161: Growing Our Unity: Practical Science For Stronger Marriages
Podcast Guest: Susanne Alexander
December 29th, 2025
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In this Episode
In this episode of The Stronger Marriage Connection, psychologist and author Dr. Julia Garcia explores how hope is not just a feeling, but a daily practice. Drawing from her book The Five Habits of Hope, Julia shares how intentional habits—like reflection, emotional risk, release, receiving support, and repurposing pain—can strengthen mental health, resilience, and relationship connection. This conversation offers practical tools for couples, parents, leaders, and individuals who want to rebuild hope, navigate conflict with compassion, and create healthier emotional patterns in marriage and family life.
“The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the Utah Marriage Commission.”
Time Markers
00:03 – Hope as a daily practice
01:09 – Why hope predicts well-being
03:03 – Julia’s personal journey
06:55 – Turning pain into purpose
08:36 – What hope really sounds like
11:21 – Hope vs. quick emotional fixes
12:39 – Rebuilding hope in marriage
14:47 – Five Habits of Hope overview
15:47 – Emotional risk and vulnerability
17:44 – Hope during conflict
19:33 – Withholding love and connection
23:39 – Why hope is contagious
24:58 – One daily habit for couples
26:58 – Hope for singles and dating
28:47 – Modeling hope for kids
31:19 – Book, podcast, and resources
33:03 – “Maybe” as the seed of hope
34:55 – Final takeaways on hope
Insights
Susanne's
Focus on championing unity and embracing learning in action—continual growth, practice, and learning strengthen connection and lead to a happier, more unified marriage.
Dave’s
Strong marriages are built on small, everyday actions—warm greetings, lightheartedness, laughter, and thoughtfulness—that quietly create connection and prevent resentment from taking root.
About Susanne
Susanne M. Alexander is a relationship and marriage educator, coach, author, and publisher with her company Marriage Transformation®. She meets with clients globally via the internet for relationship and marriage preparation and marriage strengthening. Susanne is certified to offer couples assessments and coaching through Prepare-Enrich® and for individuals with the Character Foundations Assessment™. She has completed Level 1 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy. Susanne has written or co-written over 30 books. Her most recent is “Growing Our Unity: 19 Vital Practices for a Thriving Relationship”, coauthored with Grant Peirce.
Susanne is co-lead on Accordia Way, a project to assist couples with excellent communication and decision-making skills.
She is passionate about helping individuals and couples make good relationship and marriage choices through knowledge and skill-building and thereby prevent divorces. Susanne has been single, dating, engaged, married, divorced, and widowed. She is a child, stepchild, parent, stepparent, and grandparent. All of this has given Susanne a diversity of experience to share. She is originally from Canada and is married to a wonderful man named Phil Donihe in Tennessee, in the United States. They live on a lake and love to do romantic boat trips together that include nature photography.
Susanne's Resources
www.marriagetransformation.comhttps://accordiaway.substack.com/subscribe
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