Hello and welcome back to the Lizl Wellbeing Show, the podcast that brings you weekly wellness

wisdom you can trust. And hello to 16LS, who left this review following our very moving

recent episode with Ben West, it reads. Thankfully, I have no close personal experience

of suicide, but regarding grief, I can really relate as to whether it's quote wrong or inappropriate

to laugh after loss. And the reviewer goes on to explain, my dad died suddenly in 2005, he was

82 years old, but his passing was very unexpected. And the night before his funeral, I stayed with

a close friend who always has me in stitches with her sense of humour. And this night was no different.

I remember saying to her that I shouldn't be laughing because my dad's just died, but I couldn't

help myself and it lifted me. There were plenty of tears but humour can also be a normal part of

the grieving process. 16LS, thank you for sharing that very personal experience with us,

appreciated. And if you'd like to get in touch, you can find me on social media at Lizl Me,

where you can contact the team, at Lizl Wellbeing. And please do leave us that all important

review because it really does help other people to find us.

Well, my guest today is the award-winning specialist relationship councillor James Earl,

who has written and spoken in the past on a wide range of subjects, from understanding anxiety

or anger in a relationship to experiencing a loss of libido to suffering domestic abuse.

He's also written a paper in 2018 called The Romantic Myth of Making Love, in which he argued

that sex in a long-term relationship isn't about making love at all. And I'll be asking him

a bit more about that. But as well as having a public voice, he's also been a private practitioner

for 10 years, helping countless couples with communication issues, loss of desire and intimacy,

and surviving affairs amongst so many other problems, a very warm welcome James to the podcast.

Oh, thank you very much for having me. It's a real delight to talk to you because you have written

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