Category: Making Marriage Last

With divorces on the rise in many countries worldwide, there are more and more families consisting of children from previous relationships or marriages. Regular families can be complicated enough; blended and stepfamilies can even be trickier.
As the children involved are going through changes that are different from biological families, they’ll face delicate situations that need to be properly handled. This can be a time of turmoil for them so it’s useful to have these tips in mind:

#1. Learn How To Deal With Resistance

One of the first lessons you’ll learn as a step or blended parent is that it takes time for children to adjust to their new environment. It’s unrealistic to think that the new parents and children will immediately get along.

While this may be the case for some blended or step families, there is a good chance that the children don’t want new parents or siblings. Rather, they want to go back to the way things were or even hope that their biological parents will get back together.

In cases like these, you have to understand that they are not mature enough to immediately understand and accept the things that are happening around them.

More importantly, you have to bear in mind that integration is an on-going, daily process that happens gradually. Thus, you need to take things one step at a time and be on top of new situations as they come up.

#2. Be Mindful Of Their Previous Environments

As said earlier, the children are going through a transition which means that everything familiar to them has now changed. This can be a jarring experience for them, so you have to be familiar with the kind of life they’ve grown accustomed to over the years.

As such, do your best to touch base with your spouse and the children’s other biological parent to gain some insight into their lives before they met you. This includes their daily routines, the rules in the former household and their preferences.

This way, you’ll have a better grasp of the bigger picture and make the transition as smooth as possible for your new children.

Somewhere down the road, you can gradually incorporate new things into your blended or step family’s life. However, it does help to know where the children came from so that they will grow to be more comfortable in their new environment.

#3. Properly Manage Expectations

In any societal unit, misaligned expectations are a major source of conflict. The only way to navigate through these differences is by working together. Granted that you will encounter resistance along the way, you still have to make an effort to make everyone in the family feel that they are part of the same team and need to pitch in to make things work for everyone.

Furthermore, you need to encourage an atmosphere of open communication. All of you are used to a certain way of doing things, so you can’t expect to reach a middle ground without getting your differences out in the open.

More importantly, you can’t be afraid of the inevitable conflict that comes with the process of transition. Growing pains are expected of new families so the only sensible response is to properly manage them.

#4. Show a United Front

The adults need to be a good example to the children since they take cues from the grown-ups. The kind of behavior you show them today will echo in their lives forever.

Thus, all the parents involved must learn how to work together as a team and settle your differences without the children present. This can be a period of chaos, but it doesn’t mean that the children have to witness each and every detail of it.

What they should see is that their biological and step parents are cooperating as best as they can to provide a stable and happy life for everyone.

To make this happen, you and your new spouse need to accept that you’ll have interpersonal conflicts which need to be managed in the same way as say, a bad back or irritable stomach.

You and your partner will have differences when it comes to your principles and values, so you should expect some measure of conflict when it comes to these things.

As long as you have the courage to tackle these things while keeping the children out of it, they will soon adjust to their new lives.

#5. Establish a Sense Of Routine

As mentioned in the previous tip, you have to openly communicate with the other parents from the previous relationships. Once you’ve done this, you can then move on to the next step which is to create a sense of stability for the children.

Communicating with the other parents is not enough. You need to use the information you gained in order to come up with a sensible schedule to help ease what could be a potentially traumatic experience for the children.

Remember that they don’t have the mental and emotional faculties to handle these changes on their own. You can provide a great amount of comfort for them by taking the initiative to create a regular routine that they can stick to.

Many parents in this day and age find themselves juggling responsibilities like their kids, finances, careers and many other things in between.

Given the current state the economy is in, married couples are all the more driven to put their time and energy into providing a better life for their families. It’s an all-too common reality that one income isn’t enough to support the average family.

So the common trade-off is that couples have to sacrifice time for each other in exchange for earning more. With so many things to worry about, it’s hardly surprising that a lot of couples nowadays are at risk of losing sight of what brought them together in the first place.

Like it or not, everyone – including you and your partner – are at risk of getting so caught up in maintaining your relationship that you end up forgetting the most important element: each other.

This is a common challenge for all couples, and keeping your marriage alive and well throughout the years isn’t a tall order as it seems:

Step # 1: Make Time For Each Other In Simple Ways

Being proactive is key. Just like the other aspects of your life, it comes down to a matter of planning ahead when it comes to setting aside couple time.

