Build a Stronger Marriage with Kindness
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Everyone seems to know some couple that seems to have always had stability, harmony and longevity in their relationship. Want to know their secret? There is one trait that successful relationships possess that fosters a healthy relationship that survives: kindness.
Kindness actually sounds more like an individual character trait rather than a trait of a relationship. However, a relationship is made up of two people and each brings their own character into the relationship. How each partner responds to the stresses and demands they face daily plays out in the relationship. Every relationship will experience stress and conflict, but it is how couples deal with the stress and conflict that largely determines whether their relationship will survive and grow or dissolve.
It is a natural tendency, when faced with conflict, for individuals to want to fight or run away; but both of those responses will weaken and damage your relationship by creating unhappiness, contempt and loss of intimacy. Both partners need to work at cultivating a relationship based upon mutual support, cooperation and positive communication in order to weather life’s conflicts.
You’ve had a bad day at work and arrive home to find the one errand that you asked your partner to do did not get done. How do you react? Get angry and pick a fight or ask them how their day went. They may also have had a bad day or gotten sick which may have prevented them from running that errand. Choose kindness and ask about their day.
Your partner had a busy week and wants time to go to the gym on Saturday but you really need them to deal with the tree limbs that blew down in the storm on Wednesday. How do you react? Get angry and pick a fight or compromise and ask if after they get done at the gym would they help you deal with the tree limbs in the yard. Choose kindness and offer for both of you to tackle the tree limbs together.
It takes work to cultivate a harmonious relationship, but partners that react to each other in a spirit of kindness are happier and grow in their lo
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