I’ve often been impressed by the wisdom of this quote. At first it seems counter-intuitive. Why would having no limits be the enemy of art? If we had an endless supply of whatever we needed couldn’t we produce that much more in terms of creativity and imagination? As it turns out, the absence of limitations has just the opposite effect. A painter with only so many colors on his palette and only so many brushes, uses those limitations to create his art. It is precisely because the canvas is only so large that he has to figure out a way to convey his view...

There are times in every relationship when you feel stuck in some way. You may feel uncomfortable with something that just happened or something you have noticed in your partner and not know how to talk about it. Perhaps you have tried talking about it in the past but it just seemed to make things worse. At times like these, there is a tendency to think that you either have to do this or do that, say this or say that and neither alternative feels easy or right. For example, suppose you see that your partner is smoking more cigarettes than usual and it alarms...