Kamis, 05 Maret 2009

The 7 Day Relationship Challenge



A long-lasting romantic relationship is built on a solid foundation of healthy habits both partners must learn to master. There are a myriad of tips for relationship success, but mastering these seven traits below will empower you both to bask in the joy and happiness a truly happy marriage or relationship can provide. This week, take the 7 Day Relationship Challenge and devote one day each week to truly understanding and applying these habits.

As you go along you'll see how each trait builds upon the other to provide a cohesive road map to a healthy relationship. At the end of each day, talk with each other about your observations and what you learned. You'll want to use this time as an opportunity to see things through your partner's eyes, while sharing your discoveries about your own habits - good and bad. At the end of the week celebrate your accomplishment with a nice date night out and talk about what you've learned in the process.

Day One: Listening
There's much to be learned just from observation. Today you will spend your time focusing on really listening to what your partner is trying to tell you. If you have bad communication habits like interrupting or taking over your conversations, today's the day to work on eliminating these negative behaviors. If you can't listen to what your partner is really saying, you'll never be able to understand where they are coming from or what they really want and need from you.

Day Two: Understanding
Once you've started really listening to what your partner is communicating, you'll need to make sure you show them that you understand. Understanding takes on two forms, actually knowing what they're staying and then being tolerant of their point of view. Sometimes couples fall into a trap of not allowing their partner to feel or have an opinion that is different from theirs. It's okay to let people be who they are and if you take the time to REALLY understand their point-of-view, you may even come to agree with them. At the very least you can agree to disagree and learn to appreciate and respect each other's differences.

Day Three: Honesty
Today's theme is more about self-reflection. How honest are you being about your role in your relationship? Are you really being the best partner for your partner? Spend time today to give an honest assessment of where you could improve things in this respect. Maybe you're a little too critical or you're not expressing your own desires well enough. Honest self-reflection will help you uncover some of these relationship road-blocks.

Day Four: Forgiveness
After being in a relationship for a good length of time, you're bound to have experienced situations that have tarnished your ideal of a perfect relationship. The only way to get back to this "ideal" is to learn to forgive not just your partner, but yourself. Holding on to past issues is never going to help you or your future together. If anything, it just keeps you focused on the past. How well can you improve the what's going on now or in the future if your mind is stuck in the past? Today, go through all the mental grudges you have towards yourself or your partner and work on letting them go.

Day Five: Gratitude
When you are feeling grateful for someone or something, your outlook towards that particular area of your life immediately improves. Makes you wonder why you wouldn't spend all your time feeling appreciative. Harness this instant mood-lifter today and take the time to really feel gratitude towards your life, your partner and what you have together. Think of all things you really appreciate about them and maybe do a little something to show your thanks.

Day Six: Praise
Praise is the action step of gratitude, making it a natural next trait to focus on. Utilize all the feelings of good-will you generated yesterday and put them into action. Look for things you appreciate or respect your partner for and make sure you let them know how well they're doing. People respond to positive reinforcement much better than being called out for their mistakes. Take advantage of this and give a little back to your partner.

Day Seven: Attitude
Focusing on feeling grateful and praising your partner for all the things you appreciate about them makes it quite difficult to have a negative or "bad" attitude. However, at times it can creep in. Today, make it a point to concentrate on how often you're saying or thinking about negative comments or thoughts. Even the best meant critique can be better applied in a positive fashion. A better reaction can be created by really thinking about different ways to communicate the same thought in a more positive way. This applies to your own self-critique as well.

Wrap Up
After going through your week you should have noticed that each of these healthy relationship traits built upon each other to create a wonderful dynamic for a long lasting relationship. When you truly listen to and understand your partner you can be honest with yourself and each other about anything. Knowing you have this stability with each other makes forgiveness a much easier trait to allow. When you use these traits, showing your gratitude for this deep connection you both share leads you to give the praise your partner truly deserves. Overall this creates one very healthy attitude and positive outlook towards your relationship, which leads to a long-term successful relationship.

At any time in your relationship when you feel like things are going off the rails, take the challenge again or focus on any areas you might need some extra work on and make your own challenge.


Source : www.lovingyou.com
by Jennifer Good
NB : Nanti ya kalo sempat saya buatkan terjemahannya... ^^

2 comments:

None mengatakan...

Als,,ada yng versi bahasa indonesia nga,,,anak O'on ni,,wkwkwkwkwkw

Alsweiss mengatakan...

Belum sempat translate... nanti kl sempat di translatetin. Tp kl mau, tanya Om google aja, pasti dijawab sama dia walau rada2 ngaco... tp intinya u know la...

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