At the very least, you should think a few weeks ahead so that your responsibilities won’t be an excuse for you not to get together. Remember, your marriage is not all business; you also need to hang out for the sake of having fun.

However, one of the biggest obstacles to getting this done is assuming that spending time together has to be on a grand scale, such as a luxury cruise. This kind of thinking holds people back from making the effort to plan ahead and put their marriage on the back burner.

The truth is that quality time doesn’t have to be measured by the amount of money you need to shell out. Sometimes, being stingy is a good thing because hanging out with your spouse shouldn’t be limited by financial constraints.

Don’t be worried that your options are limited. A little research will tell you that there are plenty of ways to spend time with your spouse on the cheap.

For instance, your local community should have a host of free activities or events you and your spouse might enjoy. If you’re both into arts and culture, attending community theater is a good way to rekindle your interest in the performing arts.

On the other hand, you might have a specific cause or charity that’s close to your hearts. There are hundreds of grassroots volunteer centers that need all the help they can get. Good examples are animal shelters which might be just the thing if you like cats or dogs.

If you’re outdoor buffs, biking along the local park will allow you and your spouse to enjoy the scenery. You could even bring along a picnic basket with goodies like wine, cheese, crackers or whatever other snacks you both like. By the time the sun goes down, you could share a special moment together and indulge in the simple joys of life.

As much as we’d like to give you a detailed step-by-step guide on how to figure out your schedule, all couples are different. You and your partner have a specific daily itinerary so it’s up to you to come up with a timetable that works for your relationship.

At first it might seem weird to be planning your days like this since “fun time” should be spontaneous. However, you can’t get around the fact that your life has changed and you now have other priorities to sort out. But that doesn’t mean you still can’t have fun even if you need to think ahead.

Couples who have just started dating bond much faster through shared activities. Collective experiences naturally create an emotional closeness between people, and this still applies to you even if you’ve been together for years.

Step # 2: Maintaining Your Intimacy

Companionship is a basic foundation for your marriage, but married life is just as dependent on the sexual aspect of your relationship. Keeping the romance alive means having shared experiences both inside and outside the bedroom.

Physical intimacy is just as important in strengthening your marital bonds. This is why you should also make time to get busy under the sheets.

Don’t think that the opportunity to get physical with your spouse will just present itself without any effort on your part. Like we said in the beginning, your schedule could very well overwhelm you if you don’t take a proactive approach.

Again, it feels unromantic to plan something like having sex, but you already know that you have to work around your schedule to make this happen. Besides, you really won’t be complaining about thinking ahead once things heat up.

Step #3: Knowing Each Other Inside Out

Spending time together and making love are not enough. You also have to know what’s going on inside each other’s heads. You and your partner may be together at home all the time, but do you try and ask how he or she is doing?

As the routine of married life settles in, it’s quite easy to tune each other out and forget about how each of you is doing.

With so much on your plate, you might think that you’ll get around to having have those intimate conversations like you did before you got married. But that day will never come unless you really want it to.

When you make time to get together, don’t forget to also ask your spouse how he or she is doing during your conversations. For all you know, there are a lot of things on your partner’s mind that you didn’t even know about.

It’s dangerous to assume that you already know everything about your spouse. Both of you are busy with your individual lives. So it’s normal to slowly become unfamiliar with the other’s emotional well being.

Understandably, talking about these things can be difficult, especially if you haven’t gotten into these topics for a while.

Nevertheless, you can still chip away at this by asking simple questions about the things that matte to your spouse. This can include things like their job, or current hobbies.

As they start to open up again about the things that keep them up at night or inspire them, you’ll be able to peel back one layer at a time. Soon enough you’ll be able to restore the emotional intimacy that you once had.

At Save My Marriage Today, we believe in the power of the “little things” and how they add up over time. Gestures and habits that don’t seem much at first actually matter in the long run; couples who don’t realize this will eventually drift apart.

The fact is that these things create “ripples” in your marriage. What you do might seem small today, but with consistent effort, the effects will radiate and expand in the greater scheme of things.

You were led to believe that once you got the ring on their finger the rest would be happy ever after.

But despite the very obvious fact you are married, what if it still doesn’t feel right?

What if your spouse’s heart just hasn’t made that commitment yet?

There are several reasons your spouse may not be fully committed to your marriage. Some are simply a reflection of where they are at in their life, and others are a result of things you are doing.

