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F ebruary 2025
Leaning Into the Conversation
Maintaining Healthy Relationships in Times of Change
We are all in relationships — they are the foundation of our lives, playing a significant role in our happiness, stability, and even our own personal growth. Whether romantic, familial, or friendship, the question is, what kind of relationship do you want? Do you want it to be fulfilling, positive, and productive or steeped in acrimony, destruction, and distraction? February is Relationship Wellness Month, a time to reflect on the connections in our lives and how we communicate with each other, even when couples or families are moving apart. Building and maintaining healthy relationships, including ones going through significant changes, is about approaching communication with respect, empathy, and a willingness to listen. When we think about what contributes to healthy relationships, “respect” is an easy answer, but it goes deeper than that. In “The Go-Giver Marriage” by John and Ana Mann, the authors emphasize the importance of attending to each other and leaning into the relationship with genuine care and effort. This approach doesn’t rely on an idealized notion of relationships where everything is perfect. Instead, it focuses on win-win strategies that allow both parties to move forward, whether growing together or moving apart with mutual respect. It’s not just staying together for the sake of it but ensuring the relationship remains meaningful and constructive. Even if couples are going in separate directions, they have given a lot of themselves, and the most productive outcome results if they don’t exacerbate the situation. The best way is to lean into the conversation rather than lean out. Listening to each other is essential, but only when it’s listening to understand. That means no interjecting or interrupting until the other side has said their peace. Once they have spoken, repeat what they said, reframing what you heard without inserting your biases. This is a way to actively check to ensure you understand their real meaning. Sometimes, we unintentionally initiate a chain of misunderstandings through misguided concerns. For example, when everything seems perfectly fine, and you suddenly ask, “Are you okay?” the other person may get defensive, wondering why you’d ask that, which can take the conversation down a path you didn’t intend. There are productive ways of checking in with the people in our relationships. It’s just a matter of approaching it in a non-biased way that won’t trigger a defensive response. “Whether romantic, familial, or friendship, the question is, what kind of relationship do you want?”
The other element is finding out what the other side needs and how to give it to them. Even in adversarial settings, such as during mediation for a couple, we have found it tremendously beneficial to hear out what each party wants. Our different backgrounds, histories, and biases play a huge role in how we perceive behavior, which can lead to yearslong arguments over things that never actually occurred. We’ve just been in our heads. Finding a way to get past these beliefs can be revolutionary in a relationship. It doesn’t mean a couple will get back together or have something blissful again — it just means less resentment and more success, whatever that may look like for you. Relationships of all kinds require ongoing care and communication. Building healthy connections takes effort and a willingness to listen to each other, even when circumstances change. By leaning into the conversation, we can foster more fulfilling, peaceful relationships even when it means they are changing.
–Michael Manely
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Call for a Consultation: ( 866) 245-5685
MORE THAN WORDS Why Estate Planning Is the Ultimate Act of Love
Love isn’t just about grand gestures and heartfelt words; it’s about ensuring the ones we love are cared for, even when life gets hard. Estate planning is one of the ultimate acts of love, giving you peace of mind and your family a precious gift of clarity and guidance. Clients often tell us that having everything in place during a time of great grief made their loss a little easier to bear — a final message of love from a family member. Reduce their stress. The death of a loved one is an incredibly difficult and emotional experience, but a well-thought-out estate plan can help take away some of the stress for your family. When you can provide an outline of your wishes for your assets, it will reduce the likelihood of disputes and confusion. The less your family has to figure out independently, the more time they have to grieve and heal. Your estate plan can also help
your family handle crises while you are still alive. If you become ill or incapacitated, having a health care directive or medical powers of attorney will allow them to make informed decisions about your care. Protect their future. When you create your estate plan, consider what will support your family’s future. There’s a selflessness in putting your loved ones first and ensuring you leave no unanswered questions for them when the time comes. This is an opportunity to provide financial stability and a family home, and even give your loved ones precious keepsakes so they can revisit those happy memories for a lifetime. Keep pets and children safe. If you have young children or a beloved pet, you can ensure the right, loving person in your life will be there to care for them if something happens to you.
By establishing guardianship for your children, you can rest assured they will receive the love, safety, protection, and support they deserve. You can designate who will take your pet and even give the caregiver money for their needs and supplies. Ultimately, estate planning is way more than paperwork; it’s one of the most powerful ways to show your love, protect your family, and leave a legacy of thoughtfulness for the people you care about most.
EMPOWERING CLIENTS THROUGH LIFE’S TOUGHEST TRANSITIONS Meet Joshua Roye
At The Manely Firm, our attorneys genuinely care about making a difference in the lives of people going through challenging situations. Our Associate Attorney, Joshua Roye, loves to see clients transform from feeling downtrodden to empowered. “It’s exciting helping them to see the transition from ‘I’m going through a divorce’ to ‘Now, I’m the person I want to be,’” he said. “Honestly, by the end of it, a lot of clients become better advocates for themselves.” Joshua always had an interest in law and public service. He looked up to his uncle, a judge, and admired the work of Atlanta consumer advocate Clark Howard of Channel 2 News. He majored in economics and began an internship in the Georgia Legislature, working in the Ways and Means Committee under Chairman Jay Powell. His mentor was one of the first people to encourage him to pursue a career as a lawyer. He became a legislative liaison for the governor’s office and attended Georgia State Law School.
unsatisfying. When he found The Manely Firm, he appreciated our focus on training and investing in attorneys. Since joining us, he said he’s learning more every day. “I’m understanding the family law process differently, and I’m getting to see my own growth,” he said. “Everybody is really intelligent and keen on getting their job done, which makes work very exciting for me.” As an associate attorney, Joshua manages many deadlines, reviews important documents, and assists his managing partner. He loves that no two days are quite the same and enjoys the high level of communication he gets with clients.
