Lasting Happiness
Everyone who gets married hopes to enjoy lasting happiness. But there is a difference between lasting happiness and perfect happiness – and sometimes people confuse the two.

We are imperfect people, which means we aren’t a perfect spouse to our partner either! We have flaws, faults and shortcomings – and that’s okay. So perhaps a better goal than looking for perfect happiness might be to work for lasting happiness.

This new series of blog posts is about doing what it takes to create lasting marital happiness and stay madly in love.

So each week for the next few weeks, I’ll share a couple of tips for you to have a stronger, healthier, and happier relationship with your spouse.

Happy Marriage Tip #1 – A New Beginning
I don’t care who you are or what you do, everyone needs a fresh start and a new beginning. Maybe you are at the point in your relationship where your marriage needs to start over.

There’s nothing wrong with starting over. And all you and your spouse have to do to give each other a fresh start is to decide.

Face it, if you’ve been married for any length of time at all, then you know how easy it is to take someone for granted. As time passes, we tend to offer fewer compliments, are less courteous, and fall into a romantic rut as the honeymoon phase fades.

Sometimes, for whatever reason, we become less patient and understanding – less forgiving, too. And when this happens, we say or do things that aren’t always the nicest or most pleasant. This behavior hurts our spouse and callouses the marriage a little.

Months turn into years, patterns become ingrained, and we drift apart from the very person in the world who at one time mattered more to us than life itself.

If this situation seems at all familiar to you, then I invite you and your spouse to consider giving your marriage a fresh start. Your yesterdays do not have to equal your tomorrows.

Decide to start over.

Will it be easy? No! Why? Because your marriage won’t change until you do – which means you and your spouse have some changing to do! And not on each other but on yourselves, first.

Want to know one of the most effective ways for starting your marriage over? Become the person you want your marriage to be. Want a more loving marriage? Then be more loving. A more forgiving marriage? Then be more forgiving. A happier marriage? Then be happier.

Here are  seven quick steps to get you started today:

1. Become what you want your marriage to be.
2. Renew your commitment to the marriage – divorce is not an option.
3. Forgive, forget, go forward.
4. Flirt, touch, and engage in public displays of affection.
5. Affirm your spouse’s special qualities.
6. Catch your spouse doing something good.
7. Dream again – and work together to make your dreams of lasting happiness come true.