If you have avoidant attachment patterns (or are partnered with someone who does), today's episode offers five truths about your patterns, blind spots, and protective mechanisms that, while perhaps hard to hear, are essential learning if you ultimately want to shift towards healthier relationships.

I talk about:

• How the myth of the perfect partner keeps you stuck in your avoidance

• Why your judgment of your partner's "neediness" is both unhelpful and revealing of your own suppressed emotions

• How your emotions affect the relationship just as much as your partner's, albeit in different ways

• The difference between being solely responsible for a partner's feelings and the reality of healthy interdependence

• The importance of stretching beyond what is comfortable and natural if you want to grow

How do you stop your mind from thinking of your ex, even when the relationship is long over? In today's episode, I'm giving advice to a listener who is struggling with ongoing thoughts of their ex, a year on from the break-up.

We'll talk about why it's normal for your brain to drift towards those thoughts, why it's so important that we don't make meaning out of it, and why focusing on what you can control (ie, your actions) is far more useful than trying to fight against your thoughts.