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Are There More Successful Relationships Than You Think?

Maude met someone the other day who shared the tale of celebrating his 35th wedding anniversary. As much as he enjoyed and treasured this anniversary experience, he also talked about the nature of celebrations, and how they treated every day as a celebration. He felt that these daily sharings and acknowledgments of each other were far more important than special events, and contributed greatly to the happy and peaceful relationship they have.

There is a mindset which thrives in a culture that worships competition and describes economies as dog eat dog, survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle. And yet cooperation is in our nature. We work together growing wheat, milling it and baking it; spinning, weaving and making clothes; and these collaborations are so ubiquitous that we no longer see them. Despite this, the over-riding message in society is that of competition, and this model is what we carry into our relationships.

Even so, the truth is that there are many successful couples, and you can be one, too.

Click and read more here.





Blast From the Past

Successful relationships often depend on whether you can separate disagreements from arguments. Here's a post from the past about that...

It was a year after meeting that we noticed we hadn’t had any arguments, and 10 years on from that, it’s still true.

Let us clarify our terms here. We have disagreements – things where we have different points of view – but they never, ever, turn into arguments. We define arguing as a way of communicating that makes each partner feel separate from the other; it creates estrangement, a feeling of being on different sides, and manifests as shouting, anger, tears, ultimatums or withdrawal.

When we first noticed that we hadn’t had any arguments, we were very curious, and started looking at why. Some of the important reasons are...

Click here to find out.







Bookshelf

Successful Relationship Reading Corner

In this week's blog we asked if there are more successful relationships than you think. It was difficult to find articles directly pertaining to this topic, but here are some interesting ones on what makes successful relationships.

What Research Tells Us About the Most Successful Relationships "While a perfect relationship might be beyond the grasp of science, studies on what makes a relationship successful are everywhere. Over the years, these studies have come up with some trends that help us better understand what sets a long lasting relationship apart from one that ends quickly."

1,500 People Give All the Relationship Advice You’Ll Ever Need "I sent out the call the week before my wedding: anyone who has been married for 10+ years and is still happy in their relationship, what lessons would you pass down to others if you could? What is working for you and your partner? And if you are divorced, what didn’t work previously?"

The 12 Ties that Bind Long-Term Relationships "The surprising findings of this study, reported in the prestigious journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, showed not only that many people were still in love even after 10 years of marriage, but also which factors predicted the strength of their passion.... A whopping 40 percent of those married 10 years or more stated that they were “Very intensely in love”—the highest rating on the scale."
 






Spreading peace one relationship at a time
Phil and Maude
 
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