Tag Archives: appreciation exercises

Appreciate What You Have

Too often, as a culture and a society, we spend all our time reaching for more, reaching for better, reaching for something and not enough time stopping to appreciate what we have. In a marriage, there are always facets that we are working on whether it’s getting our spouse more involved in the housework or looking for more involvement in some area or another. Sometimes it’s just the struggle to get all the commitments taken care of in order to have some time together – but if we spend all our time looking for more, reaching for more and planning … Continue reading →

Marriage Exercises: Understanding His or Her Value

A few months ago, I suggested this exercise in order to understand the value of your spouse. As we approach Thanksgiving, understanding and appreciating the value of our spouse is very important. So remember, we all have bad days, individually and as a marriage. There are days when our stress and irritation can make clicking and connecting with each other seem impossible. There are going to be days when it’s hard to remember what drew the two of you together. There are going to be days when it’s even harder. These are the days that we need this exercise more … Continue reading →

Marriage Fitness Exercise

I have often said that writing is like any other exercise you perform, with practice and repetition, you can improve your skills, endurance and hone your talents. Marriage is a similar task and needs similar exercises in order to keep it fit, trim and enduring. Marriage exercises shouldn’t be as tough as doing weight lifting, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be times when you really need to pump some iron to get to where you want to be. So today’s marriage fitness exercise is about communicating. We’ve talked about using ‘I’ statements rather than ‘you’ statements. Today’s exercise will … Continue reading →

What Do They Mean to You?

Every marriage has a bad day. Days when you just don’t seem to click, when stress and irritation leave you both feeling as prickly as porcupines. Those are the days that it’s really hard to remember why you love your husband or your wife. Those are the days when you think it might have been a whole lot simpler if you’d never met or never married or just never something’d. These are the days that you have to practice the What Do They Mean To Me? exercise. What is this exercise? It’s a mental and physical one you do with … Continue reading →

Appreciation Exercises

John and Jane were given some appreciation exercises to do – you may be wondering what is an appreciation exercise? An appreciation exercise is an assignment that helps you to express your appreciation for another person by guiding you through it. Some people have a hard time opening up about their emotions and vulnerabilities. It is even harder for a married couple to expose their vulnerabilities to each other when they are not confident about the reception it will receive. When two people are married, there should exist a trust that allows them to be vulnerable with each other. If … Continue reading →