As you know, Valentine’s Day is dedicated to expressing our love for the person we care about the most and for other special people in our lives.
People don’t go into relationships thinking “I’m here to control this person” though sometimes it becomes the focus of how partners or friends are relating with each other. Herein lies the question—how comforting is control—not so much.
A question I often ask is “what if that control changed to caring enough, to making the right decision and make how you are relating to each other more fulfilling”.
A couple I met in their eighties, who had been together for fifty five years, shared their secret to a long lasting relationship. They married their best friend, they had a similar mindset and worked in the same profession.
All Good Things Come in Threes
Here are three ideas to make a relationship go from a challenge to an opportunity to grow:
- Admit being wrong and they’re right, even if it’s the opposite. Is it really worth the aggravation when you can be making love or having a good time instead?
- Decide to get along. Take conflicts and find ways to turn them into caring moments to both learn and grow from any situation.
- Be generous with small gestures that surprisingly burst with big doses of love. Do this not only on Valentine’s Day but monthly or weekly.
The most precious anything in life is life. The more we value our own, the more we value others, especially the one we love the most. By freeing control, we care lovingly more.
Decide to Take Action
In overview, the real question is— “how can you make relating with your partner, more fulfilling?”
You can always decide to take a negatively charged conflict and change it into a positively charged way of relating with each other. Don’t be afraid to admit you’re wrong so you make things right. Sometimes all it takes is letting them be right and surprising them with a gesture of love and any other solution you find worthy.
Happy Valentine’s Day, Today and Everyday, Thriving With Love!