Marriage Month Daily Tip: Don’t Tell It Like It Is Have you ever been out in public and heard someone talking to their spouse in a way that made you wince? Like: “I cannot believe you forgot to pick up the dry cleaning again! I asked you three times. What were you thinking?” Whenever I…
Marriage Month Daily Tip: Have Great – But Realistic — Expectations One of the main reasons for unhappiness is having an expectation that is not met. You thought you deserved and would get a raise after a year of 60-hour weeks, and you got a pat on the back since “the budget is tight.” You…
Tip #8: Hang Out…On Purpose! At the most basic level, our spouse should be our best friend. And it turns out that the greatest predictor of close friendships is not shared values or personality – it is geographic proximity! You’re closest to the people you see the most often. Anyone who has had a close friend…
Dear Shaunti, For years now, my wife has been talking about how great it would be to rent a condo and spend a full week in a cottage at the beach. So for her birthday I surprised her with reservations for fall break. She was so excited – until she learned that I agreed to…
Tip #5: Boss Your Feelings Around Think back to a time when you did something out of overwhelming emotion and it ended badly. Everyone has one of these stories. Or twenty. Maybe you were seething because your good friend was 30 minutes late to pick you up – again – and you gave into the temptation…
Tip #4: Keep Score According to the 1 Corinthians 13:5, love is not self-seeking and keeps no record of wrongs. The Highly Happy couples I interviewed for my book, Surprising Secrets of Highly Happy Marriages, taught me, however, that the best marriages do actually keep score – just not in the way you might be…