What’s the most romantic thing you can do for your husband this Valentine’s Day? Planning a special dinner? Choosing the perfect gift?
Those gestures are wonderful, of course, but the most powerful thing for your marriage might actually be showing your excitement when he tells you he aced a presentation at work or that he hit his exercise goal for the month.
Recent research highlights the value of celebration, positivity and enthusiasm in creating a happy relationship. That might seem intuitive, but it’s something we often overlook. We tend to talk about the strength of a relationship in terms of how a couple weathers challenges or hard times together. But the way we handle the “for better” part of “for better or for worse” is just as important.
A UCLA study found that the way dating couples discussed positive events was more closely related to the health of their relationships than how they talked about negative events. Another study discovered that sharing good news with someone else and getting an enthusiastic response enhances the value of the good news to the sharer and strengthens the relationship with the responder.
And just last year, a brain-imaging study added more evidence for the power of positivity. New York Magazine’s Science of Us blog describes the study as showing that “the relationship satisfaction of longtime married elderly women is particularly related to the neural activity they show in response to their husbands’ displays of positive emotion, rather than negative emotion” and notes the possibility “that marital happiness goes hand in hand with sensitivity to our partners’ positive emotion.”
How can you use these findings to strengthen your own relationship? Christine Carter of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center recommends remembering to share your own good news with your partner and reacting with enthusiasm when he shares good news with you. The key word here is “enthusiasm.” A distracted “that’s nice, Honey” just doesn’t have the impact of genuine interest and excitement. We all have an innate need to be “seen” and cherished by the people who are important to us. When that happens in a relationship, the bond between partners strengthens. Also remember that all the seemingly little positive and negative things you do in a relationship add up over time. Responding enthusiastically when your partner has good news is a great way to make a “deposit” in the emotional bank account of your relationship — and ensure that you’re ready for any “withdrawals” in difficult times.
To learn more about infusing your relationship with positivity, check out my book Strong Women, Strong Love. And don’t forget to throw in a few high fives (figurative or literal!) for your husband amid all the hearts and flowers of Valentine’s Day.
Acceptance can be a hard subject to think about when it comes to your marriage.
Among couples I’ve counseled, I’ve seen many people who believe that their spouses need to change — and many who are actively trying to change their spouses.
But John Gottman, one of the leading researchers on marriage, says that trying to change your spouse to improve your marriage is essentially a waste of time.
Most things that couples argue over just aren’t fixable, Gottman says. They’re chronic disagreements that stem from being different people.
The alternative we’re left with is becoming more accepting of our spouses.
Now before I go any farther, I want to make clear that I’m not talking about “accepting” destructive behaviors like abuse and addiction. Instead, I’m focusing here on the day-to-day behaviors and pet peeves that often become stumbling blocks in our marriages.
That said, how do you start building acceptance when you’re not feeling very accepting?
Develop your empathy. Turn the mirror on yourself. What are you like to live with? What’s it like to be on the receiving end of some of your behaviors? This exercise can help you realize that a healthy marriage takes acceptance and accommodation from both of you.
Consider the whole person. You may be so tightly focused on the traits of your husband that you want to change that you forget that they don’t define him entirely. The things that bother aren’t his only distinguishing qualities. It may help you accept a behavior that annoys you — maybe, for example, he’s absentminded — when you remind yourself of the qualities about him that you love, like the fact that he’s a great father.
Decide what’s important — and what isn’t. Is the behavior you wish your husband would change really all that vital to your marriage? Some things are worth fighting for in your relationship. Other simply aren’t. In the grand scheme of things, what are you better off letting go of?
Treat your husband as you would a friend. As women, we often have more patience with our friends’ quirks than we do our husband’s. Can you bring the same tolerance that you show in friendships to your marriage?
Reduce your own stress. We grow less patient and accepting of others when we’re stressed. And, thanks to our busy lives, we’re stressed much of the time. If you notice that you’re feeling especially impatient or judgmental about something relatively minor your husband is doing, let that be a signal to give yourself some self care and stress relief. For ideas, see the chapter “Calm Down To Invite Connection” in my book Strong Women, Strong Love.
Be realistic. The reality is that one human being can’t be everything you want him to be and meet all of your needs. And, by the way, you can’t expect yourself to meet all of his needs, either.