Let’s take a look at 5 of the top reasons your spouse isn’t showing the commitment your marriage needs:

1. They’re at a different level.

People fall in love at different speeds and at different times. For some people, it really is love at first sight. For others, love takes a little longer to develop. This isn’t to say they aren’t in love with you or that they will never reach the level you are at, but it’s important to understand that the rate at which we fall in love is unique to each and every person.

He may have been ready to settle down before he met you. She may have had emotional baggage from a previous relationship that made her more cautious. Some people are a little more cautious when it comes to love, where others jump in the deep end, immersing themselves in the turbulent whirlpool of emotions and thrive. No approach is better than the other.

The key here is understanding that each person develops their connection and commitment in a unique way and at their own speed. If your spouse doesn’t have the same level of commitment as you, it may just be that they are at a different stage and working at a different speed. Diversity is part of what makes your marriage unique!

2. You don’t support your spouse’s ambitions and/or don’t make them feel appreciated enough

Everyone need their egos stroked, and for your spouse to feel like you are ‘the one’ it will help a lot if you can notice all the good things they do (like the effort they make with the chores, and the effort they make with what they are wearing.) It’s easy to focus on the negatives, but it’s even more important to notice and mention the good things!

It is also incredibly important that you don’t try to change them too much, or let your own dreams in the marriage overshadow theirs. A great marriage is about supporting yours and their dreams. It is possible to achieve it all if it’s important enough.

It sounds obvious, but there are a lot of women and men out there who try to mould their spouse into the person they wished they
were, rather than supporting them in being the best version of themselves that they can be. Loving someone is about loving them for who they are, faults and all. Remember, they love you for the same reason!

3. The sex isn’t great

If your spouse has had a partner before with whom with the sex was better, or more frequent, this can make them nervous about being completely honest. They might be embarrassed about the subject and be hoping things will improve, which is why it’s really important to talk about it and see if you can both find ways to get what you want in the bedroom

If you feel that sex isn’t important, then that attitude could well be a reason for their coyness when it comes to full commitment. Sex is a vital part of a healthy marriage, especially because it strengthens and renews the intimate and emotional bonds the two of you need to sustain your marriage.

4. They have other priorities

Work, children, family, and friends. All of these things demand time and attention. Your spouse’s lack of commitment to you may be a sign that they don’t know how to balance these things in your marriage

If your spouse feels they’ve got other areas in life that require more attention, then that will come first and they will think of you later. If that’s not something you’re comfortable with, it might be time to discuss your priorities and balance as a couple.

5. Loss of free time and identity.

Let’s face it, we all like time to ourselves where we can do our own thing. Marriages take up an enormous amount of time and
energy and that kind of pressure can take a lot of time to adjust to. Your spouse may miss the hobbies they used to do that they no longer have time for. They may have had dreams that have had to take a back seat in the interest of the marriage. They may feel marriage has changed the both of you.

What things did you enjoy doing before you were married? Is there time to revisit some of these things and make time to pick up these interests again? A healthy marriage is about a balance of “me” time versus “we” time. Individual hobbies or interests are great things to have, and give you both something passionate to talk about when you are back together.

Marriage doesn’t stop you from doing the things you love. The only limit is your imagination. Allowing your spouse the time to do something they love may free up time for you to follow your passions.

Commitment is something that takes time to achieve. In a healthy, supportive marriage, that commitment you have to each other is made easier when you understand why you love each other and always look for ways to feed and nurture that connection.

Here’s to your renewed, committed marriage.

Keeping your relationship healthy takes a lot of work. But referring to it as “work” sure takes the fun out of being married, doesn’t it?

That’s the thing that couples unconsciously do amidst the business of keeping their marriages afloat. You became a couple to enjoy each other’s company, and when the responsibilities of married life come rolling in, the relationship feels like an endless series of boring chores.

Marriage doesn’t have to feel like work all the time; as a couple, you owe it to yourself to remember the pleasure of enjoying the little things.

Take your daily conversations for instance. When was the last time you had a pleasant chat that wasn’t about the kids, your bills or the errands you have to run?

If you’re having a hard time answering that, there are a few things you can do to make your conversations a way to make your marriage more pleasant on a daily basis:

#1: Don’t Talk About Your Problems

Remember when I just asked about the last time you talked to your spouse about something other than your marital duties? This is actually the first rule of pleasant conversation!

When you’re at a party with your co-workers, talking about work is probably not a great way to keep everyone in a festive mood. Instead, you’d probably feel bummed out and stressed.

