Many marriages fail because of lack of attention and appreciation.
�Don�t sweat the small stuff� is probably one advice that does not always work for marriage, because it is important to notice the small stuff, if the marriage is to flourish.
Examples would be:
* avoiding bringing up the defective garage door while your husband is rushing to meet a deadline and needs to focus on his project for a few hours;
* attending to the kids and keeping them away from the kitchen while your wife prepares dinner;
* offering to pick up your husband�s shirts at the dry cleaner�s because he forgot to do it yesterday;
* filling up the car tank if you know that your husband has to drive out of town on a client visit;
* taking your wife dancing because she�s always loved to dance even if you have two left feet and have always hated it.
Technique 3
Give and take is what marriage is all about. Here are a few examples to clarify what I�m talking about. If your husband likes to experiment sexually and you don�t , try to break your inhibitions and indulge him occasionally. If your wife likes to attend church and do charity work in her parish, don�t express any resentment or complain that she�s spending too much time on her fund-raising activities.
Work on keeping your partner stimulated intellectually.
If there�s anything that�s truly annoying it�s a partner who knows nothing about the interests of the other. Like the wife who constantly talks about what�s on sale and a husband who knows nothing but what teams made it to the NFL playoffs this year.
Look back to courtship days when both of you could talk until the wee hours of the morning because you were interested in what the other had to say. Things like what each of you did in the office that day, in that bookseller or movie, or how the Dow Jones sparkled because of news about Intel or Microsoft all sparked great conversations.
Enrich each other with your experiences. Let your partner know that you have an interest in life and what it has to offer, and make every effort to be a more interesting mate by reading more, experimenting more, and living more.