The bottom line is that you don’t have to love everything your husband does, but your marriage will benefit when you cultivate acceptance for the things that you don’t love, but just aren’t that big of a deal. Let the following quote by Wes Angelozzi inspire you:
Go and love someone exactly as they are. And then watch how quickly they transform into the greatest, truest version of themselves. When one feels seen and appreciated in their own essence, one is instantly empowered.
PS: While this post talks about acceptance in the context of marriage, you might also find that these ideas are also helpful when you’re around family members who push your buttons during the holiday season.
When was the last time you and your husband had sex? Do you feel like the physical intimacy between you is slowly withering away? In this eye-opening TED talk, seasoned marriage therapist, Michele Weiner-Davis explains how to turn this situation around.
Michele Weiner-Davis, MSW is an internationally renowned relationship expert, best-selling author, marriage therapist, and professional speaker. Among the first in her field to courageously speak out about the pitfalls of unnecessary divorce, Michele has been active in spearheading the now popular movement urging couples to make their marriages work and keep their families together. Michele is the Director of The Divorce Busting® Center and the founder of www.divorcebusting.com. She has been a frequent guest on shows such as Oprah, 20/20, 48 Hours, The TODAY show, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, and so on. Her work as been featured in most major newspapers and magazines.
Do you remember how upset you got the last time you felt your husband was ignoring you or didn’t seem to care about your needs? Did you calmly ask for what you needed? Or, did you scream at him or give him the cold shoulder?
When someone we love isn’t there for us, it can be very distressing. And when it’s the person we’ve chosen to spend our lives with, it can feel downright scary. Like it or not, we are all hardwired for connection. We literally cannot survive on our own. This means depending on each other is not a choice, even if our society incorrectly convinces us we’re weak if we need anyone.
I recently attended a fabulous conference about Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), a type of marriage therapy developed by Dr. Sue Johnson. Sue is one of the leading marriage researchers in the world and says we should accept our need for each other and learn how to get closer in our most important relationships. She uses the science on love and attachment to help people become warmer, more genuine, and present with their partner.
If you think you might be interested in learning more about EFT, I would recommend reading Sue Johnson’s wonderful book, Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love or her checking out her website: DrSueJohnson.com. If you’d prefer a summary of some of the core ideas, keep reading.
Importance of Close Relationships
EFT draws on the large body of research on human attachment and recognizes that close relationship are essential to our well being. Think about some of these interesting facts research has already discovered about love:
We are hardwired to connect. We are bonding mammals, so we literally die without connection to others. Love is a force that keeps us close to each other, thereby supporting our very survival.
For our physical and mental health, we need to feel secure, not just know it. We know when we have emotional security because we feel it at a gut level.
Secure connections with our loved one are linked to lower rates of heart disease, increased immune system functioning, and decreased depression.
When we truly feel secure and safe in our relationship(s), we are also naturally calmer, clearer in our thinking, and much more empathetic, curious, and open.
The single largest threat to us emotionally is anything that jeopardizes our sense of belonging. We use each other to stay calm and steady, so when something significant goes wrong in an important relationship, we will go into a state of panic at a very deep level.
Being alone is the scariest and most dangerous thing that can happen to a person. Because we’re wired to keep others close to us, our bodies literally experience pain when are isolated, left out, or lose an important relationship. Heartbreak is a real thing.
Research shows that criticism and other hurtful words actually cause us physical harm. The same areas in the brain light up on a brain scan in response to physical or emotional pain.
Strategies for Connection
So what does all this have to do with you and your husband? In a society where people have fewer and fewer connections, a marriage becomes a very important part of your well being. How your husband responds when you need him carries a great deal of weight. When you reach out to your partner, sometimes he will respond, and sometimes he won’t. By reaching out, Sue Johnson says, what we’re really asking our partner is:
Can I count on you?
Are you here for me?
Will you respond when I need, when I call?
Do I matter to you?
Am I valued and accepted by you?
Do you need me, rely on me?
If you have a husband that is usually responsive, an occasional lapse may annoy you, but not much more. If, however, you’re truly afraid that the answer to these questions is “no,” you’ll feel insecure and will probably do one of the following:
1. Protest. You react to his disconnection by freaking out, demanding, or pushing. You may also complain, criticize or blame. Unfortunately, these behaviors tend to push any person even further away.
