Connection Codes

What if the thing standing between you and better intimacy was something as simple as the mess of a massage oil?In this episode, Dr Glenn and Phyllis sit down with Justin and Natalie — the couple behind Evree, a 100% natural intimate massage cream that functions as both a massage product and a lubricant without leaving the sticky, oily residue that stops most couples from even trying.Justin and Natalie share the story behind six years of development, what it cost them emotionally and financially to keep going when experts told them it wasn't possible, and why they believe physical touch and intentional intimacy can quite literally transform a marriage.They also walk through the Core Emotion Wheel — sharing raw, real moments from their own relationship and inner life. This is a conversation about more than a product. It's about removing the barriers that keep couples from choosing each other.In This Episode:The date night that started it all — and why Natalie just wanted to go to sleepWhy massage oils and lubricants have always been two separate products (and the problems each one causes)The 6-year journey to create a product everyone told them was impossibleWhy Justin almost gave up — and what happened when they took one more run at itHow Evree functions as a massage cream, lubricant, moisturizer, and body butter in one100% natural ingredients, edible, vaginally safe, and non-sticky — the full wish list they achievedWhat 15,000 couples are saying about how it's changed their marriageNew products coming: Kiss Balm and a pH-balanced intimate washJustin and Natalie each go through the Core Emotion Wheel — and it's unexpectedly personalResources Mentioned:Evree Intimate Massage Cream — ⁠evreesensation.com⁠Evree Discount Code — Use code: connectioncodes for 10% off your Evree orderEvree on Instagram — ⁠@evreesensation⁠Get the Core Emotion Wheel — ⁠connectioncodes.co/podcast⁠Book a Connection Codes Coach — ⁠connectioncodes.co/coachesSEO Keywords:marriage intimacy, couples connection, how to improve intimacy in marriage, natural lubricant for couples, massage oil for couples, emotional health in marriage, relationship health, how to reignite marriage, intimacy after kids, intentional marriage, couples date night ideas, touch and connection, marriage communication, emotional intelligence relationships, intimacy products for couples

What if everything you've been labeling as a problem — the addiction, the affair, the marriage that feels like a hostage situation, the career that's slowly killing you — is actually a prophet trying to get your attention?Dr. Glenn and Phyllis Hill sit down with Jay Stringer, psychotherapist, ordained minister, and author of Desire, for one of the most searingly honest conversations about human longing, emotional health, and the hidden roadmap inside every one of us.Jay spent years studying why people engage in unwanted behaviors — and what he found wasn't weakness or moral failure. He found desire. Vandalized, suppressed, and rerouted desire. And he found that healing the root — not just managing the symptom — changes everything.In This EpisodeWhy "just stop doing the thing" almost never works — and what to do insteadThe 5 core desires every human has (and why over-indexing on one destroys the others)The concept of the "provisional self" and why so many people wake up at 60 not knowing who they areWhat bells and albatrosses can teach you about the direction your life is asking you to goThe DMZs in your marriage — and why avoiding them is quietly killing your connectionHow symptoms are actually prophets (and what they're trying to say)Jay walks through the Core Emotion Wheel live — with stunning vulnerability about loneliness, sadness, and a midlife chrysalisAbout Jay StringerJay Stringer is a licensed psychotherapist, ordained minister, and author based in New York City. His first book, Unwanted, explored the hidden drivers of unwanted sexual behavior. His new book, Desire, offers a research-backed roadmap for developing a healthy relationship to desire across all five domains of human flourishing — wholeness, growth, intimacy, pleasure, and meaning. He holds a master's in counseling psychology and an MDiv from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology.SEO Keywordsdesire and healing, emotional health podcast, marriage communication, understanding your desires, unwanted sexual behavior, porn addiction recovery, identity and self-worth, self-sabotage meaning, mental health and marriage, relationship emotional intelligence, faith and therapy, midlife identity crisis, Core Emotion Wheel, connection codes podcast, Jay Stringer Desire bookResources & LinksGet the Core Emotion Wheel — Free ResourceBook a Connection Codes CoachJay Stringer's book: DesireJay's first book: UnwantedJay Stringer’s Website: jay-stringer.comFollow Jay on Instagram: @jay_stringer_Take Jay’s Desire Profile Quiz (from the book)Jay’s Contact Page (Linktree)

