New Year Conversation

Two Conversations

1. Privately with yourself:
     What could you do this year to enrich your marriage? (Sharing optional.)
2. Together:
     What could you do together this year to enrich your marriage?

For ideas go to visit my latest article, Enrich Your Marriage.

I was not feeling very inspired when Libby and I started this conversation. It felt like doing something you are not in the mood to do but you know that afterwards you will be glad you did it.

I attempted a shortcut.

“How about let’s take more walks together. Like what we’re doing now.” But I knew that I should engage this opportunity better. Quickly we began to come up with several ideas. Like spending a few minutes on Sunday nights planning our week together, something we have never done in our marriage. Can you believe that? Our habit has been to report and check with each other when something comes up while in stride doing everything else. We have had a Reaction Filled Love.

She suggested we could then be more proactive about having people over. (Extroverts enrich their marriages by being around other people.) She then had another suggestion.

“Why don’t we listen to that book we were listening to in the car? On a short trip recently, we listened to the book "Us: Getting Past the You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship" by Terrence Real. The
few pages we heard described how in conflict we are reacting to a ‘core negative image’ we have of each other, an image that is exaggerated and not helpful. There is some core truth about it, but it has become a caricature. Libby rarely likes to listen to non -fiction, but she thought these insights were incredible. Or perhaps timely and necessary.

So, guess how we’re going to enrich our marriage this year? That’s right. We’re going to do marriage homework together. Actually, I’m excited about it, although as a husband I shouldn’t be. Check with me after May 1, our deadline, to see how it went.

What are you going to do to enrich your marriage this year?