2. Withdraw. You tell yourself that you don’t need him anyway. Inside, you’re not at all at peace or happy about this. In fact, you feel resigned and hopeless. You might find other ways of numbing or escaping these painful feelings, such as staying incredibly busy, spending all your time with the kids, surfing the net, eating or exercising too much, or using alcohol or drugs.
EFT has identified three common relationship patterns that couples get stuck in when they feel disconnected:
1. Protest Polka. I protest your disconnection, and you withdraw. (“I know you don’t care about me any more!”) Your withdrawal makes me more insecure, so I protest louder (“You’re never going to change!) and you withdraw further. This pattern is the most common one leading to divorce.
2. Find the Bad Guy. I protest your distance (“You don’t even kiss me when you get home!”), and you protest mine (“When was the last time you actually asked me how I’m doing?”). We try to pin the blame for the disconnection on each other and end up driving each other further away.
3. Freeze and Flea. We both give up on fighting for the connection and retreat because we think it’s safer. This is nothing but a recipe for tremendous loneliness.
The hard thing to see in these relationship dances is that couples are actually wanting emotional connection, but creating more distance. We all need our partner to see us, tune into how we’re really doing, and love us through hard times. We just may not be so great at asking for connection in ways that work very well.
So, what can you do to increase the odds of keeping your partner close? Here are a few tips out of the EFT approach to try:
• Be emotionally present. Emotional presence is the key to connection. Direct face-to-face contact without electronic devices, interruptions, or distractions is essential. You must show up in both body and mind. You don’t have to always make huge amounts of time for each other, but when you are interacting, make sure you’re really genuinely present and doing your best to connect. Otherwise, the connection with you will be no different from connection with a stranger. But since you’re not a stranger, being disconnected from you will probably upset your partner.
• Make your relationship a priority. You have to be very intentional and make your relationship a priority if you want to keep your marriage strong. Our society does little to support relationships, so you have to decide yours is important and work on staying connected emotionally.
• Move toward each other. When either of you are struggling, try to reach out, rather than being hurtful or pulling away. Talk about what’s really going on with you without casting blame. If you value your partner, he’s much more likely to listen to you.
• Be positive. Consistently acknowledge, support, and appreciate your partner, remembering how bad you feel when you’re not receiving these things yourself.
Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.~Anaïs Nin
We’re entering a busy time of year. But amid everything on your holiday season to-do list, don’t forget to give your marriage attention, too.
Neglect is an easy pattern for spouses to fall into — all the while assuming that things are OK in their marriage because they’re not outwardly fighting.
To some extent, it’s normal to give your relationship less attention over time as the two of you grow comfortable and secure with each other.
But your marriage will suffer if you starve it of time and attention for too long.
Perhaps it’s not very romantic, but we can compare marriage to other things that take ongoing maintenance, like caring for you car, your appearance or your garden. You can get away with putting off an oil change, a haircut or weeding for a while, but eventually that deferred maintenance takes its toll.
And there’s another similarity between marriage maintenance and the other routine maintenance tasks we perform. It doesn’t have to take long. We’re not talking a fancy dinner every week or romantic vacations every season.
In fact, it’s essential that your marriage maintenance fit into your lives. As busy as we all are, anything that seems like too much work is a hard sell.
So how do you make marriage maintenance an easy habit and avoid neglecting your relationship? Here are a few tips to help keep your love strong:
Take some time for just the two of you. Even a little bit helps.
Look for the positives. When things get hectic — as they often do this time of year — we tend to focus on what needs doing, not what was done right. Make a conscious effort to notice your husband’s contributions.
Examine your interactions. Your relationship happens in all your little daily moments together. Do they make you feel better about each other — or worse? Remember the common courtesies, like saying goodbye to each other when you leave in the morning.
Go beyond small talk. Even if the two of you don’t have much time for conversation, you can still take things a little deeper than “How was your day?” “Fine.” When you do have an opportunity to talk in more depth, you may want to try the 36 questions I wrote about in earlier blog. Research shows they build intimacy.
Don’t forget special occasions. Do you overlook the milestones you made a big deal out of back in the early days of your relationship?
Stop and check in. Do you know what’s important in your husband’s life right now? Life throws a lot at us sometimes, and when it does, you might fall back on assumptions about what’s going on with your partner. Remember to stop and ask each other how you’re doing, what your main concerns are and whether you’re both still moving toward your dreams and goals. Disconnects happen between partners. Maybe, for example, one of you feels that life hasn’t changed that much since you had a baby, but the other feels discombobulated. The important thing is to catch these disconnects early before the two of you drift too far apart.
