LOVE
PRACTICE GRATITUDE Enhance your relationship today.
Giving thanks for and with your spouse is one of the most significant habits you can build into your marriage. Gratitude is an essential ingredient in any relationship, but it takes intentionality and time to put it into practice. Being grateful can become a way of being, and that carries immense power to sustain and enhance a relationship when authentic. When you approach marriage each day with thanksgiving, choosing together to see abundance rather than scarcity, relational satisfaction rises. Here are a few specific ways gratitude can strengthen and protect your marriage.
Gratitude helps you remember the reasons you first fell in love with our spouse.
satisfying interactions. The same is doubly true for marriage. When two people are committed to seeing and appreciating life’s gifts together, their perspectives change and broaden. Anxiety tends to lessen, and shared enjoyment increases.
Gratitude enhances sex.
True mutual thankfulness deepens a couple’s emotional bonds, which inevitably fosters a more intense physical connection. Affirmation creates a safer space and a more tender connection.
Gratitude creates a mutual cycle of appreciation. It’s simply human nature that when a person feels appreciated, they’re more likely to state appreciation
for others. Practicing gratitude in marriage can have a snowball effect, because as one partner expresses thanks and affirmation, the same more naturally flows from the other. Occasional small thanks can lead to a whole and underlying culture of gratitude.
Gratitude softens criticism.
Harsh words sting, and can easily have the power to tear down confidence in a marriage. When words of affirmation and gratitude become consistent and integral in a relationship, they slowly lay a foundation of trust that cushions the blow of harsh words.
Stating words of appreciation for precious times together and beloved qualities in one another sparks memories of particularly rich seasons that can sustain commitment during harder seasons.
Gratitude increases love, fun, and forgiveness.
Study after study confirms that individuals who consistently give thanks are more likely to experience positive emotions and 10 10 THE THE GRAND GRAND SEASON SEASON •• NOVEMBER NOVEMBER 2021 2021
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