Hi, I am married for 10yrs with 2 kids. Suddenly I discovered my wife is having a relation with another man. I was devastated but rather than revealing I am aware I rather recalled all the good moments we had. She decided to part ways with another man still I wanted to know what prompted her so went into an open discussion with my wife knowing she already parted ways. She was shocked to know that I am aware but then she revealed she was emotionally down for last 6months and I was occupied with work. As I am emotionally attached with my kids and wife I decided to carry on and rather our love went more intense since the incident. Every now and then I still doubt and fail to maintain the same level of trust which I should. Please guide how I can maintain more stronger trust.

Ans: She’s taking you for a ride for sure. She’s obviously not being truthful or faithful. Just because it’s your second marriage doesn’t mean you let yourself be taken advantage of in a bid to make things work. It looks like she’s in this relationship only for convenience. I would suggest a marital counsellor asap.

Ans: Dear Anonymous,
It is definitely difficult to trust again when the trust has been broken in the first place.
So, you need to make that call...if you want to rebuild your relationship and the reason is for the sake of the children, it might not last long. Make a decision of getting back together to first put your relationship with her in place; the children will anyway benefit from that. Having said that, this requires you to trust her...
Is it possible? Yes, though you will be continually filled with doubts and test her every move and that will not be healthy...
So, the key is that if you have decided to get back together, you must put full faith and trust back into it as hard as it may seem...But do it a 100%...give it your full...You either trust or you don't...there's no in between state here...
What might help is to have a clear conversation with your wife before you make any decision. Express how this has hurt you and how difficult you find it trusting her again. Allow her to do the talking on what she wants, what efforts she is going to put to reconcile and how things seem in the near future to her.
Gauge if there is any inadequacy that she has felt within the marriage so that this can be addressed as well.

The conversation is only a guide to the way forward and not a BEAT each other up game.

So, start your new journey knowing if you can trust, if you want to trust again...It will open up a sea of challenges and lessons to learn from.

All the best!

Ans: Dear Anonymous,
Well, it's your control over the way your mind thinks...
If you want to play upon what's happened, then making up and trying to be in the marriage is going to be a difficult proposition. So, decide how you want to play this? Will you train your mind to look forward and rebuilding the marriage OR do you wish to keep at what's happened and live in the past? This is your choice to make...Of course, you cannot erase what's happened but you can change the way that you feel about it...
So, first make that choice. If you wish to dwell on the past, do know that your relationship will sour sooner than later. If you wish to move things ahead, then:
- rebuild the lost trust by spending more time together
- every time you slip into the past, remind yourself that you made the choice to move ahead
- make a clear and positive image of hwo you want your married life to be and play it up in your mind several times in a day

These are a few ways of changing the way you think about an incident and teaches you to move ahead more in a focused manner. Make a choice and stick by it.

All the best!