In past blog posts, I have covered the first five levels of the Gottman Sound Relationship House. Once you've learned how to Build Love Maps (i.e., putting effort into knowing your partner's world), Share Fondness and Admiration, Turn Towards One Another, and Manage Conflict, you have a solid foundation from which you can build a vision and purpose for the relationship. 

In my work with teens and adults, one of the most common feeling words that arises is “frustration.”

It seems to fit so many situations: frustration with a child’s misbehavior, a spouse’s seeming inability to listen, or even with oneself for, once again, doing something you don’t want to do. But what exactly is frustration? What is its function, and how do we move through it well?