“No two families are the same, and no two divorces are the same,” he said.
Family law is incredibly rewarding for Joshua, and his goal is to relieve some of the stress for clients facing a divorce. He sees The Manely Firm as an opportunity to grow as a young attorney, and we can’t wait to see him continue to thrive and make an impact in the lives of our clients.
After passing the bar exam, he did project management work but found its transactional nature
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FABULOUS FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE
We experience a rich, complex range of emotions in our lives, but what if we can only come up with a handful of words to express our feelings? Many of us can easily say we are “happy,” “sad,” “angry,” or “confused,” but the root cause of these emotions is likely something more nuanced. When we expand our emotional vocabulary, we open a pathway to self-discovery and deeper communication, escaping the limitations of a small lexicon to describe our feelings. Understanding the nuanced difference between words and feelings like “sad” versus “lonely” gives us and our helpers more clarity. As a family law firm, we help clients define their feelings more accurately. This helps them gain perspective on their desired outcomes and allows us to advocate better for them and offer the right services or resources. When every client and employee starts with us, we give them an emotions wheel, a tool that provides many other words that may better describe what they feel. There is a big difference in how we, as a family law firm, or you, as an individual, would approach “abandonment” versus “embarrassment.” Identifying these nuances allows us to deliver better strategies for moving forward and gives you a better understanding of yourself. The emotions wheel is also a tool to separate ourselves from moments of strong emotions and let them “go to the balcony.” By stepping back rather than reacting, you can create a response aligned with your ultimate desired outcome. This process also allows us to communicate with others better. When we know exactly how someone’s behavior made us feel — like “disrespected” or “humiliated,” for example — we can express ourselves and resolve misunderstandings without conflict. So often, a friend, coworker, or romantic partner didn’t mean to evoke that feeling in the first place. Having a rich vocabulary to describe our emotions can lead to powerful professional and personal breakthroughs. We gain clarity, improve communication with others, and move beyond reactive patterns. If you’re unsure what to name your emotion, a tool like our emotions wheel can help you pinpoint the actual cause of your feelings. Beyond ‘Sad’ and ‘Happy’ MATTERS OF THE HEART
Inspired by EasyDessertRecipes.com
I ngredients • 1 cup chopped dark chocolate • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted • 3/4 cup granulated sugar • 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts • 4 large eggs, separated • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
D irections 1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a springform pan with butter or nonstick spray. 2. Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour warm, melted butter over it, wait for 2 minutes, then stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. 3. Add sugar, almond flour, and walnuts and stir to incorporate. Stir in the egg yolks and set mixture aside. 4. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip egg whites on medium until stiff peaks form. 5. Fold 1/4 of the whipped egg whites into the chocolate batter. Repeat, 1/4 at a time, until egg whites are incorporated. 6. Pour batter into springform pan and bake for 30–35 minutes. 7. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before removing from the pan. Dust with cocoa powder before serving.
“One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.” –S ophocles
–Shelia Manely
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Call for a Consultation: ( 866) 245-5685
211 Roswell St. NE Marietta, GA 30060 (866) 687-8561 www.allfamilylaw.com
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It’s About More Than Just Staying Together
Protect Their Hearts How His Journey Fuels His Passion for Family Law Unlock Your Emotional Vocabulary Fabulous Flourless Chocolate Cake
Sniff Back in Time
Have you ever caught a whiff of freshly baked cookies and suddenly found yourself back in grandma’s kitchen? Our sense of smell has a knack for transporting us back in time, thanks to a bank of 50,000 different scents tied to our memories. This little olfactory time machine plays a significant role in our daily lives, taking smells and turning them into emotional snapshots. Get ready to stop and smell the roses because we’re diving nose-first into the power of our nostrils. Scent-sational Memories The olfactory bulb processes scents at the front of our brain, the area that sends information out to the body. Odors go directly to the limbic system, the part of our brain that processes emotions and memories. When we smell something, our brains label it and remember our emotional response to it. So, when you smell those fresh cookies, your mind tells you it’s a cookie and reminds you of the warmth and love you felt as your grandma baked when you were a child. Our nose also protects us by helping us remember smells associated with danger, like fire. Whiff a Mood Lift Scents also impact our moods and feelings. Certain fragrances, like lavender, can make us feel relaxed; others, like fresh citrus, may trigger a boost of energy. The nose and limbic system work closely together. Certain scents activate the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine or serotonin and activate emotions such as happiness. Nostalgia in the Air How Familiar Scents Bring Back Memories
So, the next time you feel nostalgic, light a candle with a scent that reminds you of home, and your nose will transport you down memory lane.
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