The Magic 6 Hours

In the final chapter of John Gottman's "The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work" he outlines how in just 6 hours a week you can see dramatic positive changes in your marriage. All of the advice and counsel given in his book was outstanding. I am working hard to implement the skills I am learning and hope to continue to do the activities in the book with my husband on date nights. I found the Magic Six Hours a great way to start improving my marriage today. My husband and I have been married for almost 25 years. Our life right is very busy and we struggle to find time to be together and to even finish a sentence some nights. We both have busy church assignments, my husband is swamped in work issues, we have lots of activities going on with our kids and life just never seems to slow down. I was intrigued by this 6 hour fix and some of the simple ideas suggested. Some of these we already do pretty well, so that was encouraging. Some we need to be more consistent at, and a few we need to start. Here is an abbreviated list,I look forward to seeing my marriage improve as we implement these and other suggestions.  I encourage anyone interested in learning more to get a copy of this book and start using it's ideas today!

THE MAGIC 6 HOURS

• PARTINGS:  Make sure that before you say goodbye in the morning you learn one thing that is happening in your spouse's life that day.

• REUNIONS: A hug and a kiss that lasts a least 6 seconds, a kiss worth coming home to and a stress reducing conversations about the day.

• ADMIRATION & APPRECIATION:  Find some way every day to communicate genuine affection and appreciation.

• AFFECTION: Show each other physical affection when you're together during the day, and always embrace and kiss each other goodnight. Lace your kiss with forgiveness and tenderness for your partner.

• WEEKLY DATE: Just the two of you spending time together every week!

• STATE OF THE UNION MEETING: Spend one hour every week to talk about the state of your relationship this week. What went right, where can you improve, etc. End with answering the question "What can I do to make you feel loved this coming week?'