If so, you need to terminate this relationship, with no ifs, ands, buts or maybes. It has to end. You ve been guilty of stealing emotional resources from your marriage and displacing them onto someone else. In short, if you are a flirt or are hanging onto someone from the past, then your spouse s jealousy is rational and well-founded. There is an emotional threat to the relationship.
Some jealous feelings are irrational.
This is particularly true when one s spouse does have good boundaries and does guard his eyes and affections. A common cause for irrational jealousy is childhood emotional neglect or abuse. These individuals were not loved properly as children. They were not told that they were pretty or handsome. They were not hugged or touched appropriately.