The same should apply to your marriage. You signed up for better or worse, but it doesn’t mean ALL of your conversations have to revolve around the mountain of stuff you need to get done.

Everyone needs a break, so take the initiative to set aside a certain time of the day to use that release valve and talk about something that you do like. It can be the simplest of things, like the funny joke your boss cracked at the board meeting or that silly cat video you saw on YouTube.

#2: “There, threre”

Ok, so maybe your spouse will feel like talking about things that are stressing him or her out (to blow off steam) and you feel like offering some helpful guidance on what to do about it.

Here’s a tip: Don’t.

As much as you might want to play counselor at this time, it would be better to hang back and let your spouse do the talking instead of coming up with a solution. If you really want to help, try to identify what he or she is feeling and mirror it back to your spouse.

For example, you can tell your spouse, “Geez, that sucks!” or “I’d probably throw a fit if that were me!”

It’s actually more important to lend a sympathetic ear and make your partner feel you’re in their corner. This is the best time to enforce that valuable sense of “we-ness” with something as basic as “I can’t believe what a jerk your co-worker is!”

#3: “And Then What Did You Do??”

Who says all gifts come with a price tag? Your undivided attention is one of the best things you can give to your spouse to make them feel special.

Expressing a real sense of interest in their life is very beneficial to your marriage as it validates your partner’s feelings. Chances are, your partner will have strong emotions attached to their anecdotes, so keeping your ears peeled and asking follow up questions is like saying, “I get you.”

Sometimes, the basic courtesy of being a good listener is one of the simplest yet overlooked tricks to a great conversation with your spouse.

We’ve mentioned in the past that stress can accumulate in a marriage. Although we need to take the edge off marital difficulties by taking care of ourselves, your daily conversations can serve to de-stress you on a shared level.

Making a conscious effort to tweak your conversational style can surprisingly go a long way in doing that. In time, you’ll develop the daily ritual of chatting your stress away at the day’s end!

How do you make your conversations with your spouse more pleasant?  Let us know in the comments!

As we’ve talked about in the past, being “in love” is the passionate feelings of infatuation that couples experience during the early years of their marriage. However, these intense emotions are meant to wane over the months and years.

As your relationship evolves, there will be periods of conflict with your spouse characterized by emotional chaos, disillusionment and ultimately, acceptance. In time, your marriage will go beyond fleeting moments of passion and move on to a more stable, deeper sense of loving.

With that, I’d like to offer ways to help your marriage move smoothly throughout the different phases of its evolution:

#1: Put Your Love Into Action

Verbally affirming your spouse is important, but the other half of showing your love is based on tangible things that they can see.

Like we said, being “in love” is temporary.  To help your love evolve to its deeper stages, showing it through actions is important – especially when you DON’T feel like doing it.

Yes, there will be times when the passionate feelings will be absent (usually after the “reality check” stage kicks in), and just because you may not be in the mood, it doesn’t mean you should stop doing things for your partner.

Think about the other areas of your life. If you only showed up at work or gave your best only when you felt like it, chances are you wouldn’t stay hired for long.

Emotions are fleeting, but your life-long commitment to loving your spouse shouldn’t be.

#2: Keep In Touch

When it comes to staying close, talking with your spouse more frequently is only the first step. Truly effective marital communication involves two other components.

First, expect that you won’t agree with everything your spouse will say. Whether it’s politics, religion, philosophy on life, raising the kids, or your preferred brand of toothpaste, it’s vital to always maintain respect for each other’s opinions.

The combination of events in your life is different from your partner’s, so each of you will have unique filters which affect the way you see the world.

The other aspect of effective communication is your ability to truly listen to your spouse. Sometimes, we get so caught up with wanting to being heard by our partner that we end up tuning them out.

Among the many couples we’ve helped over the years, we’ve noticed that being unacknowledged and a lacking sense of validation are MAJOR sources of negative feelings in a marriage.

If you want to love your spouse, make the effort to really listen AND empathize with them. Pay attention to both their words AND actions to get a clear picture of where they’re coming from – this is your best weapon against potentially damaging misunderstandings!

#3: It’s about BOTH of YOU

Before you got married, you probably had a clear idea of the direction you wanted your life to take. Now that you’re sharing your life with someone else, have you updated your vision to include your partner?

Many people forget that getting married means combining their individual plans into a SHARED one. How can you move forward as a couple if you can’t agree on the direction of your marriage?

