For those of you who are satisfied in your relationship and actually enjoy coming home to your partner, here’s a quick tip to keep it going:
Don’t take any of the positive things for granted.
Too often we can forget to give thanks for our blessings. We need to take the time to appreciate.
One way to do this is to take a moment to jot down ten things you love about your partner. You can write anything that you admire, find cute, appreciate, or just plain like about your partner. This does NOT have to be a deep, gut wrenching, soul-searching list–just authentic and simple.
For example, the things I appreciate and love about my husband (Hi honey:-)) include:
1. His beautiful blue eyes.
2. His willingness to go out of his way to help anyone, including me and the children.
3. His willingness to put into practice all the things I talk to my clients about.
4. His sense of humor.
5. His willingness to go through some of the exercises I bring home from all the workshops I co-lead.
6. His constantly making our family a priority in his actions and his words.
7. I love that he actually reads my posts–out of love not duty (I think:-)).
8. His calves. (I know, a little odd, but he really does have nice calves.
9. I love that he holds my imperfections with love rather than contempt…especially when I’m so proud at how much I’ve done packing when the reality is I have four rooms started yet not one room finished!
10. I love that he’s an equal partner with the children, the house, and emotional support.
After you make your list, make a habit of randomly choosing one item from the list and express your gratitude, admiration, or appreciation to your partner for that quality or trait. I call this a tender sprinkle; just like little chocolate jimmies you have on an ice-cream cone, tender sprinkles add a bit of sweetness to your relationship.
Every time I tell my husband I love his eyes, I swear I see them sparkle more. Try it out and see what you notice.
Challenge: Keep the list in your wallet, purse, or palm pilot (day timers for those of us who prefer the hard copy) and commit to choosing one item from it every couple days.
What a nice list! Thank you for making my day as I smiled through the whole thing. I would like to share 10 things I love about you as well.
1. Your sense of humor and that you laugh so hard at your own jokes. That really cracks me up!
2. Your compassion and ability to empathize.
3. That you walk the walk and not just talk the talk.
4. I have never known anyone who has worked so hard on themselves.
5. You inspire me to be better and teach me how to be.
6. Your smile and your laugh.
7. Your parenting skills and patience with us.
8. That you like to have a good time and are not all business.
9. That we can be competitive in a fun way.
10. That you are very smart but never ‘one-up’
and I’d like to add:
11. There are many other things I could include here that makes our life fun and happy even when things are difficult and I am blessed to be spending my life with you–Thanks.
I am most grateful that my husband forgives all my imperfections & mistakes.
I really like all the wonderful things you share with on this blog. We practiced listing good things about each other, in our small group recently as well 🙂