Has your relationship grown distant and stagnant lately?
Does it seem that you and your partner bicker more than you communicate?
Do you feel as if the weight of life’s responsibilities is taking a toll on your marital health?
While relationships require a great deal of work and sacrifice, often the health and success of a marriage can be found in the details. You can make some tweaks to better the dynamics in your home today!
To generate greater intimacy and revitalize your relationship, begin practicing these seven simple habits:
1. Be accountable for yourself.
This may be the most significant decision you make to improve your relationship. Rather than relying on your significant other to provide you with joy or peace of mind, instead, take ownership of your feelings and well-being. Evaluate your thought patterns and habits, then adjust as needed to begin showing yourself gentleness, grace, and loving acceptance.
2. Demonstrate gentleness, grace, and acceptance to your partner.
Relationships thrive when partners are respectful and courteous toward one another. Speaking and acting with gentleness, responding with grace, and simply affirming each other may seem insignificant, but these habits can have a large impact over time.
3. Treat disagreements as opportunities to grow, rather than battles to win.
Reacting in defensiveness and viewing your partner as your opponent during an argument will do nothing to enhance your relationship. After all, as a couple, you share each other’s victories as well as defeats. With that knowledge, try to share your perspective calmly and respectfully. Listen to your partner with a genuine intent to comprehend. Make the goal of a disagreement to communicate and to better accept one another.
4. Schedule date nights.
In the early days of a relationship, time spent together is a top priority. However, many couples find that as they grow more comfortable and life becomes busier, dates fall by the wayside. Relationships are far more likely to thrive when a couple invests regular time together.
5. Be appreciative rather than critical.
Acknowledging your partner’s strong suits and showing gratitude regularly builds a positive foundation. When you do have a valid complaint or concern, try to approach the conversation from a place of gratefulness.
6. Have fun!
Relationships take work. However, they also take humor. Laughing, playing, and adventuring together cultivates closeness. Plenty of energy is spent making decisions, paying bills, and juggling responsibilities. Save some space for lightheartedness.
7. Turn your focus outward.
Recognizing and meeting the needs of others can offer a greater perspective as well as a reprieve from personal problems that weigh on your mind. Giving of yourself and joining others to serve in the community can enrich your life as an individual as well as your relationship as a couple. Serving your significant other can also deepen your relationship. Consider giving him/her a back massage, cooking a special meal, or even tackling a task that (s)he has been putting off.
Sometimes a relationship doesn’t need an overhaul as much as it needs a tune-up. Adopt these seven new habits to promote affection, foster intimacy, and watch your relationship flourish!
