Poet and philosopher Rumi once wrote, “Love is the bridge between you and everything.” As much as a loving bond between people may be the starting point for close relationships, the future of it however, is shaped by stress, communication, coping, mental health, and interpersonal support; which are the defining factors that allow those relationships to last or crumble. Bicker, squabble, argue, wrangle, fight, disagree, dispute, and spar are some of things that we do when we’re in a relationship with someone that we care about. Without the full knowledge of the psychological science behind it, it’s hard to know if the behaviors and approaches to conflict resolution are effective or even healthy.  On this episode, relationship expert, award-winning teacher, professor at Monmouth University and author of Stronger Than You Think: The 10 blind spots that undermine your relationship and how to see past them, Dr. Gary W. Lewandowski Jr., discusses how seeking personal growth and undergoing self-expansion can help us grow. Relationships are the vehicles to broaden the lens we use to look at ourselves and inspecting our blind spots can carry tremendous benefit. About Dr. Gary Lewandowski Dr. Gary W. Lewandowski Jr. is a an award-winning teacher, researcher, writer, and relationship expert. He is a Professor at Monmouth University and author of Stronger Than You Think: The 10 Blind Spots That Undermine Your Relationship…and How to See Past Them, and co-author of an innovative research methods text, Discovering the Scientist Within. His work has been featured by the Washington Post, IFLScience.com, Daily Mail, Business Insider, Salon, The New Republic, Time, the New York Times, The Atlantic, VICE, CNN, and NPR. His TEDx talk, “Break-ups Don’t Have to Leave You Broken” has viewed over 2 million times, while his relationship articles have been enjoyed by over 3.5 million readers. Websites:  http://www.GaryLewandowski.comhttps://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/thepsychology- relationshipsAbout Host, Sucheta Kamath Sucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence. Support the show (https://mailchi.mp/7c848462e96f/full-prefrontal-sign-up)