What does it look like when someone who only knew two emotions — anger and joy — finally faces the full spectrum of what they feel?That's the story Han and Alicia Lau bring to the table this week. Married 31 years, parents to six kids, grandparents to six more — and coaches who almost skipped the Core Emotion Wheel entirely.Alicia grew up in a world that told her to stifle her emotions, be a "good Christian girl," and never be "too much." The result? A life where anger and joy were the only acceptable exits — until a poolside audiobook moment changed everything.In this episode, Glenn, Phyllis, Han, and Alicia unpack what it actually takes to go from emotional resistance to emotional fluency — including the 45-minute wheel session that helped Alicia finally process her father's suicide, more than a decade after his death.In This Episode:Why Alicia threw the Core Emotion Wheel across the room (metaphorically) — and why she came back to itHow blended family dynamics (and two very different cultures) shaped emotional patterns for both Han and AliciaThe moment on their 30th anniversary that changed their marriage — doing the entire Foundations course in one weekendHan's breakthrough: how advising a client led him to take his own advice about shame and guiltAlicia's 45-minute grief wheel — and why she no longer feels her dad's death the same way in her bodyWhat it means to practice the wheel "like bad first sex" and why that's the most honest description of growth we've heardGlenn and Phyllis share their own middle-of-the-night wheel moments — and what lonely really feels like when you go deepResources Mentioned:Get the Core Emotion Wheel: www.connectioncodes.co/podcastWork with a Connection Codes Coach: connectioncodes.co/coachesFoundations Masterclass: connectioncodes.co/foundationsSEO Keywords:emotional intelligence in marriage, blended family communication, how to process grief, Core Emotion Wheel, emotional avoidance, marriage coaching, emotional health tools, processing shame and guilt, trauma healing tools, long-term marriage, mental health and relationships, connection codes, emotional fluency, suicide loss grief

What does it actually look like when one spouse starts doing the emotional work before the other is ready? Ben and Hannah have been married 19 years, raised four kids (including three teenagers), and spent nearly a decade unknowingly drifting apart — until one ordinary walk changed everything.In this episode, Glenn and Phyllis sit down with Ben and Hannah for an honest, unscripted conversation about what it really takes to turn a marriage around. Ben resisted Connection Codes for over a year — and then one moment of Hannah staying present when she could have pulled away shifted everything for him. They talk about the emotional dam, why anger is usually lonely in disguise, how they're raising a 10-year-old with OCD using the Core Emotion Wheel, and what happens when coding becomes the language of your whole household.This one is for the spouse who started the work alone. For the partner who's been resistant. For the parent trying to get emotional tools into a home with teenagers. You're going to want to hear this.In This Episode:Why the first 10 years of marriage can mask deep emotional disconnectionWhat it looks like when one spouse starts coding before the other is readyThe walk that changed Ben's mind — and why Hannah's staying present made all the differenceHow anger almost always has lonely underneath itThe emotional dam: why it forms in hours, not yearsUsing the Core Emotion Wheel with a child who has OCD and self-harm patternsWhy teenagers resist coding — and the long game that actually worksWhat men lose when culture tells them vulnerability is weaknessGlenn's challenge: say the emotion out loud in the moment, even when no one's there to hear itGet the Core Emotion Wheel: www.connectioncodes.co/podcastBook a Connection Codes Coach: https://connectioncodes.co/coachesKeywords: emotional intelligence in marriage | marriage communication tools | how to reconnect with your spouse | men emotional vulnerability | emotional health relationships | OCD and emotional tools for kids | marriage disconnection | Core Emotion Wheel | how to stop emotional shutdown | marriage transformation stories | emotional dam | ooh technique | Connection Codes podcast

What do you do when the person you built your life around is suddenly gone?In this deeply moving episode, Glenn and Phyllis sit down with Eric — husband, father of 10, and Connection Codes community member — to talk about what happens when grief, identity loss, and emotional isolation collide. Eric's wife Nicole passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack just after the New Year, leaving him a single father navigating the unimaginable.But this isn't just a story about loss. It's a story about what tools, community, and the courage to be emotionally vulnerable can do — even in the darkest seasons.In this episode, you'll hear:Why grief cannot heal in isolation — and what it actually needs to move throughHow Eric tracked his emotional connection with his wife through selfies (the data will surprise you)What losing a spouse does to your sense of identity — and why that part often goes unspokenThe difference between grief that gets witnessed and grief that stays buriedHow men are conditioned to suppress emotion — and what it costs them and their kidsWhat Eric's kids said to him that changed how he showed up as a dadWhy Eric drove to Tennessee to be with a community of people he'd never met in personResources mentioned:Get your free Core Emotion Wheel → www.connectioncodes.co/podcastWork with a Connection Codes certified coach → connectioncodes.co/coachesLearn more about the School of Connection → connectioncodes.coKeywords: grief and emotional health, healing from loss, marriage and identity, emotional intelligence tools, how to grieve in community, men and vulnerability, mental health after loss, relationship emotional wellness, grief and parenting, connection and healing, emotional resilience, marriage and loss