Is it really possible to keep a marriage happy ever after?

To keep a marriage good you have to work on it. Both of you have to be ready to keep working on the relationship. To keep your relationship fresh and exciting, you will need a lot of tender loving care. There is always a giving and receiving in a relationship, if both of you are willing to do that, chances are high that your marriage will survive.

Apply these 8 tips on how to make your marriage work and you won’t have any problems:

1. It doesn’t matter if you have been together for a lot of years of if you just got married, to be able to build up a strong relationship you have to learn to communicate effectively. Try to listen to your partner to be certain that you are understanding what they are telling you. While talking to each other, give full attention to the conversation. It will help you greatly to understand them, when you are looking each other in the eyes when having a conversation. It is not enough to just listen to them. Show that you have everything understood that your partner has talked about.

2. Don’t suppose to know how your partner feels about something. It doesn’t mean if you like to do something, that they want to do it with you. Ask them! Don’t automatically assume they volunteer to do something with you, that you would like. Ask them first! Always give them the courtesy to see if they want to do it.

3. Catch them doing something good. When you see him/her doing something nice, tell them – I got you! Then go ahead and tell them how much you appreciate it that they have been doing such a wonderful thing. You’ll be surprised how far a little appreciation goes. When you make an effort to let your partner know they made you happy, you will find they will try to repeat doing kind things for the recognition.

4. Is there something that you both enjoy doing? Then do it at least one time a week together. Take a class together, go hiking, fishing, read poetry to each other. Look for any shared interests and keep doing them as often as possible.

5. Be the best friend of your partner. When they are working on something they really want, always cheer them on. Be there for them when they need it and provide a shoulder to cry on if necessary. Share dreams and goals and work together. Let them know you are proud of them when they accomplish goals.

6. Don’t make the mistake to ignore your partner. Don’t let yourself be so involved in your own life that you forget to be nice to your partner. Kiss and hug them every day. Don’t hang out with your friends the whole weekend or watch TV. Make it a point to do something each weekend with your partner and you will grow closer together and have more in common to talk about.

7. It is very important that you “never go to bed angry”, this might be hard sometimes, but it is vital. Once you let an anger simmer for too long, it becomes much easier to come to a full boil and before you know it, you never work out any problems you just go to bed or leave the house to avoid them. Learn to agree to disagree if need be to keep the peace. But this is only working if you are really honest with yourself and you are sure that its ok to agree to disagree, specifically when it is a smaller problem. Don’t waste time being angry about the small things.

8. It is OK to admit you are wrong. If you were wrong, admit it. Your pride will not keep you warm at night and a bad marriage is a high price to pay for it.

You can live together in harmony despite your individual differences. Practice these things and be sure to work out any fights before you go to bed.

Love and cherish each other. Build a strong bond by being loving and honest with each other. This will help you to make your marriage work.