Some of you might recall today’s guests from Season 1’s finale episode about Holiday Tales from around the world.

They are the sweetest couple you’ve ever met - Gabriella & Rakesh Zope. Gabriella is a psychologist from Hungary, Rakesh an Ayurveda doctor from India, and they currently live in Budapest.

Together, they’ve worked to integrate their different expertise to guide and support intercultural couples through the intricacies of relationship and the journey into parenthood.

In this Episode we talk about their intercultural relationship as well as their insights on celebrating differences and building a foundation so strong that no challenge can sway you from each other.

Show notes:

• Gabriella and Rakesh's 3 fun facts! Chinese spirit animals, cleaning habits and their take on eating dessert before the main meal...
• Love at first site - How the met
• Why is took a year for them to get together - The impact of traditional expectations on modern love
• The cultural difference when it comes to the pace of the relationship and the timing of marriage
• How they’re families received them - needing parents approval or not in different cultures.
• Gabriella’s father’s initial rejection of the marriage / challenges they faced
• Cultural vs personality differences and how to tell the difference. Rakesh shares the role of Ayurvedic personality types in understanding relationship dynamics.
• Rakesh talks about Subtle cultural expectations. Gabriella shares how she experienced it on her first visit to India. Having conversations around expectations and well as Being willing to be flexible around generational cultural expectations.
• How can you be yourself and respect other cultures at the same time - Setting boundaries.
• Reverting back to the roles you play back home. Re-aligning with your home environment that might look differently than the home environment you created with your partner.
• Bring caught in the middle between the struggles of your partner adjusting and your family adjusting. Being able to listen during these times and noticing when someone is venting or when someone is looking for a solution to the problem.
• Intension is not always bad, but sometimes words can create turbulence. How to convey the messages to each other without hurting each other. Focusing on keeping the communication open during challenging times and not letting the emotions take over the expressions.
• Rakesh talks about tools to better control the emotions and choosing what you want to express.
• Tools that help you build resilience in relationships and endure difficult situations.
• Building a daily meditation practice to help you be less reactive while experiencing negative emotions.
• The challenges of balancing individual and collective cultural identities.
• Rakesh takes us through a 5 minute calming breathing exercise.
• Gabriella shares their approach and excercises to resolving conflicts in relationships without raising our voices or placing blame.

Contact Gabriella and Rakesh on Instagram @ourinterculturallife

For more breathing/mediation exercises you can reach out to Gabriella and Rakesh or they recommend checking out:

https://www.artofliving.org/us-en

Music by Mathias Kunzli www.mathiaskunzli.com

Editing: Hanna-Lee Sakakibara & Monet Alverado

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