Make it a regular part of your day. When marriage maintenance is just part of your routine, it feels less like “work.”
A little daily maintenance can make your marriage dramatically better. You can find many more ideas for strengthening your relationship even when you’re both busy and stressed in my book Strong Women, Strong Love.
It’s the time of year for scary stories, so here’s one for you:
You and your husband have been growing apart for some time. He’s just like your dad, constantly mad about something, and you’re sick and tired of walking on egg shells. You’re convinced you married the wrong man and fantasize all the time about leaving him and starting over with someone else.
After months of contemplation, you finally pull the trigger, and divorce him. You hope you will get a second chance at true love.
Eventually, you meet a man you’re absolutely crazy about. The two of you have incredible chemistry, and he’s everything you feel like has been missing from your life. He’s your dream come true. He’s calm, sweet, and listens so patiently. You date for a few months and decide to marry him.
And then, the honeymoon comes to an abrupt end.
Turns out, he’s not that different from your first husband. Sure, he can be sweet, but he’s also got a really short fuse you didn’t see at the beginning.
How could love have felt so right, but led you back to this awful place again? You feel angry and misunderstood and can’t get this husband to change either. “How on earth did I end up married to the same type of guy again?” you wonder again and again.
Imago Therapy is powerful, but it’s not intuitive. In this post, I’ll introduce you to the key ideas of Imago so that you can see whether it could be valuable tool in your marriage.
You May Feel Like It’s All a Mistake
Imago Therapy says that the purpose of romantic love is to attract a person who can help us become whole. Because no one’s parents are perfect, we’re all carrying emotional wounds from childhood that we need to heal. Maybe, you felt neglected as a child and want to feel important to someone. Perhaps, you were constantly criticized or expected to be perfect and need true acceptance.
According to Imago, we’re unconsciously drawn to romantic partners who have the positive and negative qualities of our early caregivers, especially the parent that frustrated or hurt us the most. Why? Because that’s what’s emotionally familiar to us.
In your marriage, you try to get from your husband what you could not get from your parents. If you felt invisible to your caregivers, you want your spouse to make you feel like you matter. Inevitably, you feel invisible around your husband too.
What a nightmare!
When You Want to Walk Away …
Imago therapy says you’re most likely to want to give up on the marriage when your old feelings from childhood resurface, and you feel invisible all over again. The moment when you feel like you’ve married the wrong guy is a pivotal one. You might want to walk away from your husband at this point, but if you do that, you lose out on the chance to finally resolve this lifelong problem. You have to move closer to him to heal and grow.
Although your husband seems like your parents, what you don’t know is that he’s actually the perfect person to unpack your emotional baggage with. Unlike your parents, he actually has the capacity to meet your need to be seen in the relationship.
All the defensiveness and anger is just getting in the way, and the two of you have to figure out how to step out of that.
Going Deeper With Imago
How do you do that? The essence of Imago Therapy is teaching couples how to connect in a deeper way to get past the emotional impasses in their lives. The central focus is getting to know each other in a much deeper way, especially learning more about each other’s childhood experiences and the hurts you’re both carrying around.
By listening deeply to each other’s stories of emotional pain and responding with compassion and understanding, you help each other heal. This is called the Imago Dialogue, and it sounds simple, but is actually very challenging to do. Fortunately, there are many videos and instructions on the Internet to help you learn.
To learn more about Imago Relationship Therapy, and see if it’s a fit for your marriage, pick up a copy of Hendrix’s classic book Getting the Love You Want. You can also try some of the techniques covered in the book, such as:
Thinking about the experiences that hurt you as a child so that you can start to understand your unmet needs today.
Looking objectively at your husband’s qualities, especially the ones that initially drew you to him, and considering what you might have to learn from the connection with him. I know it’s hard to believe that the person who’s frustrating you so much might have something to teach you, but that’s often the case. Don’t forget, he’s got something to learn from you too!
Finding out more about your husband’s early caregivers and identifying the wounds he’s bringing into the relationship too.
Harville Hendrix says, “We are born in relationship, we are wounded in relationship, and we can be healed in relationship.”After the early glow of attraction wears off, being in a relationship almost inevitably pushes your buttons. The important thing is what you do next. If you’re both willing to do the work, the frustrations you’re feeling can be the gateway to a more profound connection with your husband.
