The final step is developing together, developing a world together, and making each other’s dreams come true.
If your partner dreams of owning a Model T Ford, say ‘Yes’ when they want to buy one. If your partner has always wanted to learn Chinese, say ‘yes’ when they want to go to night school with you.
It’s good to have a couples language that’s just for you. “Remember that time when…”(we went on holidays to Canberra, we snorkelled with sharks, we walked 2km in 40 degree Celcius heat) is a wonderful tool to stroke your partners good feelings.
My husband had always wanted a moon watch, and that was my wedding present to him. His first anniversary present to me was a painting that I really loved. We do what we can to make each others dreams come true.
This means having good boundaries, accepting that your partner will be right sometimes, and that they get to have a say in what happens as a couple, but not letting them walk all over you.
It means talking and talking and talking.
It also means respecting when your partner gets overwhelmed and letting them stop. Letting them self soothe, and soothing them where possible.
It means watching your partner for signs that they’re getting upset and coming back to it later.
Roasted Kumera, Chicken Sausage, Fetta, Kale, and Spinach
My husband and I are having a big discussion right now about food. I read obsessively about diet, and even though I weigh around 190kg, I put into practice anything I can. For example I take supplements that are associated with a decreased risk of Type 2 Diabetes, I make sure I have a long gap between meals and snacks so my insulin doesn’t stay constantly high and I have a decreased risk of insulin resistance, I increase my protein, vegetable and legume intake and decrease my white carb intake.
Anything I’m capable of, I do.
Yet, my husband and I Both enable each other to eat potatoes, biscuits, chocolate and desserts.
Apple pie! Ready for the oven.
So my husband’s driving license has recently been threatened, and we’re having to do some serious thinking.
It’s tough coming up against ourselves like that.
Last night we were talking and my husband asked for a time out.
We stopped for a minute, and I stroked his hand.
After a while I said something, and he held out his left hand in a stop gesture.
I stopped.
It doesn’t mean that we won’t talk about it, and keep on talking about it, it just means that when he or I get overwhelmed, we pause for a moment and calm down for a while. We can each rely on the other not to cause harm by flooding.
After you’ve spent a long time getting to know your partner and learning their personal traits and histories, the next step is to love all over your partner and snuggle into their yumminess.
This means compliment your partner, tell them what they’re doing right, listen to them telling you 100 times the same joke and still smile wryly.
Tell them you love them and you love the way they pick up groceries on the way home, or wash up all the plastic recycling on the weekend, or shake the water off their butt when they get out of the shower.
As John Flanagan a Gottman trainer says, the next step is to be your partner’s cheer leader.
Something my husband and I do is tell each other how much we love each other several times per day. I tell him he’s a good husband and I love him, and I say thank you to him for doing every good thing he does that I remember. Yesterday he tidied his cupboards, and he took the recycling box downstairs. I said thank you. Because he’s a good little kitten and I love him. Naaaaaw.
He tells me he loves me he likes my cooking and he’s proud of me for getting good marks at uni and he’s proud of me when I get a new client, and he thinks I’m a good wife. I love him and he loves me.
I also have an example of this from a friend, one of my friends and I start on the level of functional and we work to make each other more functional. I can talk to her about things I’m working on to improve, and she can talk to me too.
John and Julie Gottman have been helping couples heal in relationships and researching good relationships since the 1970’s.
It started with John realizing he had a crummy love life.
He would date women, but they just kept leaving him. Duh Dong.
Eventually he decided to get some data into what good relationships look like, and how to be in one.
Fast forward over 50 years and he’s happily married to Julie and his research team can predict with 98% accuracy if a couple will still be together in 5 years after a 1 hour conversation.
When he married Julie, in the 1980’s she said, ‘So John, when are you going to start telling people about this good relationship stuff?’ John was like ‘Huh?’ Lol.
Over time they’ve developed a model for good relationships called The Sound Relationship House and a series of short courses that you can do online through www.gottman.com or in person in Australia through https://relationshipinstitute.com.au/ My husband and I did their two day course, and some of their short courses, and they’re very good.
They’ve also got a whole mess of books and posters and info-graphics and card decks, you name it, available online through sites like www.amazon.com or though local bookstores like www.booktopia.com.au (search term: gottman).
Gill's Practical Bookkeeping 