Gottman Therapy and 7 days

I just read a New York Times article on the book from the Gottman institute titled “The Love Prescription: Seven Days to More Intimacy, Connection, and Joy”.  I thought- “really 7 days” -but as I read I realized the purpose of the article was to share some very helpful information to encourage couples in their marriages. If you would like to read the entire article please click on the link to the NYT article.

I thought I would share the two biggest “take aways” for me as I read:

• Turning toward your spouse – the author of the article states “On a recent weekday morning, during the rush to get out the door, my husband, Ben, started telling me about a podcast he’d just heard on the health impacts of air pollution — seemingly oblivious to the shrieks of our 4-year-old, who couldn’t find the right socks, or the fact that our 7-year-old was pouring soggy Cheerios down the dog’s throat. I wanted to snap at Ben. Instead, I willed myself to do something that felt unnatural: I “turned toward” my husband…….
• Ask each other a big, open-ended questions;  “Ben and I found some assignments more “fun” and useful than others. The question exercise was enlightening and reminded me of the conversations we had when we first started dating almost two decades ago. (One suggested prompt: “If you could change into any animal for 24 hours, which one would you choose?” We were both dolphins.)” (My husband says he would be a gazelle, because they are so graceful when they run)

The Center has 2 therapists (Mike DeMoss and Kent Bertrand) who have been trained in the Gottman method of marriage therapy. If you would like to read a blog written by Mike please click on the link.