Ways to Strengthen Your Relationship in the New Year

Ways to Strengthen Your Relationship in the New Year

imagesI resolved to stop resolving last week. Maybe last year. But I found this blog in Huff Post Healthy Living about resolving and had to share. It was written by “Love Doctor”  Terri L. Orbuch and based on her research, “The Early Years of Marriage Project,” at the University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research.

If you’re looking to add spice to your love life, more fun to your weekends or a better way to resolve conflicts, 2014 is the perfect time to do it.

This year, instead of making a New Year’s resolution for yourself, why not resolve to make your relationship stronger, healthier and happier? Here are six ways to turn a good relationship into one that is exciting, passionate and really happy! These strategies are based on my long-term study, ongoing since 1986 and funded by the National Institutes of Health, where I learned what makes couples happy and keeps relationships strong. [1]

1. Resolve to lighten up.
Finding: One of the qualities I observed among the happiest couples is the ease with which they relate. They joke. They shrug their shoulders with a smile. They are accepting. Sometimes we forget what brought us together in the first place.

Solution: In 2014, sit down with your partner and tell stories about how you first met. Then share with your partner a quality that always makes you smile. This two-part exercise helps couples get back in touch with the happy side of their relationship, as opposed to the more serious side…

Continue reading here.

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