It’s a given that you’ll clash over your values when you begin asserting your respective personalities in the relationship.

But that’s not the point – it’s every couple’s responsibility to GET PAST these fundamental differences.

Goal-setting is a very crucial foundation in any healthy relationship; be prepared to talk about the basic objectives of your marriage as early as possible.

(Incidentally, our Save My Marriage Today book has a lot of couple exercises, including goal-setting!)

Also, don’t forget to devote quality time for each other and make daily gestures of love to remind yourselves that your marriage is more important than the differences you need to resolve.

#4: But It’s also about YOU

At the same time however, you need to retain your individuality. To make your marriage last, you also have to hold on to the traits which make you unique from your partner.

He or she liked you for who you are, so it’s important to keep those wonderful qualities alive in you. Besides, things would get pretty boring if you only liked and did the same things as your spouse.

To preserve your unique qualities, find time to maintain your personal interests. While it’s good to keep your marriage as the top priority, part of a lasting relationship is having the space to do your own thing from time to time.

Being married may not be a paying job, but it takes hard work to make it work!

Take time to indulge in your hobbies and other extra-curricular activities such as volunteer work, video games, books, movies or sports. Whatever appeals to you, attending to them gives you a chance to let off some steam and keep you refreshed.

As you do this, don’t forget to support your spouse in their own activities. They need a chance to regain their bearings just as much as you do.

Here’s another tip – being happy as an individual also means working out any personal hang-ups. Everyone has them, so there’s nothing wrong with working on your emotional and spiritual development.

There are different self-improvement books and classes which will best suit your needs. Take the time to look into them to prevent your personal issues from affecting your marriage.

By being the best version of yourself, you can fulfill your role as your partner’s better half.

When you look back to the moments that you hurt your partner, it’s common to wish that you could go back in time and do things differently. Sadly, what’s done is done; both of you need to live with the consequences.

We’re only human, and it’s in our nature to make mistakes. But how to do you rectify the hurtful actions in order to heal the pain?

Start With Yourself

As difficult as it sounds, you need to forgive yourself first. Otherwise, you’re going dwell on the past (which you can’t change) instead of taking the steps towards reconciliation.

You need to remember that everyone makes bad decisions; if you had another chance to do it again, you wouldn’t have hurt your partner. But there’s no point in mulling over that now.

Would you rather stay miserable and refuse to move forward?

Or acknowledge what happened and learn from it instead?

The choice is simple. The sooner you choose to be constructive, the quicker you can take the next step: taking responsibility.

Learning From The Past

As I like to tell my clients, it takes two to tango. In any given marriage, each spouse is responsible for taking care of the relationship.

So, you need to look within and understand your own role in the relationship. Although I said earlier that you shouldn’t punish yourself for your mistakes, you also have to take an objective look at how your past actions have shaped the current state of your marriage.

This is not about blaming yourself or your partner, but rather gathering useful insights from what has happened:

– What do your mistakes say about your limits as a person?

– How can you overcome these limits?

– What are the core issues in your marriage that drove you to make those judgment errors?

– Do you have personal issues which have been inadvertently brought into the marriage? If so, how has this impacted your relationship with your spouse?

– What measures can you take to work on your issues and help you become a better spouse?

The last question is especially important. By acknowledging your weaknesses and committing to work on them, you are taking a pro-active approach to fixing the damage that has been wrought.

Counseling, along with self-help courses and reading material, are examples of ways you can make a long-term change in your behavior. These are very concrete ways to tell your spouse that you’re truly repentant and want to make things right.

This also shows that you are a person of action, and not just words. The problem with some partners is that they resort to making short-sighted promises to change for the better.

Rushing to make everything right without any forethought will only aggravate the situation.  It doesn’t show a genuine desire to fix your marital issues for good. All it does is overlook the REAL reasons why your marriage is troubled.

Restoring The Connection

As you work on yourself, remain loving towards your spouse. Think of little ways you can express your love, like making their favorite snack or sending them a short email during the day.

Words of kindness will also help reaffirm your place in your partner’s heart. When the opportunity arises, be generous with your praise, appreciation and gratitude.

Try to remember the kinds of activities you enjoyed when you first started dating. Think of things you can together, like going to a concert, watching funny movies, or having a picnic by the lake.

Act without expecting your spouse to reciprocate your actions. Loving someone sometimes means doing so even if that person may not be ready to return the favor.

