Marriage is work, and you need to be equipped with the right tools for a successful marriage. With the best marriage advice, you can weather the storms and bask under the sun. That includes identifying seasons of grief, joy, and personal evolution for a strong marriage. Read on to master the fundamentals of how to have a healthy marriage.
Prioritize Communication
For a healthy marriage, communicate as much as possible. Communication is the water to your grass. And not your lawn, but rather your relationship. Good partners talk about dreams, anxieties, hopes, and fears, as well as kids or house bills, says AstroInner’s Anthony. Honest and straightforward communication is the foundation for commitment, trust, and patience.
Always be honest about your feelings and thoughts, but also be kind and respectful when dealing with challenging emotions. Maintain a safe space for critical communication. Additionally, as individuals with common interests, feel free to discuss the changes taking place in your hearts and souls.
Cultivate Trust and Honesty
It doesn’t take much to foster trust and honesty. The trick is to share your core feelings, such as sadness, anger, or happiness, to create better connections and compassion. For instance, at one point my wife thought her silence communicated her unhappiness and that assumption was her mistake. Trust trickles down to being who you say you are after weeks, months, and years.
For two people who have committed to each other, you should be open, transparent, and disciplined to avoid unfathomable conflicts and hurtful feelings. For example, one day after work I went out with a platonic friend of the opposite gender, to keep things clam I had to tell her in advance to show respect and block any loopholes that may creep into her mind.
Practice Patience and Flexibility
A love that is alive is regularly evolving. True love is patient and is a constant commitment to another human despite present circumstances. It’s about making compromises and being flexible as you understand the other person isn’t always going to make you happy, and that’s okay because neither will you.
Good marriage advice is sticking through it and dealing with another person’s fears even when they don’t want you to. But the good side of this is afterward this kind of love is fulfilling and satisfying. Marriage is about the good, ugly, and bad, and some days it’s a struggle, but with a little patience, you’ll feel like the luckiest couple in the world.
Keep the Romance Alive
Physical and emotional intimacy is key to a happy marriage. Cuddle without needing to have sex, hug a lot, kiss, and be generous with more signs of affection. You can foster emotional intimacy by sharing feelings and desires and being deeply open with your partner. Also, cook for each other like my wife and I do. Though she cooks most of the time, there is nothing romantic like your lover asking you to prepare their favorite dish.
In the process, learn the difference between emotional and physical intimacy and which one your significant really needs the most. Most importantly, guard your sexuality and devote it to only your lover. Love is a verb, and the best marital advice is to show your spouse your intimate love for them by actions too.
Resolve Conflicts Respectfully
The key here is assuming a positive intent when your partner does something you consider hurtful. Anthony recommends taking a 20 to 45-minute timeout in separate rooms and coming back once you’re both calmer to avoid unnecessary fights. He also suggests using I statements when delivering your points without blaming your partner.
No two people agree with everything about each other, but it’s important to be okay with each other’s differences. Agree to disagree and understand that most arguments in a relationship have shared responsibility for reconciliation. Learn that you both have valid objectives and valid motives for your feelings.
Support Each Other’s Individual Growth
One of the top rules for a happy marriage is supporting each other as you become the next version of yourselves. Mostly, the better version. Offer each other emphatic encouragement in your daily life obstacles, work, or challenges. If you love your partner as much as you say you do, let them be who they are, and only offer a helping hand.
Personal growth is also about understanding the other person has a life of their own. Support them as they try to reconnect with their personal selves through hobbies, interests, and activities that make them feel happy and fulfilled. This is a simple call to practice selflessness and have each other’s back, like my wife does with each morning run I take before work.
Build a Strong Foundation of Friendship
Take responsibility for your part in the marriage, and you’ll be able to connect with your partner in a friendly and mature way. The key to a successful marriage is being each other’s best friends. Romance and dates aside. Try to share light moments, flirt, banter, wink at each other, or play games together. For example, I have a friend who plays tennis with their spouse each and every weekend as part of connecting casually like friends, they even argue over scores.
Having your lover as your friend makes marriage fun, easy, and awesome. Find ways to connect over shared interests, which allows for deeper enrichment in your marriage and the life you create together. Also, give in on little things and avoid small fights. If they want you to wear a shoe or tie and you don’t want to, just wear it.
Foster Financial Harmony
What makes a happy marriage, you ask? Save money so your later years are easier, especially with kids going to school and other financial obligations. Have complete transparency over finances for a happy marriage. Now that we have kids, we talk about our joint bank accounts, we’re open about our salary and properties and evaluate our expenditures for a bright future.
Take time to construct and agree on a budget, how to pay debts, and live within your means. Learn to differentiate between needs and wants. I am not saying a vacation is bad,(we head out each mid year during summer), but what time of the year and is it necessary at the moment? Your budget should allow for entertainment, gifts, and other activities that strengthen your marriage.
Cultivate Gratitude and Appreciation
An essential building block to make a marriage work is acknowledging your partner’s positive accomplishments every day, plus a ton of compliments. Make them feel good and appreciated for their part in your marriage. Be their biggest cheerleader and sing their praises in conversations with third parties.
Genuinely share gratitude and constantly express verbal affirmation of how much they matter to you. In our marriage, I treat my wife as I’d like them to treat me. Like she usually cooks my favorite meal each and every Saturday night, which are things we did while dating. On the other hand I like leaving little love notes, making her coffee since I wake up earlier, and getting their favorite snack, chocolate chips, during grocery shopping as I head home after work.
Seek Help When Needed
Marriage counseling doesn’t always have to be during chaos. Stuff like couples therapy is a great way to rekindle old flames and develop new coping skills that will strengthen your marriage. Psychic expert Anthony from AstroInner says it’s a great way to learn conflict resolution, get to know each other better, and set new marriage objectives.
Also, if you’re having chaos in your marriage and feel that divorce could happen sooner, seek help immediately. Be responsible for the highs and lows you might face, as some bumps in the marriage road can become major collisions. Applying advice for marriage through counseling could be the key to your padlock and put your marriage back on track.
