16+ Ways To Nurture Your Relationship In 2023

Before you get started, I would like to make a recommendation. Focus on one suggestion per week and add additional ones as you move forward.

1. Show appreciation for one another. Both of you benefit by generously showing and by gratefully accepting appreciation. Researchers refer to this dynamic as a “booster shot” to romantic relationships.
2. Say “Thank you” for the little things in life, these make up a significant part of life. You covering your share of responsibilities is not a green light to take your partner’s work for granted.
3. Listen for the emotional communications embedded in your verbal and behavioral exchanges. When there seems to be an inconsistency between the verbal and nonverbal communications, explore this gently and genuinely.
4. Speak from a constructive mindset, never criticize, and avoid generalizations. Research has shown that a couple’s communication style has a more significant impact on the likelihood of their separating than their levels of commitment, personality traits or likelihood of withdrawing from a discussion.
5. Spend time together to laugh, to share and reconnect. Explore your concerns, use creative problem solving, and suspend evaluations. Your date time can be at home, at the beach or on a walk. Spending a lot of money should not be a requisite.
6. Take care of your appearance, it reflects your self-esteem. Neglecting this reflects upon how you feel about yourself. It is often viewed by partners as you’re thinking they are not worth the effort. This can have a residual impact on your attraction to one another, regardless of your love for each other.
7. Live with integrity inside and outside of your relationship. Integrity is doing what you say you will do. Passion and trust dissipate when one of the partners uses excuses for not acting responsibly.
8. Learn to forgive. This is a choice, not a feeling. Earning trust once again begins with forgiveness from the partner. It cannot be earned unless you are willing to forgive your partner.
9. Silence is sometimes the best policy. It gives you the opportunity to listen to your partner, to hear the communication more clearly and to formulate sound solutions.
10. Recognize the ebb and flow of life and relationships. The middle ground can be a solid place providing an abundance of joy, respect and kindness.  This minimizes the potential for devastation in the extreme peaks and troughs of life.
11. Make your spouse a top priority in your life, even above your children. If they see this priority lived in your marriage they will reap the love and security that can come to them in no other way.
12. Give your partner the benefit of the doubt unless they have proven otherwise. There is always a choice to believe something good about the person you care about, rather than something negative, when you have the option of doing either.
13. Never criticize your partner publicly. This is an attack on their ego and fundamentally disrespectful.
14. Pick up after yourself whether it is your clothing, your towels or your tools. This reflects your awareness, respect and appreciation of them, as well as what they provide through their work, dedication and consideration.
15. Add your own suggestions here to enrich your relationship!
16. Ask your partner to provide recommendations!

Keep in mind that this is just the beginning of a journey that can help each of you reconnect with the love that brought you together in the first place. Growth is never easy, but is ultimately worth the challenge!

If you are looking for a couples therapist on Long Island, feel free to call for a complimentary consultation to discuss your concerns and have your questions answered.