Our mind is very powerful! We can create all kinds of realities in our mind and believe them. Can you really fall in love without meeting someone? Certainly you can, but as I explained LIVE on air on WWL-AM/FM this morning; it is not a long lasting healthy full love if you have the wall of technology between two people. The Manti Te’o hoax prompted a discussion between myself and radio host Tommy Tucker about online relationships. Consider the following talking points from this Psychotherapist to my readers through the lens of online relationships:
- It is our beliefs that bring us to great personal and relational triumph just as our beliefs can bring us to the greatest of personal and relational defeat and devastation.
- We can make up all kinds of things in our mind, and believe them. We must live in reality.
- Use caution when developing an online relationship. Do not wait too long to meet that person so you can more fully know who they are. There are dangers of online dating. You must meet that person so we are not blinded by the wall between us. What we want to see- we can make up all kinds of junk in our head.
- Falling for someone on line and then meeting that person for too many leads to disappointment. Confronting that person and confronting what you thought the relationship was and would be, is a great loss if you built up in your head an imaginary reality.
- Developing an online relationship while in a marriage is destructive. Choose not to have an emotional affair. Do not develop an online relationship if you are married. Focus on the marriage. If you need help with your marriage I invite you to check out my tips for a healthy and successful long term relationship in Dr. Karen’s Marriage Manual.
Click the following link for listening on demand to Dr. Karen Ruskin’s interview with Tommy Tucker on WWL-AM/FM where she answers all of Tommy’s questions about; online relationships, with her usual brand of humor and direct no-nonsense approach to all topics.