For many, a sign of love or affection comes neatly wrapped up with a bowâ and a really large price tag. Itâs bouquets of flowers, shiny diamonds and fancy dinners. Itâs nice and all, and probably makes your friends jealous. It makes you happy in the moment. But what about the morning after? And the day after that?
The reality is that true happiness can never be boxed and or wrapped.
Flashy gifts canât compare to the small, personal moments you can share with someone. A relationship built upon these gestures will be successful. Trust me when I say: the small stuff really matters in a relationship.
For example, do you:
- Make your partner a cup of tea in the morning?
- Notice when theyâve had a hard day and then make them dinner to try to bring their stress levels down?
- Bring them home little presents from time to time âjust becauseâ?
- Kiss them goodnight on the forehead?
Notice my intention wasnât to come up with 10 good ideas. Bad ideas count too! Just 10 ideas, no matter how good or bad. Every day.
Over those 30 days, my thinking evolved. I gained clarity about the project and my writing about it over time as I paid attention.
Weâre all aware of the knowing/doing gap, but for me itâs not so simple. âJust do itâ sounds good, but too often I just do it for a short while because I havenât grounded the habit. I see this method as a way of laying the groundwork for the doing.
All of the important action we take begins with intention. We donât just wake up one day and say âIâm going to start the exercise program now.â Or, if we do, the effort is likely to be short-lived.
We begin to stew about something, sometimes for years, before we actually begin. As we stew, we get clearer on what the doing will look like and what will be required. This is a way of slowly speeding up the stewing process.