Boise Idaho. We talk about how to make sex more "nutritious" and "gourmet" for the couple, why motives (or the why) around improving one's sex life are more important than the "what", and what to do when your spouse has different sexual preferences than you do.

A few years ago, I was sitting around a campfire with other dads, hearing their stories of exciting trips and getaways they've been on with their wives. I was depressed, thinking, "woe is me!" With 6 young kids, and on a budget, all I could think of was reasons why I would never be able to enjoy that kind of an experience. Fast forward six months later, I was sitting on a beautiful beach in Florida with my wife, just the two of us, enjoying one of the most intimate and romantic moments of our marriage up until that point. We had experienced a miracle in our marriage. Miracles happen, and 2022 can be the year you experience more of them in your life. One of the most often-repeated themes in the New Testament is "ask and ye shall receive." In one way or another, that theme is expressed 100 times! God is a giver of good gifts. He wants to bless us with good things and experiences that give us growth, joy, and hope. We invite God to help us by identifying clearly our goals, creating a vision, asking, and living with gratitude for everything we receive, both the good and the bad. It's up to us to desire, ask, work for, and be grateful for the kind of marriage we want. You can have a smoking hot sex life as you put this process to work in your life.

The quickest way to improve your relationship with your spouse is to first work on yourself. However, working on ourselves can be hard. Participating in a high-quality group coaching program can often be just the thing to get you going in the right direction. Last week we shared an inspiring story from Mark and Mindy. This week I have two inspiring guests, Tom and Jeff. Tom and Jeff were part of the last cohort for my Men's Intimacy & Desire coaching program. Both Tom and Jeff are successful in their careers and have seen quite a bit of success in their marriages too. In this interview, I ask them what they learned from the coaching program they wish to share with others. My biggest hope is everyone that who listens to this episode walks away inspired, filled with hope. I love this interview because Tom and Jeff are real, raw, and unabashed in sharing the transformation they experienced over the last three weeks. In case you're interested, the next cohort for my coaching program starts on January 19, 2022. There are only a dozen seats available and as of this recording, several have been taken. You'll find the details on my website at getyourmarriageon.com

In today's podcast, you'll have the privilege of meeting one of my favorite couples on the planet, Mark and his wife Mindy! Mark was in my most recent Men's coaching cohort. Six months ago Mark and Mindy were on the brink of divorce after 25 years of marriage. However, they have worked really hard and with God's help, and a little bit of effective coaching, they had grown a lot in a short time. I'm excited for you to hear their story! If you're interested, the next cohort for my coaching program starts on January 19th, 2022. There are only a dozen seats available and as of this recording, several have been taken. You'll find the details on my website at getyourmarriageon.com

I hope you've enjoyed the slight change of pace over the last couple of episodes. Rather than interviewing professionals, I want to share stories from real ordinary couples about how they've transformed their marriages into something extraordinary. Their stories are real, raw, vulnerable, and inspiring. This is our third and final "Sextimony" episode in our three-part Sextimony series, where we're sharing stories from ordinary couples about how they've transformed their marriages and found great joy and connection from a satisfying sex life. Maegan and her husband Sam have been married for over 10 years. You'll get to hear Maegan's inspiring story of overcoming unwanted pornography use, how a disappointing honeymoon lead to her speaking up more for her desires, how oral sex has helped her connect with her husband and led her to be more adventurous and confident, how honest improvement in her sex life has led her to a stronger faith in God, and how being playful in the bedroom leads to great sex. *Please Note: Starting Friday, December 31st our podcasts will be released on Friday mornings.

I've personally gained a lot from courageous couples opening up to me, in appropriate ways, how they've found deeper connection and joy in their sex lives. I want to share stories from real ordinary couples about how they've transformed their marriages into something extraordinary. Their stories are real, raw, vulnerable, and inspiring. These four couples talk about mindset shifts that lead them to better sex. We'll call this a "Sextimony" series! This is our second installment in our four-part Sextimony series. Our guests today are Faith and Brennan West. They're such a great couple, as you'll soon find out :) I'm grateful they've been willing to share their story of overcoming the baby blues, gaining confidence in the bedroom, how the Intimately Us app helped them find excitement and connection in the bedroom, and how they're better connected to each other.

I'd like to be part of changing the stigma around talking about elevating sex in marriage. I've personally gained a lot from courageous couples opening up to me, in an appropriate way, how they've found deeper connection and joy in their sex lives. So far in this podcast, we've generally interviewed experts in marriage or sex-related careers to one degree or another. I want to switch gears for the next three episodes. Rather than learn from professionals, I want to share stories from real ordinary couples about how they've transformed their marriages into something extraordinary. Their stories are real, raw, vulnerable, and inspiring. These three couples talk about mindset shifts that lead them to better sex. We'll call this a "Sextimony" series! Our first "Sextimony" is from Sharon Williams. She talks about shifts that helped her realize she can be in charge of her pleasure and how it's changed sex from a chore to something she absolutely looks forward to. Be sure to read her award winning essay called "Bridging the Orgasm Gap" which captures her journey of learning how to get what she wants in the bedroom. Since our interview, I read her free downloadable ebook called "10 Tips for Bridging Your Orgasm Gap" and can recommend it to you too. You can find both on her website.

We communicate a lot about who we are and how we feel about our spouse by the way we engage (or avoid) sex. Intimacy is about a willingness to let ourselves known, and that can be scary sometimes. If you're new around here, welcome! We are thrilled to have you. My wife and I hosted a couple's retreat in beautiful St. George Utah! It was in the mountains, with a lake, and each couple had their own private cabin or stayed at a nearby hotel. Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife was the instructor and she did phenomenally! She taught us for all three days. I took pages of notes and learned so many things that I'm working to apply in my marriage. I wanted to share a few things with you today.