Give it time for your gestures to sink in. Don’t pressure your partner into loving you once more and give without expecting anything back.

Focus on being as positive and non-needy as you can be, so that you’ll be much more pleasant to be around.

Feelings come and go, so don’t let your partner’s withdrawal discourage you. Taking the right steps will restore the balance of your relationship’s love bank.

Eventually, an estranged spouse will learn to accept the past and open their heart to the friendship that you offer.

A lot of couples find themselves at the edge of their sanity, weary from keeping their marriage afloat. But if there’s one thing that can help them in their uphill struggle towards a better relationship, it’s returning to the reasons they fell in love.

The bond that husbands and wives share is often compared to a bonfire. Much like brightly burning flames, the passion typically runs high during the initial stages of the relationship.

As the months and years pass by, the fires of romance will naturally settle down a bit – this is a normal part of a relationship. However, these flames could be extinguished altogether if a couple goes through too many unresolved conflicts.

When spouses become sidetracked by these obstacles, it could cause a gap than can grow increasingly wider over time. Before they even realize it, their fire has fizzled and crumbled into a pile of ash.

With a simple technique however, any couple can uncover the still-glowing embers underneath and re-ignite the spark of their love.

Finding Strength In The Past

Going through some exercises with your spouse is the key is to reviving the positive feelings in your marriage. To get started with this, you need to go the past and look at the roots of your marriage.

Do you remember how you first met? What were the things you liked the most about him or her back then?

While these are just some of the things you need to think about, merely reminiscing the good old days on a superficial level won’t do the trick.

Like a cherished photo album, you need to retrieve your happy memories from the back of your mind, dust it off and make an effort to keep them in your conscious thoughts.

Passively “flipping” though the pages without much thought isn’t going to help your marriage.

To take an in-depth look back in time, you and your spouse need to do some structured sharing exercises.

Come up with a set of questions that both of you can answer and discuss. To give you a better idea, here are some sample topics you can start off with:

1. What are the top 5 qualities that you like about your spouse?
(*Follow up: name a specific instance when your spouse put these qualities into action.)

2. What are the favorite things that your spouse does for you?

3. Name 3 good memories from your wedding day (i.e. sweet, touching, funny, etc.)

4. What were the best moments in your marriage?

5. When was the moment that you decided to marry your partner?

6. What were the challenges you’ve overcome as a couple and how did you get past them?

Feel free to create more questions that are relevant to your situation. You’ll be surprised at the direction your discussions will take as you suddenly recall little snippets that will remind you of the good times.

The important thing is that you explore and savor the good parts of your past so that you’ll learn to FOCUS on each other’s positive traits. Sometimes, getting over a slump in your life boils down to having the right perspective.

Unleashing The Power Of Positivity

In essence, all of this is meant to put you and your spouse’s mindset on a positive track. The single biggest cause of marital strife is not the actual issues that couples have (e.g. finances, in-laws, differences of opinion), but the lack of good feelings to help dilute the negativity of their problems.

If you can’t even bring yourselves to like each other, how can you expect your relationship to stay intact when the bad times come rolling in? That’s why going back to the past and celebrating your origins as a couple is just the trick to give your marriage a much-needed boost.

John Kehoe, creator of the self-empowerment course “Mind Power”, says that there are certain laws of the mind that govern our thinking. One of these is called the “Law Of Control” which states that we have the power to let thoughts take up space in our mind OR kick them out.

With your couple exercises, you’ll develop the ability to let go of negative emotions and see each other in a positive light instead. As far your relationship is concerned, you’ll also find it easier to see yourselves from a “we” perspective rather than as individuals.

Slow Start? Don’t Sweat It

Granted that hostile couples will have a harder time to get the ball rolling, they can ease their way into the topic by casually bringing it up during mundane times like having brunch on the weekend or while enjoying a quiet evening at home.

Eventually, you’ll become comfortable engaging in this positive discussion on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. In time, you’ll be able to turn the tide of negative emotions in your marriage.

As the love finds its way back into your relationship, you’ll find that problems are much easier to handle.

The Path To Better Things

Of course, doing these exercises is not a silver bullet that will magically solve all of your problems. Nevertheless, including them in your weekly routine will create a profound effect on your marriage.

In the future, you’ll open your doors to even more relationship-strengthening techniques, such as doing the exercises found in our “Save My Marriage” book or habits of maintenance.